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Look at desalination in area
Letter to editor
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Editor, According to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, our water source is slowly being polluted with saltwater, and the coastal area of Georgia will have to reduce the amount of water that it pulls from the Floridan aquifer by 17 million gallons a day.
This is not good for existing residents and businesses; plus, this water shortage could cause business growth in the area to come to a halt.  
Maybe it’s time to look into a desalination plant for Coastal Georgia. California has 17 such plants in progress because of the extreme water shortage there. There is no doubt that such a plant would be expensive — about $500 million. But it could produce about 25 million gallons of potable water daily, which would take care of 50,000 customers.
This would not only replace the 17 million gallons that the EPD is requiring the counties to cut back on, but would allow for additional growth. Such a plant would also let the aquifer replenish itself, allowing future mixing of the aquifer and the ocean water to bring down the cost of supplying water to the area.
We cannot keep pulling from our groundwater without consequences. Therefore, we must look to the ocean to supply our water needs. The longer that we wait, the more expensive it will become, as the average time to build such a plant would be six years.

Len Calderone
Midway

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