Costly Carlsbad Desal Gambit Makes County Water Buffalos Nervous

In 2011, Conner Everts, one of California’s venerable water conservation advocates, wrote that ocean desalination is dead in California. His essay is posted below.

At about that time, the San Diego County Water Authority, the County’s water wholesaler, signed a 30-year take-or-pay contract with Poseidon Water to build the $1 billion Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad [ocean] Desalination Plant, described hagiographically on the official website.