[stevenjgarner]

Probably fine for small-scale use, but on a planetary scale increased salinity could dramatically influence marine biodiversity, not to mention climate from thermohaline circulation disruption [1]

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_currents/05...

[thriftwy]

It's not possible to change ocean salinity by any measurable amount by desalination. Except maybe for some very closed off seas, which are already less saline than the ocean.

[onlyrealcuzzo]

To expand on this. There's ~321M cubic MILES of water in the ocean.

Total US water usage is about 2 cubic miles per week - which is not even a 100 millionth of the water in the ocean.

[kec]

I imagine similar things were said about burning oil and gas at one time.

That aside I think the more pressing concern is the local environment, turning the area around your station into a brackish dead zone.

[Ekaros]

It is in the water cycle anyway, so yes globally really makes no difference. But the localized levels of salinity certainly can be effected and be detrimental.