Carlsbad Desal Plant Moves Forward; Orange County Agencies Explore Desal

The California Coastal Commission on Dec. 10 voted to dismiss a request to revoke the Carlsbad Desalination Project’s Coastal Development Permit. The commission originally approved the permit in November 2007, and construction started last month.

The project is being built by Poseidon Resources in partnership with the City of Carlsbad. When completed, the desalination plant will have the capacity to produce 50 million gallons per day of high quality drinking water and serve 300,000 residents annually. It is expected to be operational in 2012.

Poseidon has proposed another desalination plant in Orange County. Fifteen agencies have signed a letter of intent to use water from the proposed desalination plant at the AES power plant near Pacific Coast Highway.

Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Seal Beach and the Metropolitan Water District, among others, have said they are interested in buying water from Poseidon.

The project would generate about 50 million gallons of drinkable water every day by tapping in to the 275 million gallons already flowing in to the AES plant to cool its equipment, officials say. The project needs to gain approvals from the State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission before starting work.