I am currently on holiday in Israel. A few days ago I visited the Dead Sea (which is shrinking fast, so go quick!). There they have huge plants which extract salt from the water, and then clean it etc.

But Israel also has a huge water shortage, as almost all the water in the country comes from the Sea of Gallilee, which is also disapearing fast (both disappearances are due to the Jordan River being used up rather than left to flow).

So, I thought, why not use the water as well as the salt? The scheme would be very simple to set up. Whereas now the water flows into shallow basins, evaporates and leaves the salt behind, it could do exactly the same but with greenhouse-type things above it. The glass would be quite close to the water, so as not to lose too much moisture to the air, and the ceiling would be slanted above the water. At the bottom of the glass (where the slant ends) there would be a gutter-type pipe that takes water to the necessary cleaning and storage facilities.

In day, the water would evaporate up and into the air, leaving the salt behind, and at night (when it becomes very cold), the moisture would condense on the underside of the glass, run down it and into the gutter-pipe, where it would flow down and be cleaned/stored for use. I don't know how much water would be produced, I expect it would be quite a bit.

Thus, the water would not be wasted, and at not too much extra cost. I don't know if it would be applicable in other places.
-- dbmag9, Jan 09 2006

Something like...one of these? http://www.google.c...Google+Search&meta=
[moomintroll, Jan 09 2006]

Wikipedia on the Dead Sea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea
It holds quite a lot more water than the Sea of Galilee [Vernon, Dec 30 2014]

nuclear powered steam powered unmanned flood tunnel digger---for digging water tunnels only nuclear_20powered_2...er_20tunnels_20only
Previous discussion [8th of 7, Dec 30 2014]

Vacuum desalting Vacuum_20Desalting
An old Idea, more about getting the water than the salt. [Vernon, Dec 31 2014]

A solar still. Nice. New?
-- bungston, Jan 09 2006


This is different, in that it is on a much larger scale and is mostly for the purpose of salt collection. The water is just a useful by-product which should not be wasted.
-- dbmag9, Jan 10 2006


If you take more water out of the dead sea, it will shrink even faster. For several reasons, I think this should be avoided.

One cautionary note can be seen in the problems cause by exposed seabed of the Aral sea. Toxic dust has blown around and caused cancer.

There are two proposals in the works, the red-dead connection and the the med-dead connection- in short, a cannal which will exploit the sea level drop for hydropower and keep the dead sea from shrinking further.

Right now, the plan is to use the Red-Dead connection. Israel and Jordan are cooperation on this venture.

Right now, sadly it is only in the feasibility study stage, and that be be complete mid-year 2007. After that, it will more than likely take several years and internation donors to build.
-- Madai, Jan 10 2006


//not to loose to much // That stirs up the monster inside. <shudders> its LOSE not LOOSE

<jaws of own trap clamp shut, screams fade of into the distance, a silence settles over the area as the insects and animals creep out of hiding>
-- DesertFox, Jan 10 2006


[dbmag] It's a good concept, one that I like & have thought of a lot too. It's just very baked.

What limits it on larger scales is not lack of forethought, but more simply the economy of maintaining the "greenhouse". It's been tried, but it gets coated in algae & other critters & slime, can break in storms, etc.

Basically, if you have a salt evaporation pond, it would cost less resources to build and maintain a reverse-osmosis plant next door than it would be to build & maintain a greenhouse over the evaporation pond.

Also, having the moisture trapped so close will raise the humidity on top of the pond, making salt extraction slower.
-- sophocles, Jan 10 2006


What is the price of water there ? What is the price of salt ?

There are usually many ponds so that you can remove the various salts in the form of solids. You don't need to put a still cover over all of the ponds just the ones where it will pay off. Likely the second and third pond. The first will have dirt, plants and animals needing to settle or be skimmed off, the cover will be in the way.

Or build a dike across a portion of the dead sea and let the water evaporate in say the bottom third. Especially if they are going to let the whole lake dry up anyway.

It is 2015, is there still a dead sea ?
-- popbottle, Dec 30 2014


Yes, but it's getting smaller by the day. It's also a lot more saline than sea water, so there's a plan to run a pipeline from the Med to the Dead.

It's a tectonically active area so some forethought is needed.

The "salt" isn't just sodium chloride - it's a mix of (commercially useful) chemicals, but somewhat toxic.

<link>
-- 8th of 7, Dec 30 2014



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