This is a desalination plant — a pilot project, started up this summer and doing what no similar plant has been able to do yet on the Valley’s west side. It’s filtering crop drainage water laden with enough contamination to sterilize the ground or foul a river.
Underwritten by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the system could end a decades-old contamination problem, create a precious new stream of water and save a 97,000-acre piece of farming worth nearly $500 million a year.
But beyond the 97,000 acres, a breakthrough with this technology might be the next big advance for hundreds of thousands of west-side acres.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/08/02/4052342/scientists-on-west-side-of-valley.html?sp=/99/217/&ihp=1