Mailbag: I’m concerned about a desalination plant near San Onofre

I read the article, “Poseidon’s Carlsbad desal plant in test period as H.B. plan waits” in the Dec. 3 Daily Pilot. The article described the status of the Carlsbad and Huntington Beach desalination plants.

However, the article did not address the potential risks associated with the desalination plants being near the nuclear waste being stored at the decommissioned San Onofre nuclear power plant.

Consideration must be given, even if low probability, to the potential impact of a nuclear leak into the ocean water that could be taken in by the desalination plants. If that occurred, it could contaminate the desalination plant, the water and pipes leading to other water facilities and homes, not to mention the potential health risks of drinking the water.

The only one that I know of that has thoughtfully expressed this concern is local U.S. 48th Congressional District candidate Suzanne Savary, and she supports steps to eliminate, or at least significantly mitigate, this potential problem.

Charles Mooney

Costa Mesa

*

Keep your pets safe from coyotes

Pets and predators don’t mix. That is usually not a problem, since most predators avoid people like the plague, so our proximity protects pets from predation.

But when wild animals lose their fear of people, pets lose that protection. At that point, we must be more proactive in ensuring our pets’ safety by keeping them inside the house or a securely fenced yard while at home, and on a leash when out walking.

Such precautions are the price we pay for living with nature. If those measures are ineffective and a rogue coyote still perceives our pets as prey and attacks them anyway, then that dangerously aggressive animal needs to be targeted for trapping. That is the price nature pays for living with us. Anyone who has lost a pet under those circumstances has a right to expect such appropriate action will be taken.

In contrast, anyone who allows their pet to roam the neighborhood freely and unattended — especially at night — has no right to expect action against predators since they are a primary cause of the problem. Instead of protecting their pets, those people make them part of the food chain, and it’s not the top part.

Negligent owners put their pets in harm’s way every day, and they alone bear responsibility for the animal’s ultimate fate.

Chris Borg

Huntington Beach