Is water the new oil? Population growth and agricultural demand, combined with aging infrastructure and waste, have produced water scarcity in many countries. Prices are rising, and the lack of a dependable water supply is a massive health and economic issue. So how do we fix our water quality and management problems? That’s the question Bloomberg Businessweek Chairman Norman Pearlstine put to our panel: Ahmet Bozer, President, Coca-Cola International; Jae So, Manager, World Bank Water and Sanitation Program; Carlos Riva, CEO, Poseidon Water; Thomas Powers, Commissioner of Water Management, Chicago; and Jeff Sterba, President and CEO, American Water. Their conversation has been condensed and edited. 

Project Finance magazine cites Water Authority’s role and credit were key to successMarch 8, 2013 - The Carlsbad Desalination Project was honored Thursday in New York as the “North American Water Deal of the Year” for 2012 by Project Finance, an international trade publication that annually highlights major industry accomplishments around the world.
Carlsbad Desalination Project

• Total capital cost: $1.003 billion (includes plant, pipeline, financing costs and Water Authority system modifications)
• Bond interest rate: 4.78 percent
• Developer: Poseidon Resources
• Construction contractors: Kiewit Infrastructure West and J.F. Shea Construction Inc.
• Water deliveries: Expected to begin in 2016
• Production: 48,000 to 56,000 acre-feet/year

The magazine’s March issue said the $734 million bond issue in December “could serve as a useful template” for public-private partnerships in the water industry, particularly for seawater desalination projects. 

Infrastructure Investor Magazine has given it's North American Infrastructure Deal of the Year award to Poseidon Water for the Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. 
"The $733.56 million issue of bonds for Poseidon Resources’ Carlsbad reverse osmosis desalination project took ten years to come to market. But it could serve as a useful template for applying PPP structures to water assets, particularly in ocean water desalination.The project, located in Carlsbad, California, had a long gestation because of the highly public nature of the project and what it will produce. Poseidon ultimately came to work with the San Diego County Water Authority, whose role as offtaker was the key to bringing the deal to close. Poseidon will own the plant, which will sell output to the water authority under a 30-year water purchase agreement (WPA), and the agency will own an associated pipeline, though the sponsor will be responsible for building it."