Countywide poll uncovers widespread concern over Orange County’s water supply; 70% of county voters support seawater desalination

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 2, 2008 at 5:52 am

From Market Watch:

Today the Orange County Business Council and the Los Angeles/Orange County Building Trades Council released the results of a jointly sponsored public opinion survey measuring Orange County residents’ attitudes toward the county’s water supply. The poll of registered voters uncovered widespread concern about water reliability and revealed broad support for tapping the Pacific Ocean as one way to address the county and region’s water shortages.

The countywide telephone survey conducted the week of September 22nd demonstrated the public is attune to Orange County’s water supply crisis as county officials scramble to prepare for additional cuts to the county’s imported water supply (Click here to view the Memorandum: http://media.marketwire.com/attachments/200810/471678_OCBC-OCBTCWATERPOLLMEMO.doc).

Some of the key findings from the survey include:

– 87% of respondents believe that Orange County needs new sources of
fresh water.
– 72% of respondents believe that seawater desalination is a good idea.
– 71% believe that local water agencies should add desalinated seawater
to their overall water portfolio.
– 61% said would pay a few dollars more on their monthly water bill for
high quality desalinated water that is drought-proof and reliable.

“Orange County residents overwhelmingly support innovative solutions to improve water reliability,” said Lucy Dunn, President of the Orange County Business Council. “The state has already approved one seawater desalination plant for San Diego County; now Orange County must also ensure a local, drought-proof water supply for our residents and businesses. We urge state and local officials to move quickly and approve the proposed Desalination Facility in Huntington Beach,” she said.

Read the rest of this story from Market Watch by clicking here.

October 2, 2008 · Filed Under Poseidon's Huntington Beach, Uncategorized

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Poseidon leaves many questions unanswered regarding proposed Huntington Beach plant

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 7, 2008 at 6:07 am

From the O.C. Voice:

An environmental scientist for the California Coastal Commission says that the cost of water to be produced by a desalination plant approved by the city of Huntington Beach has been greatly underestimated by the developer and that proposed mitigation measures for its impact on ocean marine life are inadequate.

The project was approved by the H.B. City Council (including current councilmembers Don Hansen, Keith Bohr, Cathy Green and Gil Coerper) in Feb. 2006.

The remarks were part of a letter to Poseidon Resources Inc., the multi-national corporate water corporation that will oversee construction of the plant that would suck in 100 million gallons of ocean water every day and convert it into 50 million gallons of drinking water. Poseidon plans to co-locate with the AES power generating plant on Newland Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway to take cost-saving advantage of the plant’s “once-through cooling” system to gather the ocean water it needs for conversion.

Once-through cooling systems are also used by 20 other antiquated power plants along the California coast and suck in 17 billion gallons of seawater each year, killing virtually all the marine organisms passing through their membranes, a significant contributor to the 60 percent decline in marine species, according to a 2005 report by the California Energy Commission.

A recent court ruling, as well as legislative trends and a resolution by the California State Lands Commission, are bringing once-through cooling to a close, sooner or later. “It’s the end of once-through cooling systems in the U.S.”, Surfrider Foundation desalination expert Joe Geever told the Voice in September, adding, “AES is fighting the changes tooth and nail.”

One of the main questions left inadequately answered is how much the water will actually cost. Poseidon has said the desalinated water would cost $800 per acre-foot, but this is based on unrealistic power costs and subsidies that may never materialize, critics say. They believe the water could end up costing as much as $1400 to $1500 per acre-foot.

Read the full text of this post on the O.C. Voice blog by clicking here.

May 7, 2008 · Filed Under Poseidon's Huntington Beach

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Huntington Beach Desalination facility teams up with Poseidon

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 8, 2007 at 7:50 pm

Poseidon Resources announced its development team for the proposed Huntington Beach desalination facility. Three companies will be partnering with Poseidon to develop the $250 million facility, which would have the ability to supply 50 million gallons of drinking water each day, which amounts to about 7% of water used in the county.

From the Huntington Beach Independent:

The plant still has several major hurdles, however. A recent federal court ruling put into question the legal status of the AES power plant it will use for water and cooling. And it must still get permits from the California State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission.

Despite those obstacles, Poseidon Resources thinks the plant’s chances are good, company spokeswoman Brenda Anaya said. “We’re very optimistic as far as the current political climate in California,” Anaya said. “With the current drought we’re experiencing, global warming, little by little the public is going to demand from the government an alternative source of water.”

The Aqua Blog Maven has added emphasis above, and would like to point out that the desalination facility would use enormous amounts of electricity, and would therefore *contribute* to global warming, not alleviate it.

Much has been in the news on desalination in Southern California. To read more articles, check out the desalination category to the right of this post.

June 8, 2007 · Filed Under Desalination, Poseidon's Huntington Beach