Did wastewater recycling help defeat O.C. desal plant?
For some time, California seemed well on its way toward a water future made more secure by desalination plants up and down the coast.
A dozen are currently in operation, including the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant, which upon opening in 2015 became the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
Ten more plants are being planned.
But one of those proposed for Huntington Beach ran into a roadblock last week that raises questions about just how much the state will rely on desalination in the years to come.
The California Coastal Commission, in an unanimous decision, defied pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom and rejected the plant proposed by Poseidon Water, which runs the Carlsbad facility and has a 30-year contract to sell drinkable water to the San Diego County Water Authority.
Critics of the Huntington Beach project largely cited the loss of marine life caused by the plant’s ocean intake, along with other environmental concerns, such as the impact on the facility from sea-level rise.
But some also pointed out that Orange County already has a fairly reliable water supply, in part because of a wastewater recycling system that began operating in 2008. Plans are in the works to expand the facilities to provide recycled water for 1 million people. Orange County has a population of just over 3 million.
While Poseidon officials and supporters of the desalination project said the plant would make the region even more drought resistant well into the future, skeptics questioned whether the cost was necessary. Generally, desalinated water is more expensive to produce than potable water through wastewater recycling, and it costs considerably more than shrinking surface water and groundwater supplies.
In a way, San Diego and Orange counties were on similar paths toward recycling and desalination. But that changed when Orange County moved forward with wastewater recycling, while the concept faced intense opposition in San Diego for years. Meanwhile, San Diego moved ahead sooner with desalination. The first phase of the city of San Diego’s Pure Water recycling system is expected to produce potable water beginning in 2025.
When it’s completed in 2035, the system is projected to provide half of the city’s water needs. Meanwhile, wastewater recycling plants are also planned for Oceanside and East County.
Making drinkable water by taking salt out of ocean water and purifying sewer water is commonplace now, though decades ago both methods were considered uncertain, even unsavory.
San Diego tested wastewater recycling for years and then plans to start producing water that way took hold. But in the late 1990s questions grew about quality control and public health. Skeptics called the process “toilet to tap,” an unfortunate nickname that stuck. Cost also was an issue.
The late Bradley J. Fikes, who covered biotechnology and the Carlsbad desalination project for years, wrote that in 2007, then-San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders vetoed a City Council vote to move ahead with potable recy
cling, citing what he saw as its prohibitive price tag. The City Council overrode his veto, but the lack of mayoral support stymied the plan.
In 2008, the Orange County recycling operation came online, primarily to deal with intruding saltwater that would have rendered the groundwater undrinkable. But by recharging the aquifers, it also provides a renewable source of groundwater. That same year, the Carlsbad desalination plant won crucial approval from the Coastal Commission.
The plant now produces 50 million gallons a day — about 10 percent of the region’s water needs.
When the Carlsbad plant opened in December 2015, Fikes produced a package of articles describing its operation, history and anticipated impact on the region. In an accompanying Q&A, he was asked whether he thought desalination or wastewater recycling would be the favored technology to clean up water into the future.
“My just-refurbished crystal ball says water recycling will take the lead, because it is just as safe as desalination but less expensive,” he said. “Two decades ago, I drank purified sewage water produced by a recycling plant. The technology
seemed to be nearing use by the city of San Diego. But public squeamishness scared away politicians, who could have led the public to accept it.
“Orange County’s leadership took a more enlightened approach and was able to persuade its citizens to accept the technology.”
Water officials advocate more recycling, but stress the obvious that the projects need water. As natural water flows continue to be depleted, many of those officials say desalination will still be needed.
San Diego has been getting a lot of positive publicity for its efforts to become more droughttolerant by diversifying sources of water and making big investments to secure and store supplies. However, the price for water is fast outpacing costs in other regions.
Oddly, that has put San Diego in a peculiar position. Conservation over the years and the coming recycling may leave the region committed to paying for more water than it needs.
While opposition to the Huntington Beach desalination plant was led by environmentalists, coastal advocates and many local residents, some water agencies were split over the idea.
The Orange County Water District planned to buy Poseidon’s water. Steve Sheldon, the district’s president, said desalinated water
is more expensive now, but he expects the cost of imported water to also rise over time, according to the Associated Press.
But AP added that Paul Cook, general manager of the Irvine Ranch Water District, said he doesn’t want to buy pricey and unnecessary desalinated water for his customers, driving up household water bills.
It’s unclear whether Poseidon will continue to fight for the Huntington Beach project, which was more than two decades in the planning.
“The need for this project is critical and without question,” DJ Moore, an attorney representing Poseidon, told the Coastal Commission. “California is at an inflection point on water.”
Some commissioners emphasized they support desalination, but not this project.
Desalination got a big boost in California when the Carlsbad plant opened, after traversing a sometimes rocky road of regulatory hurdles, lawsuits and criticism similar to what was heard last week in Huntington Beach.
One can only speculate how the Carlsbad proposal might have been affected if San Diego had remained on a faster track to recycle wastewater like Orange County.