Tag Archive for: Desalination

Water Company Withdraws Desalination Proposal as Battle over Environmental Justice Heats Up

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Rosanna Xia

Amid mounting controversy and concerns over environmental justice, California American Water on Wednesday withdrew its application for a desalination project in the small Monterey Bay town of Marina.

The proposal had become one of the most fraught issues to come before the California Coastal Commission, which was set to vote Thursday. The decision would have been the first major test of the commission’s new power to review not only harm to the environment when making decisions but also harm to underrepresented communities.

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Conservationists Split Over Poseidon Desal Project’s Potential to Help Bolsa Chica Wetlands

/in , /by /Voice of OCby Brandon Pho

Along a Huntington Beach coastline dotted with oil rigs and a power plant, one of California’s largest remaining saltwater marshes has been a source of pride for local environmentalists.

But the marsh, known as the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, is endangered despite a years-long struggle to pull together sufficient public funding for its upkeep.

Nearby, the Poseidon Water Co., which has been in a decades-long, controversial fight to build a seawater desalination plant next to the AES energy station at the south end of the city, has justified its project partly with a promise to finance the wetlands’ conservation.

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In a Small California Town, a Fight Over Desalination is Now About Environmental Justice

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times by Rosanna Xia

On a barren stretch of Monterey Bay, in a region desperate for fresh water, an oft-overlooked town has little say in whether a big water company can build a desalination operation right on its shore.

Here in Marina, where one-third of the town is low income and many speak little English, industrial facilities have long burdened the landscape. This desalination project would replace a century-old sand mine that has stripped shorebirds and rare butterflies of their home — and the community of an open space where anybody could cool off during a heat wave or enjoy a day by the sea.

Not a drop of this treated water — which would be piped to other cities, businesses and farmers in need — would even be for Marina.

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Coastal Commission to Revisit Cal Am Desal Project Thursday

/in , , /by /Monterey Heraldby Jim Johnson

A long-awaited Coastal Commission hearing on California American Water’s proposed Monterey Peninsula desalination project is shaping up to be an all-day affair.

After nine months of waiting, the desal project is set for a special remote commission meeting on Thursday in which the proposal is the lone item on the agenda.

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Opinion: Water Recycling Project Fits Needs on Monterey Peninsula Better than Proposed Desalination Plant

/in , /by /CalMattersby Bruce Delgado

Expansion of the Pure Water Monterey recycled water project is the best option for the Monterey region to meet its future water supply needs. Unfortunately, California American Water Co., a private water supplier, is discrediting the project in the hopes of instead getting approval for their much more costly, oversized and environmentally harmful groundwater desalination project to be built in, around and through the city of Marina.

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Pure Water Monterey Supply Set for Extraction, Use on Peninsula

/in , , /by /Monterey Heraldby Jim Johnson

Pure Water Monterey is finally poised to make water available for the Monterey Peninsula, providing a new water supply source for the area while allowing a reduction in Carmel River water usage albeit at a considerably reduced rate to start than was expected.

Last weekend, Monterey One Water announced that it had completed a 1,000-acre-foot recycled water reserve in the Seaside basin and that California American Water could start extracting additional water from the basin equivalent to the amount of recycled water being pumped into the basin beyond the reserve.

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Water: Coastal Commission Staff Again Advises Desal Project Denial

/in , , /by /Monterey Heraldby Jim Johnson

Nine months after the Coastal Commission conducted its first hearing on California American Water’s proposed desalination project, commission staff has again recommended denial of the project in favor of a Pure Water Monterey expansion proposal.

On Tuesday, commission staff released a 154-page staff report essentially reiterating its previous arguments against the Cal Am desal project, including its relative cost, environmental impact and controversial nature. It touted the “feasible and environmentally preferable” recycled water project as a viable alternative in the Monterey Peninsula’s long-running attempts to develop a replacement water supply to offset the state ordered Carmel River cutback order.

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Poseidon’s Desalination Plan for Huntington Beach Delayed Again

/in , , /by /Orange County Registerby Martin Wisckol

After years of bureaucratic hurdles and increasing regulatory requirements, Poseidon Water was dealt yet another delay Friday, Aug. 7, in its pursuit of a controversial desalination plant in Huntington Beach.  The Regional Water Quality Control Board concluded three days of hearings on the project’s next permit by telling Poseidon it must return with a more robust, more detailed mitigation plan to offset the environmental damage the project will cause.

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Water Officials Push Back Decision on Huntington Beach Desal Project Yet Again

/in , , /by /Voice of OCby Brandon Pho

State regional water officials have again delayed a decision on a controversial seawater desalination plant in Huntington Beach, instead placing further requirements on the project’s company to reckon with the facility’s anticipated environmental damage.

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Opinion: Poseidon’s Huntington Beach Desalination Plant Still In Choppy Waters

/in , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Bettina Boxall

As Poseidon Water pursues the final government approvals needed to build one of the country’s biggest seawater desalination plants, the company still cannot definitively say who will buy the 50 million gallons a day of drinking water it wants to produce on the Orange County coast.

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