Carlsbad Desalination Project ? Carlsbad, Calif.
Carlsbad Desalination Project ? Carlsbad, Calif.
The Carlsbad Desalination Project is the largest of its type in the western hemisphere. By the time it is completed in 2016, the facility will purify 50 million gallons of seawater per day and supply 7 to 10 percent of San Diego County?s fresh water.
Jessica Jones, community outreach manager for the project, says Poseidon Water developed the project through a PPP with the San Diego Water Authority. Poseidon financed and constructed the desalination plant in exchange for a 30-year water purchasing agreement with the county. The water is purchased for approximately $2,000 per acre-foot, and the county will be required to purchase 56,000 acre-feet per year.
Also included in the project, Jones says, is a 10-mile pipeline that will deliver the fresh water from the plant to the county. Once the pipeline is completed, it will be turned over to the water authority.
Currently, San Diego gets most of its water from external sources. ?One of the benefits [of the desalination plant] is that it uses the Pacific Ocean ? an endless reservoir. It?s the only drought-proof water supply; it?s not dependent on rainfall or snowpack.?
Given the extreme drought California is experiencing, reliable, sustainable freshwater sources are critically important, she says.
Bob Yamada, project leader for the water authority, agrees. ?The key importance to this project is bringing additional local water supply to our water supply portfolio,? he says, ?and not only bringing in a new water supply, but a highly reliable, drought-proof water supply.?
When the plant comes online, it will more than double the amount of local supply the county has developed since 1991, Yamada adds.
A public private partnership for this project was the best option for the county, according to Yamada, due to risk mitigation such a partnership offers. The water authority, he says, has never constructed a desalination plant, so allowing those with more experience to handle the construction, technology and financing was the most appropriate route.