Projects set to tap the ocean for water; Desalination facilities planned for San Diego county

From the San Diego Union Tribune:

With a large-scale desalination plant approved for the Carlsbad coast and others possibly on tap nearby, San Diego County is positioned to become a global leader in turning ocean water into drinking water. If planned desalination facilities go forward, nearly one out of every five gallons of the region’s tap water will come from the ocean by 2020.

Besides Poseidon Resources’ envisioned plant in Carlsbad, which is scheduled to churn out 50 million gallons of purified ocean water each day starting in 2012, the San Diego County Water Authority has just completed a feasibility study on a potential 150 million-gallon-a-day operation at Camp Pendleton.

The second project would take a decade and nearly $2 billion to complete. It would likely begin as a smaller complex and gradually expand.

“If they go ahead with (the full-sized version), it will be the biggest seawater desalination plant in the world,” said Tom Pankratz, editor of the Water Desalination Report and an industry consultant. The largest saltwater desalination complex under development is a site in Algeria that would generate 132 million gallons per day starting in 2011.

While desert nations in the Middle East and elsewhere have long depended on desalinated seawater, U.S. demand has emerged only during the past decade. In California, about 20 projects have been proposed from San Diego to Marin counties.

Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.

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