Huntington Beach Desalination Project

  • Home
  • Desal 101
    • Desalination Worldwide
    • Desalination Myths
  • Project Facts
    • Benefits
  • Environment
  • Supporters
  • Survey
  • News
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Desal 101
    • Desalination Worldwide
    • Desalination Myths
  • Project Facts
    • Benefits
  • Environment
  • Supporters
  • Survey
  • News
  • Contact

News

Desalination: Separating Fact From Fiction

12/2/2009

0 Comments

 
Scott Maloni, VP Poseidon Resources
In the short period that I have come to know OC Coastkeeper Executive Director Garry Brown, I have found him to be a passionate and pragmatic advocate for the coastal environment. While we don’t agree on seawater desalination and our Huntington Beach project, his arguments mostly have been factual, and he has handled himself professionally and respectfully. Unfortunately, in his recent opinion piece, “Desalination plant will cost more than GWRS” (Sounding Off, Nov. 29), Brown has resorted to disseminating misinformation about Poseidon and the project.
Brown’s comparison between the cost of seawater desalination and the Ground Water Replenishment System (GWRS) is disingenuous. The H.B. desalination plant is being built to offset Orange County’s demand for more expensive and less reliable imported water, not to replace or compete with GWRS. There is no single, “silver bullet” water supply solution, which is why local water managers who are advocates of GWRS are also supporting seawater desalination. In addition, the cost of producing water at the H.B. plant is $1,100 an acre foot, not the “$2,000 to $3,000” he asserts.

While Brown extols the technology behind the GWRS project, he castigates Poseidon for using “50-year-old technology … in effect trading electricity for water.” Brown fails to disclose that the desalination plant’s treatment process is virtually identical to the GWRS and that every modern, large-scale plant uses the same technology proposed by Poseidon in H.B.

​Brown then falls back to attacking Poseidon’s record in Tampa Bay, Fla., suggesting that Poseidon “had to be removed from plant operations and replaced by a public agency.” Brown knows better, or at least he should. In fact, Tampa Bay Water exercised its contractual right and bought Poseidon out one year into project construction. At the time the plant was on time, 30% complete, and on budget. By Tampa Bay Water’s account, the problems occurred after Poseidon left the project. Again, this history is well documented in public records and newspaper reports.

Finally, Brown intentionally confuses the project’s construction financing and wrongly suggests we have broken our promise to privately finance the project and shield the ratepayers from development risk. In Carlsbad, the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) is providing our public water agencies with a $250-per-acre-foot incentive to buy water from our Carlsbad project and, in doing so, is reducing dependence on imported water. This same incentive has been applied to the GWRS. The MWD funds are for the purchase of desalination water, only if delivered, and not for the financing of project construction.

As seawater desalination projects advance in San Diego and Orange County, the fevered pitch from opponents desperate to stop the inevitable will reach a crescendo. While a public debate over seawater desalination is healthy, the test for all involved revolves around credibility. When credibility and accountability are given a back seat to political agendas that distort the truth, no one wins.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    “Desalination must be included in any discussion of future water sources for Orange County."
    ~ Orange County Grand Jury

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Editorial
    Events
    Fact Sheets
    News
    News Article
    News Release
    Press Release

    Archives

    July 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    July 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    June 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    October 2011
    August 2011
    May 2011
    September 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    May 2009
    March 2009
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008
    February 2008
    November 2007
    October 2007
    September 2007
    August 2007
    July 2007
    June 2007
    May 2007
    May 2006
    March 2006
    February 2006
    August 2005
    April 2005

Home  |  Desal 101  |  Project Facts  |   Environment  |  Supporters  |   About   |  News   |  Contact
© 2010 - 2018 Poseidon Water. All rights reserved. Admin.