CalDesal June 2015 Newsletter – Issue No.2

The Orange County Water District (OCWD) board of directors demonstrated their continued leadership by approving a term sheet t with Poseidon Resources that could lead to the purchase of 50 million gallons of water a day from the Huntington Beach Ocean Desalination Plant. Additional actions taken at the special board meeting include establishing a project budget of $230,000 and authorizing staff to hire consultants to assist with key project elements.The Orange County Water District (OCWD) board of directors demonstrated their continued leadership by approving a term sheet t with Poseidon Resources that could lead to the purchase of 50 million gallons of water a day from the Huntington Beach Ocean Desalination Plant. Additional actions taken at the special board meeting include establishing a project budget of $230,000 and authorizing staff to hire consultants to assist with key project elements.

As part of its transparency efforts, in March and April, the District established a 20-member citizen’s advisory committee that met on multiple occasions with OCWD staff and an independent facilitator, to provide input regarding the term sheet and project.

OCWD now plans to conduct numerous studies and further analyses prior to considering a final water purchase contract with Poseidon Resources. OCWD will continue its ongoing analysis of the project and how it will help determine the best way to use the Poseidon water and integrate it into the existing OCWD diversified supplies.

After more than four years of effort that included numerous public meetings, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted the amendments to the California Ocean Plan relating to ocean desalination intakes and brine discharge. CalDesal would like to acknowledge the extensive efforts of the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) for developing a Desalination Amendment to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Ocean Waters of the State of California.

Desalination can be a key tool to diversify and improve water supply reliability in the future.  Ocean-water desalination is now especially relevant in the current environment of climate uncertainty; the State’s record-setting severe drought; the Governor’s Executive Order to reduce water use by 25%; and the fact that several desalination facilities are currently planned along the California coastline to augment water supplies.

CalEPA has acknowledged that ocean-water desalination will be part of the State of California’s future water supply portfolio. However, the key to successful ocean-water desalination is protection of our marine environment. Finding a path to ensuring protection of the marine environment and meeting the need for future water supplies was a monumental task. That task was successfully undertaken and achieved by the SWRCB. Nowhere in the world are there more comprehensive, science-based and protective ocean-water desalination regulations than the regulations adopted by the SWRCB. The Amendment to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Ocean Water of State of California ranks as one of the most significant achievements of CalEPA and the SWRCB in recent times. The process guided by the SWRCB was a model for fair and analytical stakeholder input and accommodation.”I would like to commend the SWRCB and its staff for achieving a successful outcome for all participating stakeholders, but more importantly managing and guiding a process that protects the ocean environment of California, as well as providing a responsible and clear path for future ocean-water desalination projects. The fact that all the key stakeholders were provided an opportunity to input and that the stakeholder’s areas of concern were heard and addressed is most noteworthy. I would especially like to thank our member agencies whose scientific research helped shape this new policy” said Shawn Dewane, Chair of the board of directors of CalDesal.

For more information regarding ocean water desalination, please visit the SWRCB’s website atwww.swrcb.ca.gov.