Test: AP Environmental Science

1.

Desalinization plants are becoming popular in the Middle East and heavily proposed in drought states like California to satisfy the public's use of fresh water. What is the dominant issue with establishing desalinization facilities?

Most of our planet's oceans are heavily polluted and desalinating sea water will remove the salt, but harmful pollutants and toxins that affect human health can remain present. 

Desalinization removes most of the salt content, but not all of it, posing a serious risk of dehydration or heart problems when consumed by humans. 

Building desalinization facilities offshore is legally difficult due to international regulations on ocean management. 

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires environmental impact statements be conducted for any federally-funded project, and involves too much red tape for a desalinization plant to be economically feasible. 

Desalinization requires a lot of heat energy to create freshwater vapor, and is generally a very expensive process. 

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