A local water district is proposing an ambitious plan to turn ocean water into drinking water, and while the idea of a “Blue Water Farm” sounds promising, some environmental groups say that ocean desalination should be a last resort and that more can be done to conserve water in affluent communities.
With an unclear future for the state’s freshwater sources, California’s interest in seawater desalination continues to grow. Support for desalination in California is growing. Currently, California has 12 seawater desalination facilities, but only two are of a significant size. Although a key state agency has recently approved plans for two more moderate size facilities, the perception of seawater desalination in the state is quite poor and project proposals face a steep uphill battle.
As water in the Western U.S. becomes an increasingly rare commodity, the driest states are grasping at solutions for an even drier future — investing heavily in technologies to maximize the conservation, and creation, of the region’s most precious resource. With more than a thousand miles of Pacific Ocean coastline, California appears to have access to a wellspring that other arid states lack.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
