Funded by Proposition 1, a $7.545 billion bond approved by voters in 2014, the Water Desalination Grant Program supports the construction and design of pilot projects that desalinate naturally occurring brackish and ocean water for drinking water supply.
To date, DWR has awarded over $82 million in Proposal 1 desalination grants ranging from over $100,000 to $10 million to support 20 projects. Three projects are currently under construction, including the Antioch Brackish Water Desalination Project, the City of Camarilloâs North Pleasant Valley Desalination Project, and the brackish desalter in the city of Santa Monica. Two of the projects will contribute to the Governorâs goal of increasing brackish groundwater desalination production by 28,000 acre-feet per year by 2030.
Funded by Proposition 1, a $7.545 billion bond approved by voters in 2014, the Water Desalination Grant Program supports the construction and design of pilot projects that desalinate naturally occurring brackish and ocean water for drinking water supply.
The district study estimated the project could cost $122 million to nearly $194 million to construct and produce about 5,325 acre-feet of water per year for the district at a cost of $1,800 to $2,900 per acre-foot.
The low-interest loan is intended to help the plantâs owner, Poseidon Resources, satisfy state regulations for protecting fish and other marine life at the Claude âBudâ Lewis plant. The money, awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is estimated to save ratepayers about $54 million.
The project has been approved by the California Coastal Commission and the State Lands Commission. The desalination plant will use subsurface slant wells to draw seawater in from beneath the ocean floor and pump it to the treatment facility, where it will undergo reverse osmosis and disinfection to produce clean drinking water.
SLOâs first phase is gathering information and seeing what other water agencies might want to purchase the potable water produced by the seawater desalination facility, said Matt Young, Santa Barbara Countyâs water agency manager.
Thereâs no financial commitment for participating in this preliminary phase of the project, Young added.
The plant, developed by Poseidon and operated by IDE Technologies, has produced more than 100 billion gallons of desalinated seawater since it opened in December 2015, providing San Diego County with 10% of its water supply each year, according to the preliminary limited offering memorandum.
The companyâs technology uses a strong base to turn CO2 in the atmosphere into minerals. It differentiates itself from other carbon capture projects in its ability to use its technology in combination with other industrial processes such as water desalination plants, as opposed to standalone carbon capture plants like those used by Climeworks in Iceland.
The project, proposed by California American Water, was given the go-ahead by the California Coastal Commission late Thursday, after a 13-hour hearing where many residents and speakers highlighted the cost and environmental risks. The plant, set to be located 80 miles southeast of San Francisco, would produce 4.8 million gallons of drinkable water per day.