How a Deep-Ocean Desalination Startup Hopes To Rewrite California’s Water Future

An elephant standing full weight on a smartphone. That’s the pressure 1,400 feet underwater that a startup hopes to use to push seawater through ultrafine filters and make drinking water off the coast of Malibu — without much of the controversy that surrounds desalination.

Desalination plants are notoriously large electricity users. Some have natural gas pipelines running to them to fuel dedicated power plants. The company OceanWell estimates its technology will cut that electricity use by up to 40%.