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Carlsbad Plant is Unreliable

The SD County Water Authority released the 2019 fiscal year info for the Carlsbad desal plant. OC Voice provides a good summary here. The actual report cane be found here. Main point is the plant missed their agreed upon numbers by almost 20%. Not good for the premium SD is paying for a supposedly reliable water source.

Azul released a UCLA report on the Environmental Justice issues around the Poseidon project.

The only plausible impact of Agreement Water on disadvantaged households in the county will be a decrease in affordability due to higher system rates

Steve Bone’s article in OCR outlines why it does not make sense for rate payers.

A study commissioned for Municipal Water District of Orange County show Poseidon is the worst option.

The next step for Poseidon to get approval to build HB Desal plant is to get approval to not support the CA Desal requirements. However, they are having problems with coming up with reasons why they should not be subject to the requirements. As a result, the Dec 7th hearing is cancelled. Info.

The OC Register had an article summarizing MODOC’s draft analysis of future water demand. Of note, Poseidon (the planned HB Desalinization Plant) was the least cost effective and most financial risky of all other possible options to reduce future risk of water shortage.
OC Register article can be found here.
MODOC report here

Garry Brown writes a great commentary about why Doheny is the correct way to do desal vs Poseidon. Article can be found here.

Outside OCWD

Marco Gonzalez has a great commentary in the SD Union Tribune.

You don’t have to look too far for proof that Poseidon will be an unreliable partner.

Newsdeeply has a great article about storing water during rainy years. See it here.

California has much more potential to store water underground in aquifers than in surface reservoirs. The state should be focused on this opportunity for future years, writes scientist Mohammad Safeeq.

Interesting Article by Tony Davis.

The future of coastal desalination in California could be determined by the decision on permits for a plant in Huntington Beach

Justin Fox posted an article on Bloomberg View about why desal does not make sense.

Whenever there’s a drought in California, a seemingly obvious source of new water supply beckons. The state abuts a giant ocean. Why not just take the salt out of some of that seawater? It’s the high-tech, forward-looking thing to do, right? It’s also the really expensive thing to do.

Read more here.

New Report from Stanford highlights the imports that the location of a desalination plant is critical for its overall success. Key among these are:
1. Easy access to renewable engine
2. Ability to use subsurface intake
3. Availability of other water supplies
Article can be found here.

A new report shows strategies developed and mistakes made during Australia’s decade-long millennium drought provide a powerful resource for California, as the state enters its fifth year of severe drought. The report can be found here.

South Orange County has to import most of their water, but not too interested in expensive desal water. Orange County Water District General Manager Michael Markus said the South Coast Water District plans to build a plant at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point that was expected to produce 15 million gallons of desalinated water per day. However, Kennedy said

[Doheny Desal] expected production was cut to 5 million gallons per day because of a lack of interest from surrounding water agencies

The LA Times article can be found here.

The Voice Of San Diego has a great article about the misleading (possibly lie) Scott Maloni said at an OCWD meeting regarding desal water being dumped in a lake.
Here is the article