Long Beach Water Dept. to get $3 million from feds for desalination work
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 2, 2009 at 6:48 amFrom the Long Beach Press Telegram:
The Long Beach Water Department will receive more than $3 million in federal stimulus funding for its water desalination project, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Wednesday.
Funding will go toward a $20 million desalination testing program Long Beach Water is executing in southeast Long Beach near the Orange County line. Stimulus funding will meet about 50 percent of the $6 million the department had planned to spend over the next two years, said Long Beach Water Department spokesman Ryan Alsop. The funding package “closes out the remaining amount of money we need” to complete the current phase of testing, Alsop said.
The department hopes to complete testing of the technology, which converts sea water into potable water, as early as the end of 2010.
Read more from the Long Beach Press Telegram by clicking here.
Here’s the press release from the Long Beach Water Department:
Today, the United States Department of Interior announced that the Long Beach Water Department will receive $3,006,005 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for the Long Beach Desalination Project. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the Bureau of Reclamation has identified 27 water reclamation and reuse projects that will share in a total of $134.3 million under ARRA. These water projects – known as “Title XVI” projects for the title of Public Law 102-575 that established the program – facilitate the reclamation and reuse of wastewater and naturally impaired ground and surface waters.
According to a Department of Interior press release, the $134.3 million for these projects is part of President Barack Obama’s $1 billion investment of ARRA funding provided by the Department of the Interior for water projects across the West. In April, Secretary Salazar announced an additional $260 million in ARRA funding to address California’s current drought conditions and to meet the state’s long-term water supply infrastructure needs. Today’s announcement brings total funding for California water-related activities funding under the Interior portion of ARRA to $381 million.
Drinking from the sea: Demand for desalination plants increases worldwide
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 30, 2009 at 6:55 am
From Circle of Blue:
Pressed by growing urban populations, drier and warmer climates and the need to fortify supplies stretched by the increasing worldwide thirst, metropolitan and national governments on five continents are building record numbers of industrial plants to use a nearly alchemic technology to produce drinking water from the sea.
Over the last five years, an average of 800 new desalination plants have been constructed annually, according to various industrial reports, and the global market could reach $58 billion a year. In 2006 and 2007 alone, according to Global Water Intelligence, an industry research group that tracks water trends, the world’s desalination capacity grew 43 percent, and since 1990 has experienced an average annual growth rate of 17 percent. About 14,380 desalination plants operate across the world, said Global Water Intelligence, with a total contracted capacity of 62 million cubic meters, or 16.3 billion gallons, per day.
“In the last ten years, there’s been almost exponential growth, and I think it’s going to continue to grow,” said Tom Pankratz, member of the board of directors at the International Desalination Association.
But even as desalination emerges as one of the world’s important infrastructure development industries, attracting globally significant companies like General Electric and Veolia Environment, environmental and economic authorities have raised concerns.
“Desalination plants are enormously expensive, use tremendous amounts of energy and have major environmental costs that are not always adequately addressed, including brine disposal, impingement and entrainment of aquatic organisms and coastal development problems.” said Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute.
Read more from the Circle of Blue by clicking here.
Marin Municipal Water District board accepts desalination report, but not all its findings
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 26, 2009 at 6:09 amFrom the Marin Independent Journal:
The Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors agreed with assertions of a new report that said conservation is important, but didn’t fully embrace the notion that it would be enough to satisfy Marin’s future water needs. Board members responded to the report Wednesday in front of an overflow crowd at its headquarters in Corte Madera.
The report, “Sustaining Our Water Future,” was issued earlier this month by the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit consumer organization Food & Water Watch. The report concludes that the district doesn’t need to build a desalination plant and could instead employ conservation measures, curb leaks and improve reservoir operations to meet future water needs.
“You did a super job to all our benefit,” board member Jack Gibson told the report’s author, James Fryer, a former water district conservation program manager.
Read more from the Marin Independent Journal by clicking here.
CNFO delivers fresh, desalinated water at lower cost
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 22, 2009 at 7:39 amFrom Business Wire, this press release from Centriforce Technogy Corp:
Centriforce Technology Corp. (Pink Sheets:CNFO) announced today results from the operation of its recently completed desalination unit in Houston, Texas. Results indicate an energy consumption by CNFO’s technology of about 1 kw of power per cubic meter of salt water processed into fresh water. The industry standard is about 4 kw per cubic meter. The biggest expense in producing fresh water to a thirsty world is the cost of processing salt water into fresh water. CNFO directly reduces this operating cost with its new technology.
World water reserves are falling to critical levels in many parts of the world from California to the Middle East. With natural water supplies dwindling, new technology will be needed to sustain economic and population growth in dry areas. CNFO has developed a new technology for the processing of salt water into fresh water that uses less energy in the production process, thereby reducing operating costs required to produce fresh water. This is the ultimate green technology – fresh water using less energy and at lower cost.
“We are pleased by the early success of our new technology,” stated Matthew Schulman, CEO. “Now that we have the technology running, we expect to begin accepting opportunities to develop desalination plants for communities in need,” he added. “We feel that we have passed an important inflection point with the success of this processing unit,” he concluded.
For more information, visit Centriforce Technology’s website at http://www.cnfowater.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements that include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipate” or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition, description of anyone’s past success, either financial or strategic, is no guarantee of future success.
Arabian Gulf’s marine environment under threat
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 22, 2009 at 7:35 amFrom the Middle East’s Gulf Times:
The desalination of [Arabian] Gulf sea water to make it fit for human consumption creates waste water that can be harmful to the sea, new studies report.
Countries around the Gulf are increasingly turning to desalination to meet the thirst of their growing populations, but new studies reveal that some of the waste products from the process, such as heavy metals, chemicals and highly salty and unnaturally warm water can harm the local marine environment.
An estimated 420mn cubic feet of water are desalinated in the region every day, the equivalent in size to 4,800 Olympic swimming pools.
“Heavy metals or trace metals are found in the sea naturally in small quantities,” Dr Mohamed Eltayeb, Marine Programme Officer with IUCN - The World Conservation Union, told The Media Line. “If it’s within the level that the sea can absorb, then there is no problem. But if you add more nutria like nitrate and phosphate, which is the base for plankton, it leads to an overgrowth of algae blooming, which can be harmful to humans.”
Read more from Gulf News by clicking here.
3 questions: G.G. Pique, Energy Recovery Inc.
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 21, 2009 at 6:34 amThe San Francisco Chronicle poses three questions to Chief Executive Officer G. G. Pique of Energy Recovery, Inc.:
Q: Some analysts have said the state’s drought problems will crack the market wide open for water solutions. What is the future of water desalination in California and what part will ERI take in it?
A: Twenty years ago I helped design and start up the Santa Barbara desalination plant. Back then we were selling water at $2 per cubic meter. Since that time the cost of desalination has been cut in half.
California now has 9 million more people than the last time we had a major drought in the ’70s. It is very important to have new sources of water, and we see desalination as the low-energy and low-cost solution. If you go to San Diego in 18 months, drinking desalinated water from the tap will be a reality.
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Poseidon Resources selects Barclays capital as financial advisor for the Carlsbad desalination project
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 18, 2009 at 7:48 amFrom Poseidon Resources, this press release:
Carlsbad, CA – Poseidon Resources announced today that it has selected Barclays Capital (NYSE: BCS) as its financial advisor in connection with the financing of its 50 million gallon per day (MGD) reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad, California.
After spending seven years permitting the project, the announcement marks the start of the process to finance the pioneer water supply project.
As financial advisor, Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC, will provide Poseidon with a fully integrated, seamless solution to execute the construction and term financing of the project’s $300-plus million capital investment and associated closing, construction and startup period costs. Over the coming months, Barclays Capital will be coordinating development of independent technical reports, rating agency presentations, and execution of the debt financing.
“We are pleased that we have a strong and internationally respected financial institution like Barclays Capital advising us on the project during these extraordinary times,” said Andrew Kingman, Poseidon Resource’s Chief Financial Officer.
Poseidon Resources specializes in developing and financing water infrastructure projects, primarily seawater desalination and water treatment plants. These projects are implemented through innovative public-private partnerships in which private enterprise assumes the developmental and financial risks. For more information on Poseidon Resources and the Carlsbad desalination plant, please visit our website at www.carlsbad-desal.com.
Middle East desalination: It’s important to clean up the brine after desalination, says editorial; plus more details on Middle Eastern desalination procedures
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 16, 2009 at 7:45 amYesterday, I posted an article from the Middle East’s Gulf News about desalination and the problems the brine discharge is causing in the Arabian Gulf. The link was sent to me by a reader who questioned what the implications of the news story might be for California.
Today there is another story posted on desalination in the Arabian Gulf, which brings up an important difference between desalination in the Middle East and what is being proposed for California. The proposed desalination plants for California would use reverse-osmosis; however, most desalination (90%) in the Middle East is done thermally - they boil the water to evaporate it, leaving the salts behind. This creates a hot brine discharge, which accounts for why the temperature of the Gulf waters rises 10 degrees Celsius (as reported in yesterday’s story.) The brine also contains anti-scalants; I do believe anti-scalants are used in Reverse Osmosis desalination - to what degree this differs in the different processes, I do not know.
Keeping this difference in mind, here’s the story from Gulf News:
Desalination is the only way that the countries around the Arabian Gulf will have enough water for their needs since they have neither rain nor rivers, and their aquifers are being sucked dry.
However, desalination brings serious dangers for the marine environment, which have been overlooked for decades as the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran have gone ahead and built 120 desalination plants to date.
The process of desalination involves boiling sea water so that fresh water steams off, leaving highly salty brine behind, which is pumped back into the sea. There are three problems with this brine …
First, it is very salty, so that year after year the salinity of the Gulf is rising. Second, it is hot, so that the temperature of the Gulf is being raised. Third, the brine contains an alarming volume of chlorine, antiscalants and copper, which are being dumped into the sea.
Read more of this story from Gulf News by clicking here. Find out more about desalination in the Arabian Gulf in this related article from Gulf News: Desalination: Facts and procedures
Desalination waste dumping threatens Arabian Gulf
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 15, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Thank you, cookie jill, for sending me this link. CJ wonders what this story means for California as the state contemplates producing more desalinated water. From Gulf News (the Middle East):
Dubai: Every time desalination plants dump tons of brine carrying chemicals into the Arabian Gulf, sea temperatures rise by 10 degrees Celsius, according to researchers. This is having life-threatening effects on the marine ecosystem in the region. More than 12 million cubic metres of sea water, equivalent to 4,800 Olympic swimming pools, are desalinated daily in this region.
The UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran have 120 desalination plants between them. These plants flush nearly 24 tons of chlorine, 65 tons of algae-harming antiscalants used to descale pipes, and around 300kg of copper into the Arabian Gulf every day.
This chemical mixture is affecting seabed organisms and making its way up the food chain. Researchers say the Arabian Gulf is the water body most threatened by desalination.
Read more from Gulf News by clicking here.
Marin water report: Real solutions or false promises?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 15, 2009 at 7:04 amFrom the Marin Independent Journal, this commentary by Richard Rubin:
JUST AS the MMWD shows promise of firmly grappling with the county’s murky water future, up pops a report misnamed, “Sustaining our Water Future,” whose principal aim is to debunk desalination in favor of conservation-only solutions.
The authors are a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, few have ever heard of, known as the Food & Water Watch. It turns out this is a Ralph Nader-spinoff funded specifically to preach the virtues of conservation as the sole means of ensuring water supply and has targeted places such as Marin which are flirting with desalination.
The problem is not merely the disinformation, misconceptions and inadequate cost/benefits analysis, but its ability to fuel the flames of those who have almost a visceral reaction at the mere mention of the word desalination. Hopefully it is but a momentary distraction for a water board sometimes swept under by the currents of questionable public opposition.
Let’s try to dispose of several of the report’s very radical solutions: It is suggested that landscape watering be scaled back 40 percent. The district has already set an ambitious goal to curtail overall water use by an additional 10 percent to 15 percent - and this in a county which has adopted very aggressive conservation measures over many years.
What the report fails to point out are the costs of achieving such self-imposed rationing through recommended rain water catchments and more cisterns, which on a dollars-per-gallon basis would be three times the cost of desalination, according to district General Manager, Paul Helliker.
Read more of Richard’s commentary by clicking here.
Desalination plant’s nitrate removal has hidden benefits - process can destroy perchlorate and volatile organic compounds (VOC) as well
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 12, 2009 at 7:36 amFrom Desalination & Water Reuse:
A water district in California has found a novel way to remove multiple contaminants from groundwater currently feeding a desalination plant without creating waste that requires costly treatment and disposal.
The treatment could replace processes such as ion-exchange, reverse-osmosis and electrodialysis-reversal.
Western Municipal Water District (WMWD) is moving ahead with plans to expand the Arlington Desalter to 7,500 acre-feet (9.2 million m³) of drinking water per year and has awarded an $815,000 contract to Carollo Engineers to design what is anticipated to be the USA’s only operating full-scale biologically active denitrification facility for drinking water.
Read more from Desalination & Water Reuse by clicking here.
San Diego needs a desalination advocate on the Coastal Commission; Desalination a key to coastal water strategy, says editorials
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 11, 2009 at 7:01 amFrom the San Diego Union Tribune, a pair of editorials regarding desalination. From the first editorial:
For San Diego County, the single most important issue falling under the legal jurisdiction of the California Coastal Commission is desalination of ocean water. Today the region is perilously dependent on unreliable supplies of imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River. Desalination offers the promise of an inexhaustible new source of water to address San Diego’s future needs.
For this reason, the current vacancy on the Coastal Commission is of critical importance to San Diego. It is up to Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, to fill the position, one of two San Diego seats on the 12-member panel. Under state law, Bass will choose from a list of seven names submitted by the Board of Supervisors and a selection committee of local mayors.
It is absolutely essential, in our view, that Speaker Bass appoint a commissioner who will advance the cause of desalination in an environmentally sound way. The only seawater desalination plant thus far approved in San Diego, Poseidon Resources’ Carlsbad project, took six long years to clear state regulatory hurdles. The Coastal Commission, with a staff openly hostile to the venture, did much to delay it before ultimately approving it.
Which of San Diego’s candidates for the position on the California Coastal Commission be an advocate for desalination? Find out what the U-T thinks by clicking here.
Now, after Poseidon finally received approval after six years of working on the approval process, there’s another desalination plant on the horizon:
The County Water Authority, meanwhile, has completed a feasibility study on building a 150-million-gallon-a-day, $1.9 billion desalination plant in Camp Pendleton’s southwest corner. This is a highly promising venture. It’s easy to see why water experts are excited over the proposal, which has the potential to fill the water needs of one-third of San Diego County homes all by itself. Especially if new technologies can be developed to lessen the relatively minor harm done to marine life by the water intake valves needed for big desalination plants, San Diego could be on the leading edge of a new water era.
Unfortunately, there are two huge obstacles to this hopeful vision. The first is the nearly unconditional opposition to desalination by many environmental groups. Some appear to have a pragmatic understanding that desalination is a key to the state’s long-term water strategy and solely want practical mitigation efforts. But for many, starting with Food & Water Watch, a Naderite nonprofit group, desalination amounts to an evil plot to simultaneously discourage conservation, kill off fish and promote corporate control of natural resources. Such groups and their high-paid lawyers will never stop fighting.
And they will be helped by the second big obstacle: the lack of a transparent, easily navigated bureaucratic process by which desalination projects can prove their viability and win state approval. The reason it took Poseidon six years to get the final go-ahead was that it needed input from or the endorsement of at least a dozen government agencies.
Read more of this editorial from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.
Desalination has major role in San Diego water plans
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 8, 2009 at 6:10 amFrom the San Diego News Network:
With a Carlsbad desalination plant set to start producing 50 million gallons of drinking water daily starting in 2012, San Diego County is positioned to become a global leader in making ocean water drinkable. If all goes as planned, about 20 percent of all drinking water in the region will come from the ocean by 2020, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Sunday.
Work is continuing apace on the Poseidon Resources plant in Carlsbad, and the San Diego County Water Authority recently completed a feasibility study on desalination plant at Camp Pendleton that would produce about 150 million gallons per day. The cost — about $2 billion.
“If they go ahead with (the full-sized version), it will be the biggest seawater desalination plant in the world,” Tom Pankratz, editor of the Water Desalination Report, told the newspaper.
Algeria is working to complete what would be the largest desalination plant in the world. Set to start operating in 2011, it would produce 132 million gallons per day. The county water authority is also exploring with the International Boundary and Water Commission the idea of building a desalination plant in Rosarito Beach.
Read more of this article from San Diego News Network by clicking here.
Projects set to tap the ocean for water; Desalination facilities planned for San Diego county
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 7, 2009 at 7:25 amFrom 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.
Report: Marin’s desalination plant is not needed
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 6, 2009 at 6:06 amFrom the Marin Independent Journal:
The Marin Municipal Water District doesn’t need to build a desalination plant and could employ conservation measures, curb leaks and improve reservoir operations to meet future water needs, according to a new report. The report, “Sustaining Our Water Future,” was issued Wednesday by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit consumer organization Food & Water Watch. It was written by James Fryer, a former water district conservation program manager.
In February, the MMWD Board of Directors directed its staff to keep open the possibility of a controversial 5-million-gallon-a-day desalination plant as part of a package of steps to address the county’s future water needs. But a final decision on desalination won’t come until 2011.
The new report suggests the water district has overestimated the expected water shortfall because it based it on high-use years, not demand in a normal year. By replacing inefficient fixtures, improving landscape irrigation, plugging system leaks and enhancing reservoir operations, Marin could have a reliable water supply without desalination, according to the report.
“The report illustrates what is the most cost-efficient and beneficial way for ratepayers to maintain water supply,” said Adam Scow, of Food & Water Watch, which opposes desalination in general. “People want conservation, they don’t want desalination and they are willing to take steps.”
Read more from the Marin Independent Journal by clicking here. You can read the press release from Food & Water Watch by clicking here.
Zero Discharge Desalination - a possible solution
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 5, 2009 at 6:10 amFrom The Engineer Online:
Veolia Water Solutions and Technologies has acquired worldwide rights to commercialise a patented Zero Discharge Desalination (ZDD) technology developed at the University of South Carolina.
The technology uses a combination of separation processes, including an electro-dialysis device, to remove divalent salts from water. The process prevents the salts from precipitating during the process of producing purified water and allows greater water recovery.
Recent pilot testing has proven that the technology can achieve 97 per cent recovery on brackish water over an extended time period.
Read more from The Engineer Online by clicking here.
Marin desalination plant unnecessary finds Food & Water Watch report
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 5, 2009 at 5:49 amFrom Food & Water Watch, this press release:
A package of smart water solutions that includes improving landscape irrigation, decreasing system leaks, and enhancing reservoir operation can meet Marin’s future water needs at a much lower cost than the proposed desalination facility finds a new report released today by the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch. The report, Sustaining Our Water Future: A Review of the Marin Municipal Water District’s Alternatives to Improve Water Supply Reliability, is authored by James Fryer, who served as coordinator of the Marin Municipal Water District’s (MMWD) water conservation program from 1990 to 1999.
Based on a thorough review and analysis of MMWD and water industry documents and records, interviews of MMWD staff and other water experts, this report recommends a package of solutions that would provide approximately 7,950 acre feet of water per year for the district, more than double the projected 3400 acre feet of water MMWD’s plan states it can obtain from conservation.
Alternatively, the desalination plant would carry significant costs for consumers and the environment. In addition to a price tag of over $100 million for construction, the facility would cost millions more to operate, which would mean significant rate increases for consumers. Further, the plant would increase energy use, potentially doubling the district’s carbon footprint and could further degrade the San Francisco Bay. Moreover, desalination is not favored by Marin residents according to public opinion surveys outlined in the report.
Read more from Food & Water Watch by clicking here.
Peter Gleick: Salt from water - the question of energy
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 3, 2009 at 8:09 amFrom Peter Gleick’s City Brights blog:
Following up on my last post, on the cost of desalination, I thought I’d tackle a second key issue that seems to interest people: how much energy it takes to desalinate seawater.
The short, non-technical answer is, a lot. And the more salt there is in water, the more energy is needed to remove it. This is one of the reasons desalination is expensive. The other is that the equipment itself is costly - this is a high-tech, capital-intensive way to produce fresh water.
When salt is dissolved in water, it breaks the ionic bonds that hold salt crystals together. Removing those salt ions from water takes substantial amounts of energy. This is today’s Water Number:
Water Number: 0.7. In an ideal reversible thermodynamic process, a minimum of around 0.7 kilowatt-hours of energy are needed to desalinate a cubic meter (cu.m) of seawater (a cubic meter is 1000 liters, or 264 gallons). Current state-of-the-art reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants use 2.5 to 7 kWhr/cu.m.
Read the rest of this post from Peter Gleick at the City Brights blog by clicking here.
Commentary: North County cheated by desalination proposal
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 2, 2009 at 3:55 pmFrom the Monterey County Herald, this commentary by North County resident Ed Mitchell:
North County community activists have dedicated years to be included in a regional water solution because we have neighbors without water, wells going dry, and families drinking from wells increasingly polluted with nitrate or arsenic.
So, I and others were stunned when we learned of the water desalination decisions made at a hastily called “special meeting” on March 23. It was composed of two supervisors and the mayors of Seaside, Sand City, Del Rey Oaks, Monterey, Pacific Grove; together with representatives from the Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency (MRWPCA), the Monterey County Water Resource Agency (MCWRA), and the Marina Coast Water District (MCWD).
This group decided to allow more overdrafting of the Salinas Valley basin by extracting brackish water from the 120-foot aquifer west of Armstrong Ranch, just a few miles southeast of the Castroville Saltwater Intrusion Project that injects water into the same basin.
The extracted water, polluted by salt from the ocean, would then be desalinated at a publicly owned plant near the Marina landfill. Eighty-five percent of the resulting potable water would be shipped to the Peninsula and 15 percent would be retained in-basin.
Read more of this commentary by clicking here.
Peter Gleick on desalination: Salt from water, money from pockets?
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 30, 2009 at 8:09 amFrom Peter Gleick’s City Brights blog:
There is always a lot of interest in desalination. I hear it when I give public talks on global and local water issues; I see it in some responses to my blog posts that believe desalination should be much more aggressively pursued; and it is evident in the response to a report the Institute prepared on the pros and cons of desalination. This report has been the single most downloaded report we’ve ever produced, downloaded from our website more than 303,000 times since publication in June 2006. Actually 303,448 as of today. That is a stunning expression of interest.
I also love the idea of desalination, for all of the obvious reasons. It turns a vast unusable source of salty water into high-quality fresh water. It is potentially drought-proof because it does not depend on the vagaries of weather and climate. It offers the opportunity to reduce human devastation of natural aquatic ecosystems if we use desalination to reduce our over-allocation and over-use of other freshwater resources.
But I’m not a blind supporter. Desalination is one of many water solutions in a broad portfolio of options, and it must be considered - in an equal manner - with all of the other choices we have. If it passes economic/financial, environmental, social, and political muster - fantastic. But there are many supporters of desalination who see its advantages but somehow fail to recognize or acknowledge its liabilities. That brings me to today’s Water Number:
Water Number: $2000 per acre-foot (AF). This is the latest estimate just released for the cost of water from a massive proposed desalination facility for the Camp Pendleton area in Southern California.
Read more from Peter Gleick’s City Brights blog by clicking here.
Camp Pendleton desalination water plant considered feasible
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 29, 2009 at 6:00 amFrom the Fallbrook Village News:
The feasibility study for the proposed seawater desalination plant on Camp Pendleton indicates that such a facility would be feasible in the absence of any unexpected environmental or other legal obstacles. A report on the feasibility study was provided to the San Diego County Water Authority’s Water Planning Committee during a May 14 special meeting. A draft feasibility study was completed in March.
In addition to the environmental and permitting issues, additional prerequisites include an agreement with the United States Marine Corps to locate the facility and conveyance pipelines on Camp Pendleton. “We have a long way to go,” said County Water Authority water resources manager Bob Yamada.
Less daunting future issues include defining roles and responsibilities for the various parties and amending the CWA’s capital improvement program to add the desalination plant.
The seawater desalination plant would provide desalinated water to the San Diego County Water Authority, the Municipal Water District of Orange County, and Camp Pendleton. It would produce between 50 and 150 million gallons per day (mgd) of desalinated water.
More from the Fallbrook Village News by clicking here.
Editorial: Desalination can power area’s future; Camp Pendleton desal plant could be key
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 27, 2009 at 6:00 amFrom the North County Times, this editorial:
It is heartening to see that the concept of building a large, regional desalination plant at Camp Pendleton is gaining traction, even though such a plant would come at a number of financial, environmental and other costs.
Officials with the San Diego County Water Authority are considering a proposal to build what could be the area’s second ocean-to-tap water plant at the massive Marine Corps base, provided it can be done without jeopardizing the military’s needs.
The Pendleton plant could become the area’s key, second desalinized water supplier, once an already approved, similar but smaller plant set for coastal Carlsbad comes to fruition.
Few will argue with the need for Southern California to lessen its dependence upon fresh water supplies from Northern California and the Colorado River, both of which are subject to limitations, costs and potential disruption, as we are seeing today. …
Read more of this editorial from the North County Times by clicking here.
Poseidon plant gets closer to tapping into seawater
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 27, 2009 at 5:57 amFrom the San Diego Business Journal, this commentary by Ted Owen, president and CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce:
The end of a decade-long war of words finally came to a conclusion May 13 when Poseidon Resources received a unanimous vote from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board to allow the developer to start construction of the Carlsbad desalination plant.
Society is divided into two groups when it comes to the morality of our actions. One group says, “What’s the harm?” The other says, “What’s the good?” Sanity and the continuation of civilization rest with the latter group. The author of that quote is unknown to me, but in my opinion, it’s really accurate.
I said the war of words was over, but opponents to the plant, namely the Surfrider Foundation, will automatically file a lawsuit to try to overturn the decision. Just before the May 13 hearing, the Superior Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the foundation and the Planning and Conservation League against the California Coastal Commission regarding the plant location.
More than half a dozen suits have been brought by Surfrider and Coastkeeper, and all have been thrown out of court. Two more are pending.
Read more of this commentary by clicking here.
Camp Pendleton tapped for possible desal plant
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 26, 2009 at 7:26 amFrom the Voice of San Diego:
The country’s biggest seawater desalination plant has the permits it needs to start construction in Carlsbad. Except for pending legal challenges, the project is a go. Next in line locally? The San Diego County Water Authority, the regional wholesaler that delivers water to local cities, is moving forward with studies to build a desalination plant at Camp Pendleton.
The authority is in the midst of completing a study of two sites on the base; its board will vote in June whether to approve $5.7 million over two years to fund an in-depth analysis and review of potential environmental impacts.
Step by step, the authority is laying the groundwork to tap the Pacific Ocean as a new water supply by 2018. It’s a key part of the authority’s strategy for reducing its reliance on imported supplies from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District and comes as the San Diego region faces restrictions on water use for the first time in two decades.
While the underlying concept is the same, there are key differences between the Camp Pendleton project and both the Carlsbad proposal and the country’s largest operating desalination plant in Tampa, Fla.
Namely cost.
Read more from the Voice of San Diego by clicking here.
Desal plant may be built at Camp Pendleton; Proposed facility would supply water to 1 million people
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 25, 2009 at 7:51 amFrom the North County Times:
Now that the long-debated Carlsbad desalination plant has cleared its final hurdle, regional officials are exploring the idea of building a second, much larger plant on Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base that would make the region significantly less dependent on outside water sources. Together, desalination plants at Carlsbad and the base could supply close to 40 percent of San Diego County’s water within a decade.
That would be a dramatic reversal from the situation today: Nearly three-fourths of the region’s supply is piped in by Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District from Northern California and the Colorado River.
However, conservation groups are worried about the environmental side effects of making drinking water by taking salt out of sea water. And opponents say they intend to continue fighting the Carlsbad project in the courts, even though the proponents have secured all of their required permits.
The San Diego County Water Authority, the region’s primary water supplier, is poised to ask its board next month to spend $5.7 million over the next two years to study whether it is feasible and cost-effective to build a plant in the southwest corner of Camp Pendleton.
Read more from the North County Times by clicking here.
Desalination plan at defining moment; Poseidon is eager to get working
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 24, 2009 at 11:22 amFrom the San Diego Union Tribune:
When Poseidon Resources recently received its final permit to build a large-scale ocean-water desalination plant, it marked a milestone for the state. The proposed plant will strip sea salt from 50 million gallons of ocean water a day at a Carlsbad plant and then pump it to people’s taps in San Diego County.
After six years of work to get approvals from local, state and federal authorities – including a final permit May 13 from the Regional Water Quality Control Board – Poseidon hopes to break ground this year and begin producing drinking water by 2012.
But the company still has to obtain $300 million in financing to build the plant and pipeline network, as well as convince the city of Carlsbad that changes to its plans are not significant enough to require new permits. “These are the good kinds of challenges you look forward to,” said Peter MacLaggan, Poseidon’s senior vice president. “Now we’re focusing on things that truly provide value.”
Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.
Santa Barbara study of desal plant determines $20 million and 16 months to get it up and running
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 21, 2009 at 7:55 amFrom the Santa Barbara Independent:
The City of Santa Barbara’s desalination plant, built in 1992, could only become operational at an expense of $20 million and 16 months, according to a study commissioned by City Hall and released in March.
While the desal plant would be reliable, it would also be expensive, with water costing $1,400 an acre-foot to produce. That’s roughly the same amount the city pays to import water from Northern California through the State Water Project.
The desal plant, built in response to the intense drought of the late ’80s and early ’90s, has the capacity to process 3,125 acre-feet of potable water out of sea water.
Read more from the Santa Barbara Independent by clicking here.
Mobile desalination units could help in water emergency
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 20, 2009 at 5:38 amFrom San Diego’s Channel 10 News:
San Diego County has an unlimited supply of water — seawater, that is. But if the county were to have an earthquake or terrorist attack and is cut off from its normal water supplies, the Pacific Ocean could become the county’s primary water source.
However, the only way to make ocean water drinkable is through desalination, which is the process of filtering seawater into drinking water.
A new report from the California Department of Water Resources said in the event of an emergency or a severe drought, mobile desalination units could be temporarily deployed to provide residents with water. “I think this is the only reliable source of water for which you don’t have to depend on it coming from another place,” said Dr. Gil Dhawan of Applied Membranes, Inc.
Read more from Channel 10 News by clicking here.
San Diego County Water Authority unveils plan to build desal plant three times larger than Poseidon’s Carlsbad plant
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 16, 2009 at 10:04 amFrom Water Webster:
A San Diego County Water Authority committee Thursday unveiled plans to build a seawater desalination plant on the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton that would be ‘by far’ the largest in the U.S.
The 50 million-to-150 million-gallon per day project will cost more than $2 billion, if built to full capacity. And, it could supply enough additional water to meet the needs of 24 agencies, including the city of San Diego, that buy water wholesale from the county authority, said Water Resources Manager Bob Yamada.
A summary feasibility study presented to the board’s Water Planning Committee didn’t include a completion date. If the full board ultimately approves the project, construction couldn’t begin until environmental studies are conducted and a long list of state and federal permits and agreements are obtained, a process that could take years. Committee members discussed the proposal, but took no action.
The plant would be substantially larger than the approved Poseidon Carlsbad plant. How much larger:
At full capacity, the proposed reverse osmosis plant would be three times larger than the $300 million Poseidon Resources plant in near-by Carlsbad, according to the Water Authority’s summary feasibility study. At 50 million gallons a day, the Poseidon project is the largest currently proposed for the U.S., meeting the needs of 300,000 residents. Poseidon received its final government approval this week and hopes to obtain private financing and complete construction by 2012.
Yamada said in a telephone interview if the Camp Pendleton proposal is built to its 150-gallon-per-day capacity, “as far as I know, it would be, by far, the largest desal project in the country.”
More details from Water Webster by clicking here.
Poseidon’s Carlsbad desalination plant gets water board approval
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 14, 2009 at 8:53 amFrom the North County Times:
A landmark desalination project gained final approval from regulators Wednesday, bringing the promise of an entirely new supply of water to San Diego County —- and perhaps one of many in water-short California.
But opposition to the plant, including legal action, continues. And the company that wants to build the $300 million plant in coastal Carlsbad still needs to raise the money.
On Wednesday, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control board unanimously approved a permit for the plant. It had already considered the proposal twice this year. The permit approves a plan by Poseidon Resources Corp. to reduce the plant’s environmental impact on ocean life, especially young fish. It is to be situated next to the Encina Power Station.
Poseidon’s six-year struggle for approval has been closely watched around the nation as a bellwether of desalination’s prospects. All told, the plant has been considered at 14 hearings before various agencies.
If built, the plant would produce 50 million gallons of water a day, making it the largest in the Western Hemisphere. That represents about 9 percent of the water used in San Diego County. The cities of Carlsbad and Oceanside and seven local water agencies have contracted to buy water from the plant.
Read more from the North County Times by clicking here.
More on this story: Here’s coverage from the Silicon Valley Mercury News and the San Diego Union Tribune. You can read the press releases from Poseidon here and here. Also, yesterday, the San Diego Union Tribune reported that Poseidon will be returning to the Coastal Commission.
This just in from Poseidon Resources … San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board grants final approval for Carlsbad Desalination Project
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 13, 2009 at 11:14 amFrom Poseidon Resources, this media statement:
San Diego, CA – Poseidon Resources issued the following statement today regarding the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board’s (“Regional Board”) unanimous approval (9-0) of the Carlsbad Desalination Project (“Project”):
“Poseidon Resources is immensely grateful to the untold number of San Diegans whose unrelenting support for the Carlsbad Desalination Project over the years has made today’s milestone possible.
“Today’s decision successfully brings to a close the Project’s six-year permitting process that included more than fourteen public hearings and over 70 hours of public testimony and deliberation.
“The Regional Board’s vote to approve the Project’s Flow, Impingement and Entrainment Minimization Plan completes the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit originally issued by the Regional Board in August 2006. Poseidon has now received every regulatory agency approval necessary to start Project construction.
“The Regional Board is the state’s prevailing authority on water quality regulations, and its final action confirms that the project complies with approvals previously granted by the Coastal Commission. The Regional Board’s action also ensures that the project’s unprecedented commitment to create 55.4 acres of new, coastal wetland habitat fully compensates for the project’s de minimis impingement impacts and entrainment impacts.
“Public officials, environmental scientists, private citizens, non-profit volunteers and legal professionals from across the ideological spectrum dedicated countless hours to examining the project. Poseidon is appreciative of the regulatory agency staff and the handful of environmental activists whose dogged input challenged us to refine the project. While we did not always see eye to eye, the rigorous and thorough scrutiny unquestionably produced a better project. As a result, California will soon boast the most technologically-advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.
“After more than a decade working to make the desalination project a reality, Poseidon is proud to be moving forward towards the construction of a new, 50 million-gallon-per-day, drought-proof water supply for San Diego County.
“This new phase for the project will put 2,100 San Diegans to work and provide $170 million in local economic stimulus at a time when unemployment is at a record high. By 2012, we expect to be delivering enough water to meet the needs of 300,000 San Diego County residents, and the Pacific Ocean will once and for all be an essential element of California’s water supply.”
Poseidon Resources specializes in developing and financing water infrastructure projects, primarily seawater desalination and water treatment plants. These projects are implemented through innovative public-private partnerships in which private enterprise assumes the developmental and financial risks. For more information on Poseidon Resources and the Carlsbad desalination plant visit our website at www.carlsbad-desal.com.
However, Poseidon Resources still must deal with the Coastal Commission - click here, or continue reading the scroll.
Poseidon’s Carlsbad plant gets good news & bad news: The good news: another lawsuit bites the dust, and the bad news: Coastal Commission wants to reconsider its permit
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 13, 2009 at 8:05 amBoth these stories are from the San Diego Union Tribune. First, the good news for Poseidonand their Carlsbad project:
A judge on Tuesday ruled against environmentalists who sued the California Coastal Commission for approving construction of the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.
The Surfrider Foundation and the Planning and Conservation League argued the commission’s approval in 2007 failed to require that the developer reduce the damage to marine life caused by the plant’s intake valves, which suck in and destroy fish, larvae and marine life.
Superior Court Judge Judith Hayes ruled that the commission’s approval of the project in Carlsbad did not violate the state water code, noting that the commission required the developer, Poseidon Resources, to restore 55 acres of wetlands.
“We’re pleased that the court has rejected the latest attempt to derail the Carlsbad Desalination Project by a narrow special interest opposed to seawater desalination,” Poseidon Resources Vice President Scott Maloni said. “We hope Surfrider Foundation will decide to put the interests of the San Diego region first and direct its lawyer to stop his futile legal assault.”
Read the rest of this story from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here. You can also read the press release from Poseidon by clicking here.
And now for the bad news for the Poseidon Carlsbad plant:
Just as the developer of an ocean-water desalination plant proposed for Carlsbad’s coast thought it was about to get its final permit, the California Coastal Commission staff says it wants to reconsider a permit it issued previously.
Poseidon Resources proposes building a plant that would turn 50 million gallons of ocean water a day into drinking water. It would be built on the grounds of the Encina Power Station, at Cannon Road and Carlsbad Boulevard.
The company will go before the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board tomorrow for final approval on a plan to make up for the number of fish and other organisms that its desalination process would kill. The proposal calls for the company to develop 55 acres of new wetlands and assure that they produce 3,774 pounds of new marine life a year to replace the marine life that would be killed.
However, Peter Douglas, executive director of the state Coastal Commission, wrote the water quality board last week saying information Poseidon provided that panel was inconsistent with information it provided the commission last year, and it wants to review Poseidon’s permit.
Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.
This just in … Superior Court denies Surfrider lawsuit against California Coastal Commission
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 12, 2009 at 4:52 pmFrom Poseidon Resources, this press release:
San Diego, CA – On the eve of the Regional Water Quality Control Board project hearing, Poseidon Resources announced that the San Diego Superior Court has issued a final ruling rejecting a lawsuit that challenged the California Coastal Commission’s approval of a Coastal Development Permit for the Carlsbad Desalination Project (Project).
Opponents of seawater desalination, led by Surfrider Foundation lawyer Marco Gonzalez, have an extensive and unsuccessful history of filing legal challenges and appealing Project permit approvals. Six legal challenges have been filed since 2006; four have been dismissed and two are pending before the San Diego Superior Court, the same court that dismissed the petition against the Coastal Commission.
The Surfrider Foundation petition challenged the Coastal Commission’s approval of the Project on the grounds that the Commission failed to appropriately interpret and apply California Water Code, which requires that the Project must “use the best available site, design, technology, and mitigation measures feasible in order to minimize and intake and mortality of all forms of marine life”; and on the grounds that the Commission’s approval was expressly conditioned upon the Post Hoc submission of marine life mitigation plans.
The Court found no merit in the petitioner’s arguments and denied the petition (see attached Superior Court ruling) on all grounds.
“We’re pleased that the court has rejected the latest attempt to derail the Carlsbad Desalination Project by a narrow special interest opposed to seawater desalination,” said Poseidon Resources’ Vice President Scott Maloni. “The Court found that the Coastal Commission acted with proper authority and within its jurisdiction when it issued a permit to the Project,” said Maloni. “The arguments made by Project opponents have been rejected by every legal authority that has reviewed – and ultimately approved - the Carlsbad Desalination Project. We hope Surfrider Foundation will decide to put the interests of the San Diego region first and direct its lawyer to stop his futile legal assault,” said Maloni.
Since 2003, the Project has undergone a six-year permitting process that has included over fourteen public hearings covering 70 hours of public testimony and deliberation. Over this period, the City of Carlsbad, California Coastal Commission, State Lands Commission and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board have all approved the Project despite worn-out claims by Project opponents that the approval process was somehow flawed. The Regional Board alone has held five public hearings on the Project since 2006, each time the board acted to advance the Project.
“Each time a state regulatory agency has approved the Project Mr. Gonzalez has leveled a claim of misconduct. This has gone on for six years,” said Maloni. “Today’s court ruling confirms once again that this tired accusation lacks merit. Sound science and the law are not on his side, yet Mr. Gonzalez has chosen to continue his legal charade in order to delay the Project in hopes that it will ultimately fail. It’s not Poseidon that is bearing the brunt of Mr. Gonzalez’s reckless deception, it’s the residents of San Diego County that are in dire need of a new, local water supply,” Maloni said.
The San Diego County Water Authority recently declared a Stage 2 Drought Alert and voted to cut back water allocations by 8% to San Diego County. The desalination Project is capable of producing 56,000 acre feet per year, enough water to offset the current supply deficit and eliminate the need for water rationing. The Project was originally scheduled to be on line in 2009. “If not for obstructionist tactics, the Carlsbad Desalination Project could have been operational today, in which case San Diego County and its economy would have been completely inoculated against the cuts to imported water,” said Maloni.
In October 2008, Poseidon proposed to settle the outstanding lawsuits against the Carlsbad Desalination Project (see October 31, 2008 settlement letter attached). In return for litigants withdrawing the lawsuits filed against the state agencies that approved the Project, Poseidon proposed to provide $800,000 to backfill state funds that had been cut from the budget for water quality monitoring in the County of San Diego. The settlement offer was rejected by the litigant’s lead attorney Marco Gonzalez. “Instead of spending funds on a legal defense, we preferred to put our money towards a worthwhile environmental cause,” said Maloni. “We thought we shared a mutual interest with the Surfrider Foundation in healthy beaches and a clean watershed, and we hoped they would see the value in this settlement. We were wrong,” said Maloni.
Denial of the lawsuit challenging the Coastal Commission’s approval of the desalination plant removes the last remaining legal hurdle to the start of Project construction. “The outstanding litigation and any additional legal challenges to come do not impact our ability to start Project construction,” Maloni said.
Poseidon has worked in partnership with the City of Carlsbad since 1998 to build the desalination plant, which will have the capacity to produce 50-million-gallons-per-day of high quality drinking water and serve 300,000 residents annually. Once operational, the Carlsbad Desalination Project will provide enough drinking water to serve 300,000 residents annually. The facility is scheduled to begin construction this year and be operational in 2012.
Poseidon Resources specializes in developing and financing water infrastructure projects, primarily seawater desalination and water treatment plants. These projects are implemented through innovative public-private partnerships in which private enterprise assumes the developmental and financial risks. For more information on Poseidon Resources and the Carlsbad desalination plant visit our website at www.carlsbad-desal.com.
Update on more Poseidon news: check out this media release from Poseidon on Wednesday morning, and these articles in Wednesday’s San Diego Union Tribune.
Carlsbad desal project hearing set for Wednesday; Water board takes third look this year
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 12, 2009 at 6:21 amFrom the North County Times:
For the third time this year, a controversial desalination project goes before a government agency that could give final approval or delay it yet again.
San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the project. It would be built by Poseidon Resources Corp. next to the Encina Power Station in coastal Carlsbad.
Eight water districts, including the city of Carlsbad, have agreed to buy water from the plant, which is intended to supplement the region’s water supply.
But environmental groups such as Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper say the plant will unnecessarily harm ocean life. And one regulatory agency has claimed that Stamford, Conn.-based Poseidon misrepresented important information about the project.
Poseidon says it can’t raise money for the $300 million project until the water quality board gives its approval. After it raises the money, construction can begin.
Read more from the North County Times by clicking here.
For more on Poseidon and financing the project, keep reading the scroll or click here.
Nation’s largest desal project faces financing hurdles
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 11, 2009 at 5:53 pmFrom the New York Times:
Desalination’s transformation into a viable, mainstream water technology has long hinged on nettlesome fights over permits and politics. But with the largest proposed seawater conversion plant in the United States poised to be approved this week in San Diego, there is another problem: money.
The proposed $300 million plant, which would be built next to a coastal power station in Carlsbad, Calif., has long been viewed as a symbol of desalination’s plight in the United States. The project developer, Poseidon Resources Corp., has been winding its way through a maze of state and local agencies for six years, battling community groups, environmental organizations and wary politicians who fear desalinated water will mean added expense and environmental damage.
But that picture could change if the San Diego Regional Water Board votes for final approval. The stakes are high for desalination as many in the industry consider the plant a test case that could trigger a wave of development, especially in thirsty California.
“A lot of people who like desalination are looking to the Carlsbad plant to break the ice,” said Peter Gleick, a leading water resources expert and president of the Pacific Institute.
At Poseidon, officials are optimistic about the vote and have turned their attention to finding the money to build the facility. The shift comes at an inopportune time for the company given a national credit crunch that has made financing for water and energy projects difficult across the board.
But executives at Poseidon, which is partially owned by Citigroup Inc.’s Citi Sustainable Development Investments, insist their financial prospects are solid despite the economic uncertainty. The company recently sent its financial package to a short list of lenders looking to play in the fledgling market, and according to Scott Maloni, a vice president at Poseidon, “a half-dozen proposals” were returned.
Read more from the New York Times by clicking here.
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