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A Three-Year Drought In California Is Bringing A Decades-Long Fight Over Water To A Head, Forcing Tough Choices.
A three-year drought in California is bringing a decades-long fight over water to a head, forcing tough choices. Lesley Stahl reports. Water is in short supply. You don’t have to go to Africa or the Middle East to see how much the planet is running dry. Just go to California, where, after three years of drought, dozens of towns and cities have imposed mandatory water rationing and a half million acres in the country’s agricultural breadbasket are lying fallow.
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Poseidon Resources Has Gained Support From Orange County Cities And Water Districts For Its $350 Million Project
By JAIMEE LYNN FLETCHER THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER HUNTINGTON BEACH – Poseidon Resources has gained support from Orange County cities and water districts for its $350 million project that would convert seawater into drinking water to combat the drought plaguing the county. Seal Beach City Council members on Monday voted to join a list of 14 other agencies that have signed a letter of intent to use water from the proposed desalination plant at the AES power plant on Newland Street near Pacific Coast Highway. Poseidon Resources Has Gained Support From Orange County Cities And Water Districts For Its $350 Million Project
By JAIMEE LYNN FLETCHER THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER HUNTINGTON BEACH – Poseidon Resources has gained support from Orange County cities and water districts for its $350 million project that would convert seawater into drinking water to combat the drought plaguing the county. Seal Beach City Council members on Monday voted to join a list of 14 other agencies that have signed a letter of intent to use water from the proposed desalination plant at the AES power plant on Newland Street near Pacific Coast Highway.  SHAWN DEWANE, Board president at Mesa Consolidated Water District, which serves fresh water to the City of Costa Mesa, parts of Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.
Seawater desalination has been discussed as a potential large scale water source since the days of Aristotle. This technology has proven itself effective over the past 20 years in applications like naval and cruise ships and in areas of the world where fresh water is scarce like Australia, Algeria and other countries. The cost of importing water into Southern California has risen dramatically and will continue to rise for years to come. Currently, seawater desalination is more expensive than imported water. But the application of new technologies has reduced the cost of desalination by more than half. The water industry is still waiting for the break-even point where desalinated water becomes less expensive than imported water. That time is approaching. More than a dozen desalination plants are scheduled to be operational along California’s coastline over the next decade, including at least two in Orange County.  Jose Solorio, State Assemblyman serving Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana.
As a teen growing up in the Central Valley, I spent my summers working with my parents in the fields. I irrigated and harvested cotton, almonds, pistachios, oranges and sugar beets. Today, many of those agricultural fields lie fallow. There simply isn’t enough water to grow as many crops as we once did. Our state faces what may become the worst drought in its history while environmental restrictions are limiting the flow of water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The empty fields stand as a reminder of what Californians need to do to preserve our way of life, our jobs, and our economy. |
“Desalination must be included in any discussion of future water sources for Orange County." For more news updates, check out our online publication: Wavelengths
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