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Poseidon Desal Plant Gets Fresh Analysis, but Coronavirus Delays Friday Meeting

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

Two issues that could decide the fate of the proposed Poseidon desalination plant in Huntington Beach will have to wait for public debate, as the meeting of the Regional Water Quality Control Board planned for Friday, March 13, has been cancelled because of the coronavirus.

A water board staff report prepared for the meeting provides apparent justification for the board to approve the project, but it also notes the board may disagree and request a revision. Poseidon Water needs just two more permits to go forward — one from the water board and then one from the Coastal Commission.

The workshop planned for Friday was to follow up a similar session held in December. At that meeting, several key issues continued to concern some board members, who requested additional information on whether the desalinated water was needed and whether the proposed mitigation was adequate for the environmental damage expected.

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Opinion: Poseidon Desalination Would Worsen Environmental Injustice in Orange County

/in , /by /Voice of OCby Adriana Maestas

What would California be without the beach? I grew up in Irvine with an awareness of how fortunate we are to live near the ocean. As a child, my parents and babysitters took me and my brother to Corona Del Mar and Newport Beach frequently during the summer. I have many happy memories of enjoying the waves at “our beaches” while bodysurfing, building sandcastles, and seeing fish, anemones, sandcrabs, dolphins and jellyfish! We also took school field trips to Crystal Cove to learn about the ecosystem. These experiences taught me to respect the ocean and to understand that it is alive, a home for sea life and people.

That’s why it’s upsetting that our regional water board is moving closer to issuing permits for a project near my hometown that will harm our ocean, make us more vulnerable to climate change, and make our drinking water more expensive. The project is a massive ocean water desalination plant being proposed by a global corporation called Poseidon that has its sights on Huntington Beach.

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One Idea, Two Cool Things: Desalinated Water and Renewable Energy

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

The contraption, reminiscent of Rube Goldberg, would produce two of Southern California’s most precious and essential resources: water and electricity.

The electricity would be renewable. And the drought-proof, desalinated ocean water could prove more environmentally friendly — and cheaper — than the water produced from three other desalters proposed for Southern California.

The idea, developed by Silicon Valley-based Neal Aronson and his Oceanus Power & Water venture, caught the attention of the Santa Margarita Water District. The agency quickly saw the project’s viability to fill a void.

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Driven by Climate Change, Desalination Researchers Seek Solutions to Water Scarcity

/in , , /by /Here and Now (WBUR, Boston)by Tonya Mosley and Samantha Raphelson

The state of California has dedicated $34 million for eight desalination facilities across the state amid growing concerns about water scarcity in the U.S.

Desalination is when saltwater is converted into freshwater. Though 71% of the Earth is made up of water, extreme weather linked to climate change is adding to concerns about water scarcity.

Scientists estimate that by 2071, nearly half of the 204 freshwater basins in the U.S. may not be able to meet the monthly demand for water, according to a study published in the journal Earth’s Future.

Extracting salt from water seems like an easy fix to a global problem, but the process of desalination can be expensive, and it can also have a huge impact on the environment. That’s why some researchers are looking into how to lower the cost and improve efficiency.

Desalination technology can cost anywhere between two to 10 times the cost of traditional freshwater sources, says Meagan Mauter, research director for the National Alliance for Water Innovation and an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University.

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Opinion: Why Desalination Can Help Quench State’s Water Needs

/in , , /by /The Daily Transcript / CalMattersby Wendy Ridderbusch

If you’ve ever created a personal budget, you know that assigning your money to different investment strategies is a crucial component to meet your financial goals. When you stop dipping into your savings account each month, savings can begin to build.

Understanding why desalination is so critical to California’s water future is a lot like building a personal budget. With a changing climate, growing population and booming economy, we need to include desalination in the water supply equation to help make up an imported water deficit.

(Originally published in CalMatters: https://bit.ly/39pNkuD)

 

 

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Opinion: Why Desalination Can Help Quench California’s Water Needs

/in , /by /CalMattersby Wendy Ridderbusch

If you’ve ever created a personal budget, you know that assigning your money to different investment strategies is a crucial component to meet your financial goals. When you stop dipping into your savings account each month, savings can begin to build.

Understanding why desalination is so critical to California’s water future is a lot like building a personal budget. With a changing climate, growing population and booming economy, we need to include desalination in the water supply equation to help make up an imported water deficit.

The California Natural Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Food and Agriculture recently released the Water Resilience Portfolio. In it, officials highlighted the importance of diversifying water supplies through the introduction of new water sources and preparing for new threats, including more extreme droughts.

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UC Merced Researchers Working on Innovative Way to Desalinate Ag Water

/in , /by /ABC 30 News/KFSN (Fresno, Calif.)by Sara Sandrik

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) — A new project at UC Merced is focusing on irrigation water.
The work could have a significant impact on the crops that are grown throughout the Central Valley.

“We’re trying to take two problems and come up with one solution out of the two of them. We have an excess of drainage water which has excess salt in it, and we need cooling of agricultural greenhouses,” says assistant professor James Palko.

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Desalination Emerges as a Possible Solution for Another Monterey County Water Challenge

/in , , /by /Monterey County Weeklyby Asaf Shalev

On par with mission architecture or cattle ranching is another consequential relic of Spanish colonialism in California: the idea that water pumped from underground belongs to whoever owns the land above.

In the Central Valley, a major danger of unregulated pumping has been a drooping of the surface at a rate of one foot a year. Here, in the Salinas Valley, so much freshwater has been extracted that, in some aquifers, the natural flow from continent to ocean has reversed – seawater is pushing through gravel and sand into groundwater sources, threatening to spoil a critical household and agricultural supply.

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Not Sports Podcast: San Diego Water Authority Board Chair Jim Madaffer

/in , /by /KOGO-AM 600 (Not Sports Podcast)by Jack Cronin and Darren Smith Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Darren Smith: Joining us now in studio is San Diego County Water Authority Board Chair Jim Madaffer.

Smith: “I think some of us we just turn on the shower in the morning and we use the faucet in our home and we never give a second thought as to what it’s coming and where it’s coming from, yet you have all the answers to these questions, don’t you?”

Jim Madaffer: “People do just turn on the faucet, the garden hose and they expect water to come out but yet a lot of folks don’t realize the incredible journey those molecules took to get to that faucet and what it takes to make sure they’re being delivered safe potable quality water and that it’s always reliable and at the best price possible.”

(“Not Sports” podcast with Darren Smith and Jack Cronin is a nightly look at stories that affect San Diego and the greater Southern California region.)

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2019 In Review: Desalination Plans Stalled By Lawsuit

/in , /by /The Beach Report (Hermosa Beach)by David Rosenfeld

Plans to build an ocean desalination plant by West Basin Municipal Water District have been percolating for years.

The past year saw the completion of an Environmental Impact Report for a proposed facility in El Segundo that would generate 20 million gallons of freshwater daily from the salty ocean. Conservationists opposed to the technology say it’s too energy intensive, pollutes the air and water, and would sidetrack ongoing water recycling and replenishment goals. The district, meanwhile, says it’s a prudent measure to ensure water needs are met in times of droughts or emergencies.

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