[veb]

The issue is the waste... the salt that's left over. What happens to it? In the Persian Gulf (I think...) they have basically killed everything in the water from the abundance of salt that's been put back into the sea water.[1]

There is a theory that if we continue making the Gulf warmer by putting so much salt in, it could be a catalyst for plunging the world into an ice age. Who knows if that's true.

Already here in New Zealand we are exporting some of our fresh water to very rich people over in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries. Can't link the source, it was a court news article about some guy who assaulted someone. He was exporting prime NZ lambs, and water tankers...

A previous comment I made, with quote from National Geographic about this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2094701

[1] http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/environment/waste-dump-threaten...

[cpncrunch]

The salt was in the water to begin with. If you read that reference that you posted, you'll see that the problem is the waste chemicals (not salt), and the increase in temperature of the water. It's plausible that they could filter out the waste chemicals, but I'm not sure about the heat.

[veb]

Yeah, you're right that salt is in the water already and isn't technically waste. I just called it that because as a 'left over', it feels like it's waste.

However... it doesn't mean much that salt is in the water already. You're taking the water out, but leaving all the salt. That can't be good at all.