On Feb. 12, federal, state and local officials joined Channelside Water Resources to commemorate the breach of Pond 15, the return of tidal flow to the area for the first time in 50 years. This is a historic milestone for the Otay River Estuary Restoration Project as Pond 15 has not seen active tidal flow since the 1970s.
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.
On July 25, the San Diego County Water Authority (CWA) Board of Directors voted for a 14% wholesale rate increase effective in 2025 for the wholesaler’s 23 local water agencies, to be followed by a 16.4% increase in 2026 plus 5.6% in 2027 (40.1 percent compounded).
The increase is part of an unstoppable trend in county water management caused by CWA’s high debts and declining water use, resulting in less revenue for paying those debts—over $2 billion worth.
