Sen. Barbara Boxer said Tuesday that she will push desalination as a response to California’s drought, citing Israel’s strategy of converting salt water to freshwater to solve its chronic water shortages. In a separate Senate hearing on the drought, Republicans indicated that drought legislation being crafted by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and House Republicans from the Central Valley directed at California would be considered only as part of broader legislation covering the entire West.
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California, especially the Central Valley and Southern California, is experiencing the worst drought since the 1970s, and arguably the worst drought in its recorded history (about 65 years). Yet to most Californians, it is nothing more than a small inconvenience because water still flows from our taps and shower heads, and clean, safe drinking water – in the form of bottled water – is always available.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA, - On Thursday, May 14, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) Board of Directors voted to approve a Water Reliability Agreement term sheet with Poseidon Water that will allow OCWD to secure the single largest source of new, local water supply available to Orange County -- 56,000 acre-feet of water annually from the proposed seawater desalination project in Huntington Beach (see "OCWD enters negotiations to secure single largest source of new water").
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tatiana Halsted 707-631-8906 download a pdf.
Huntington Beach, CA – Late yesterday evening, the Orange County Water District (OCWD) Board of Directors voted to approve a Water Reliability Agreement term sheet with Poseidon Water that will allow OCWD to secure the single largest source of new, local water supply available to Orange County – 56,000 acre-feet of water annually from the proposed seawater desalination project in Huntington Beach. Ocean desalination is an urgent necessity for Orange County. As California faces mandatory water restrictions for the first time in history, we need to be pursuing all of our options. I often hear versions of the question, “How will Orange County protect itself from this systemic water crisis?” As a scientist, doctor and father, desal is a commonsense answer. It’s really a no-brainer. We’re blessed with an abundant water source (the Pacific Ocean) at our doorstep, so let’s tap it. But, as an elected official representing the public, I know that it’s imperative to also contemplate costs and taxpayer risk.
It’s the fourth year of California’s historic drought, and there’s no end in sight. We need realistic solutions to ensure our state’s water security, and we need to take preventative action.
Residents and businesses are doing their part to cut consumption, but it’s only part of the equation. Our policymakers need to act to ensure we have new, reliable sources of water, and that means desalination for communities with the need for reliable drinking water but increasingly expensive imported water. The California Coastal Commission is nearing a decision on whether or not to allow the construction of a new desalination plant in Huntington Beach. Read the full article online at marinij.com . Thomas Elias - Syndicated Columnist. “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink…” — Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798, in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” The reality confronting millions of Californians as they cope with yet another lengthy episode in a seemingly endless series of droughts is that — like Coleridge’s mariner — this state has billions of acre-feet of water clearly visible every day in the form of the Pacific Ocean and its many bays and estuaries. But that’s briny salt water, containing an array of minerals that make it almost as inaccessible today as it was to that parched, fictitious sailor of 200 years ago. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. As the price of water goes up, desalinating Pacific waters becomes ever more enticing and it will become more so if the price of taking salts and other impurities out of salt water falls. In short, if the rising price of fresh water ever comes to match a falling cost for purified sea water, expect desalination to begin on a large scale in California. Read the full article online at dailynews.com.
KGO San Francisco. SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) - As California faces a fourth dry year, experts are taking a serious look at desalinating seawater as a technology that could make a real difference in the drought. With salt water on three sides of the Bay Area, officials say it's a very real a possibility.
Anyone who has stepped outside in the past year has undoubtedly seen the effects of our state’s historic drought conditions. News coverage has shown pictures of empty reservoirs, dry wells and brown, arid landscapes across California. While there is some question of when it may subside, the reality is that we are facing a second straight year of record low rainfall and snowpacks and may face a decade or longer of serious drought conditions across California. Read the full article online at sandiegouniontribune.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jessica Jones 760-655-‐3900 download a pdf
Chamber Honors Key Carlsbad Desalination Project Team Leader Carlsbad, CA - Senior Vice President Peter MacLaggan of Poseidon Water was named Businessperson of the Year by the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce last week. The award, which was announced at the Chamber's Sea of Opportunity 2015 Annual Business Awards Dinner, recognizes macLaggan's leadership on the Carlsbad Desalination Project. |
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