Desalination Archives

RWQCB Approves Camp Pendleton Waste Discharge Order Rescission

May 22, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Fallbrook Village Newsby Joe Naiman

The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board approved a rescission of the waste discharge order for Camp Pendleton’s California Sewage Treatment Plant No. 9.

The 7-0 board vote May 13 eliminates the waste discharge requirements for the Las Pulgas plant which has been replaced.

The RWQCB initially issued a waste discharge order for the plant in 1998. The sewage has since been diverted to Camp Pendleton’s Southern Regional Tertiary Treatment Plant and Northern Regional Tertiary Treatment Plant, which supports the production of recycled water for landscape irrigation and seawater intrusion mitigation.

Between 1999 and 2012 the United States Marine Corps received 12 staff enforcement letters regarding California Sewage Treatment Plant No. 9 and three notices of violation for the waste discharge order. During that time 94 violations for deficient monitoring, overflow events, and exceeding the pH limit occurred. No violations took place during the final seven years of the California Sewage Treatment Plant No. 9 operation.

Full Story

Regulators Express Concerns About Huntington Beach Desalination Project

May 16, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /The Orange County Registerby Martin Wisckol

The Poseidon desalination plant proposed for Huntington Beach could be facing rough waters ahead, as several regulatory officials on Friday expressed concerns over the controversial plan..

During a Regional Water Quality Control Board workshop held online, three of the agency’s six board members persistently pressed local officials about the need, consumer cost and environmental harm of the $1 billion project.

The board is tentatively scheduled to a vote July 31 on one of two permits still needed by Poseidon Water before it can negotiate a final contract and begin construction on a project that that company has been pursuing for two decades. The proposal needs four votes from the regional board before it can go before the Coastal Commission for its last permit.

The Orange County Water District, the prospective purchaser of the water, has been attracted to the desalination project because it’s drought-proof and would protect its service area of 2.5 million residents from shortages of imported water. Currently, about 23% of the district’s water is imported.

Full Story

Online-Only Public Comment for Poseidon Desalination Plant Public Hearing Draws Criticism

May 15, 2020/in Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Voice of OCby Brandon Pho

A state regional water board is drawing public criticism in Orange County for holding meetings on a controversial desalination plant in Huntington Beach, while public participation can only be done virtually amid the coronavirus health crisis.

The Santa Ana Regional Quality Control Board is meeting this morning to hold a public hearing on Poseidon Water’s request for a permit renewal for their facility, which would be built on 12 acres of a power plant and produce 50 million gallons of water per day, according to water district staff.

Full Story

Opinion: Pure Water Monterey Expansion Proposal Falls Short

May 13, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Monterey Heraldby Fred Meurer, Bill Kampe, Norm Groot and Joe Gunter

The board of Monterey One Water recently voted not to certify a supplemental environmental impact report for an expansion of Pure Water Monterey. While the expansion was a technical concept that might provide additional water for the Peninsula, the Board action injected some much-needed clear thinking and foresight into a critical topic for the Monterey Peninsula. It’s not about desal versus expansion or public versus private ownership. It’s about creating an adequate and reliable water supply for our future.

Initially, the expansion was described as a backup to the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project yet would provide substantially less water, still leaving the Peninsula with a constrained water supply.

Full Story

Virginia Tech Team Creating a Tube Pump for Desalination Applications

May 7, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Engineering 360by Marie Donlon

In a bid to remove salt and other minerals from ocean salt water, otherwise known as desalination, without using bulky hydraulic pumps, a team from Virginia Tech has developed a simplified pump composed of a fluidic flexible matrix composite material.

Full Story

Opinion: How to Waste $1 Billion in Less than a Minute

May 6, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Moterey Heralsby Michael DeLapa

Why would a public agency support an unnecessary and risky billion-dollar desalination plant and let a private utility profit hundreds of millions of dollars at the public’s expense? Here’s the story.

Full Story

Montecito Water District Poised to be Drought Proof

April 30, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Santa Barbara News-Pressby Christian Whittle

The Montecito Water District is set to be drought-proof by the summer, the district announced Monday.

The progress is due to desalination and new rates, which the district’s board of directors received a status report on as well as a water supply agreement with the city of Santa Barbara during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday.

Full Story

12-Hour Shifts, Sleeping in RVs: Carlsbad Desalination Plant Gets New Crew

April 14, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Times of San Diegoby City News Service

A 10-person crew is in the midst of a three-week shelter-in-place shift at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, relieving an initial crew that self-quarantined on site for three weeks to continue producing clean drinking water for county residents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting March 19, the first crew of 10 “mission-critical employees” was stationed at the plant to continue operations, working two 12-hour shifts each day and sleeping in RVs in the plant parking lot, according to Poseidon Water, which manages the plant. Food and other supplies were delivered on a daily basis.

The crew was relieved last Thursday and the current crew will remain at the plant until April 30.

Full Story

Second Crew Begins Work at Carlsbad Desalination Plant Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

April 14, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /City News Service (Fallbrook Village News)by City News Service

A 10-person crew is in the midst of a three-week shelter-in-place shift at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, relieving an initial crew that self-quarantined on site for three weeks to continue producing clean drinking water for county residents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting March 19, the first crew of 10 “mission-critical employees” was stationed at the plant to continue operations, working two 12-hour shifts each day and sleeping in RVs in the plant parking lot, according to Poseidon Water, which manages the plant.

Full Story