The highly publicized, deservedly acclaimed storage and treatment successes in central and northern OC are in part a function of the real estate adage: “Location, location, location.” The reality is “Location, storage, location, storage,” and therein lies the challenge here in South Orange County: We’re below-ground storage “poor.”
Opponents of a proposed desalination facility along the Huntington Beach coastline are aghast that Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken steps to help end a years-long regulatory logjam. Although an environmentalist, the governor clearly recognizes the importance of developing new water sources to meet California’s needs. Privately funded facilities plants that turn saltwater into drinking water aren’t the only solution to California’s water shortages, but they are one solution. For instance, a similar plant in Carlsbad has the capacity to meet 9 percent of San Diego County’s water needs.
When Gov. Gavin Newsom was photographed dining at an opulent Napa Valley restaurant during a surge in coronavirus cases, many Californians saw it as hypocrisy. For opponents of a planned $1-billion desalination plant along the Orange County coast, however, the optics were menacing.
The unmasked Newsom was celebrating the birthday of a lobbyist for Poseidon Water, which is close to obtaining final government approval for one of the country’s biggest seawater desalination plants.
We’ve seen this story before: What do you do when someone doesn’t have science on their side? You make up a conspiracy story. And better yet, you try to piggyback on a politically charged conspiracy theory with no ties to reality.
And that’s exactly what Gary Brown attempts to do in his opinion piece regarding the Poseidon project, “Governor’s talk on environment falls short when it comes to the Poseidon project,” Dec. 3.
He claims that desalination is somehow tied to a bigger conspiracy involving Gov. Gavin Newsom and shady backroom politics. Well, hang on to your tinfoil hat. There’s no government conspiracy here — it’s actual science.
Orange County sees past Poseidon’s efforts to buy support for its desalination boondoggle. Why can’t Gov. Newsom? Poseidon Water, a large water development company, has been pushing to build a $1.4-billion water desalination plant in Huntington Beach. Like Poseidon’s underperforming, high-cost plant in Carlsbad, the plant and its inflated water would be paid for by ratepayers.
One of the most vocal critics of a controversial seawater desalting plant, proposed for the Huntington Beach coastline, will no longer be on the state’s local water board when it votes to approve the project later this year.
Although these days no one seems to agree on anything, there is one thing we can all agree on: every Californian should have a right to clean drinking water. But even with that, California is facing an impending water shortage.
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.
Poseidon Water’s seawater desalination plant in Huntington Beach, first proposed in 1998, could be getting closer to beginning construction after more than two decades.
After more than 20 years of developing plans for a Huntington Beach desalination plant and winding its way through a seemingly endless bureaucratic approval process, Poseidon Water comes to a key juncture as the Regional Water Quality Control Board votes on whether to grant a permit after hearings this week.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
