Poseidon Water’s Desalination Plan: Are There Cracks in the Armor?

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1. The issues as I see them are:

   1) OCWD would only buy the water if there is a need. What is the need? Future growth. What future growth? The future growth Poseidon does not want to talk about because if they do, they have to analyze the environmental effects of that growth in their CEEQA document. (opening this can of worms would spell an end to their project which is why they are putting it off on the buyers to say how they will use the water). What future growth? The Calif. Dept. of Finance has projected the need for 1.3 million new housing units within the member agencies of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) by 2029. SCAG covers most of Southern Calif. This desire for this growth is hotly contested to put it mildly. For example, the City of Newport Beach’s draft allocation of the 1.3 million new housing units is approx. 4,800. units, approx. 40% of which have to be affordable. This allocation process is called the Regional Housing Needs Assessment or RHNA allocation administered through SCAG;

   2) The second point not being discussed is competition. MWD has embarked on a major pilot program to greatly expand the treatment of wastewater within its service area. The wastewater would be treated and injected into the ground where it would blend with other ground water and be pumped for domestic use (The program is called The Regional Recycled Water Program). Why would MWD embark on this program? They need more water to meet projected growth. Why are projected growth rates so high in Southern California? The State legislature want to mandate housing opportunities for everyone in the state. The legislature established policies to concentrate future growth in urban in-fill area and to discouraging future urban sprawl. For cities like Newport Beach which are built-out, that means building up. More housing means more traffic,c etc. which is why discussing the end use for the water is a hot potato. Therefore, with the introduction of MWD into the water re-use business, the economic viability of the Poseidon project may be in question (MWD’s water may be cheaper); and

   3) Then there is the question of the environmental effects from the discharge of the concentrated saltwater brine back into the ocean. Combine this brine with the projected effects of climate change on ocean acidification of the Pacific Coast, the impact of ocean acidification on kelp forests and the ecosystems it supports and so on.

   Personally, I don’t want the added population growth. I would be willing to pay extra to recharge our depleted groundwater basins. I favor which ever technology is the cheapest. I think the key is controlling future population growth. Perhaps the effect of the virus on New York City and Los Angeles will cause the legislature to rethink their urban in-fill policies.

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