Santa Barbara Reactivates Seawater Desalination Plant

Santa Barbara has completed a $71 million reactivation of its seawater desalination plant to bolster its water supplies. The city is in a section of California northwest of Los Angeles that received far less precipitation than parts of the state where an extremely rainy and snowy winter brought relief after years of drought. IDE Technologies, the company hired to revive the facility, said Wednesday that the plant will produce nearly 3 million gallons (11.3 million liters) a day to meet 30 percent of the city’s demand.