Sounding Off:

As we try to understand the water crisis gripping California, we must understand that not all of the proposed solutions to our water crisis are created equal. Some solutions such as conservation are inexpensive, most applications are somewhat costly, and then there is one that is outrageously expensive: ocean desalination.

Many people believe that ocean desalination is the ultimate solution to our water problems. I support desalination on a case-by-case basis, in certain locations, and with the right technology. In reality, desalination is not yet ready for California. Basically, with the 50-year-old technology that Poseidon is proposing, we are in effect trading electricity for water. It is the most expensive solution to our water crisis compared to any of the other solutions discussed.

Let’s compare a new state-of-the-art water recycling solution called the Ground Water Replenishment System (GWRS) operating in Orange County to the Poseidon desalination project proposed in Carlsbad or Huntington Beach.

Briefly, GWRS treats sewage through five different processes until it far exceeds any drinking water standard. In fact, it is so pure that minerals must be injected back into it. The purified water is then percolated down into the underground aquifer only to be pumped out of the ground some time later as drinking water. The cost? After the first year of operation it has been calculated at $561 per acre foot, a standard measurement of water. This also includes interest on the financing of the plant. We should add $198 per acre foot to pump the water from the aquifer, treat it again and safely put it in the water lines. The total cost of this highly treated drinking water is less than $800 per acre foot.

Poseidon’s project uses the seawater from a power plant’s cooling system as its source of water to desalinate. The cost? The only plant that Poseidon has attempted to build was a dismal failure. Poseidon’s Tampa Bay, Fla., plant was $40 million over budget, five years late, and has never produced the promised 25 million gallons per day on a regular basis. Poseidon had to be removed from plant operations and replaced by a public agency. In the Carlsbad proposal, Poseidon is already requesting $70 million more in construction funding than was originally estimated and they have yet to break ground. Poseidon, which promised “no taxpayer dollars would be used to build the plant,” has requested and been granted from the Metropolitan Water District a public subsidy in the amount of $250 per acre foot.

Trying to get to a true cost of Poseidon’s desalinated water is very difficult; there are too many unknowns. We know that ocean desalination is used throughout the world. The costs per acre foot range between $2,000 and $3,000. There is certainly no reason to believe it can be done for less money in Southern California. Poseidon’s proposed projects for Southern California utilize old technology, connect to a power plant which raises other issues, are environmentally unacceptable and their financing is shaky at best.

Let’s compare the long-term costs for both projects: GWRS (recycling) is $759 per acre foot, and desalination is $2,000 to $3,000 per acre foot. One is high-priced and the other is scandalously expensive. Who pays? You!

Garry Brown is executive director of Orange County Coastkeeper, based in Costa Mesa.