lead from within the facility’s pipes or, even, the minerals inside your mouth, potentially leading to a parched feeling. It’s a system that requires a huge amount of energy to run but, at the other end, the resulting water is about as pristine as you’ll find anywhere — approximately 99.998 percent pure. “I always forget how many digits it is past the decimal point,” says Carl. This potable liquid then fills the water towers of Cape May — including the pale blue landmark painted with “Cape May” in dark letters on Madison, as well as a standpipe near the desal plant and the red-and-white checkered tower at the Coast Guard Training Center — before flowing through faucets all over the city. Fish Approved This all begs the question: What do we do with all that leftover salt? The more than 18,000 desalination plants in operation worldwide produce an overwhelming amount of brine waste. Late-night host Bill Maher has publicly joked that we should save this supply for “seasoning fucking almonds,” because what typically happens is that it’s dumped into the sea. At a salinity level twice that of normal ocean water, it can be deadly for marine life. It can also mess with ocean circulation and, therefore, our climate. In other words, on a macro scale, desalination could potentially lead to more droughts, worsening the very problem its intended to assuage. But the Cape May plant utilizes brackish — not ocean — water, which is much less salty to begin with. For every four gallons that enter the facility, the result is three gallons of purified H20 and one gallon containing those filtered-out, dissolved salts. This gallon is not discharged into the sea, but from an outfall pipe near the bridge at Elmira Street into Cape Island Creek, where it lands at the midpoint on the salinity spectrum. From here, it merely flows out with the tide, doing no detectable harm. “You’re not killing any fish; you’re not killing any crabs,” says Glen. “That’s a big deal.” Time For An Upgrade The Cape May Desalination Plant is a beast that requires constant taming. Fighting rust — a frustrating problem due to that “aggressive” water — is almost a full-time job. “You wire brush, you sand, you scrape and you paint,” Carl explains, adding that most of this work falls to Joseph Mendo, a decades-long employee of the city who takes care of the day-to-day maintenance. “We could really use another body down there.” Carl believes it’s time for an infrastructure expansion, which would double the amount of water Cape May can process from about two million gallons per day to four million per day. In other words, enough to see Cape May — as well as the Coast Guard base, Cape May Point and West Cape May, which all currently buy Cape May water — well into the future. Carl has convinced city council to include this new, $4 million system in its upcoming capital plan. While details are still being formulated, the vision is to increase capacity in phases, starting with another skid of reverse osmosis pressure vessels — similar to the ones already in use but more up-to-date. A new well, drilled into the brackish aquifer near the plant, is already in place, ready and waiting to feed this new capacity. It’s only a matter of time before it starts pumping. LITTLE ITALY II RISTORANTE Home-cooked food that will satisfy you, your family AND your wallet. MaryAnn’s CONTEMPORARY & ESTATE JEWELRY PIZZA • VONGOLE ALLA CASINO • PENNE ALLA GIOVANNI SHRIMP FRA DIAVOLO • FLOUNDER MEDITERRANEAN CHICKEN SALTIMBOCCA ALLA ROMANA VEAL ALLA VINCENZO 3704 BAYSHORE ROAD, NORTH CAPE MAY (Cape Plaza Shopping Center) • 889-6610 White Gold & Aquamarine Jewelry 511 WASHINGTON STREET MALL, CAPE MAY (NEXT TO FUDGE KITCHEN) • 609-898-8786 Also at: 15 N. Black Horse Pike, Runnemede • 856-939-0230 exit zero 44 fall
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