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 company’s 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.
California American Water, the nation’s largest publicly traded water and wastewater company, plans to build the plant to pump ocean water, desalinate it and provide drinking water to 100,000 people on the Monterey Peninsula. The largely Latino, agricultural community of Castroville would also receive the water at a discount.
The plant would produce about 4.8 million gallons of water per day when it begins operating, with the possibility of increasing production later. California American Water hopes to have it operating by the end of 2027. The water company is seeking to bolster […]
The California Coastal Commission voted 8-to-2 despite the ecological risks to the Monterey Bay coast, high costs of the water and a divide between affluent and lower-income communities.
The plant would produce about 4.8 million gallons of water per day when it begins operating, with the possibility of increasing production later. California American Water hopes to have it operating by the end of 2027. The water company is seeking to bolster local supplies after state regulators ordered it to stop its decades-old practice of unlawfully diverting more than its share from the Carmel River.
The project was proposed by California American Water, which would use the plant to deliver millions of gallons of water to about 100,000 of its customers on the Monterey Peninsula, which are predominantly wealthier communities: the city of Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel-by-the-Sea and the neighborhoods of Pebble Beach.
The project is anticipated to supply 40 percent of the Peninsula’s water needs.
A desalination plant is moving forward in Orange County with California Coastal Commission approval just a few months after another, uch more expensive project, failed the same test.
Some of the experts that testified at the CCC hearing on the Doheny plant called comparisons between the two projects “ludicrous.” The Doheny plant will only cost $140 million, rather than $1.4 billion, for example. The Poseidon project was also located in Central Orange County, which is located on top of a large underground aquifer.
The plant, which is expected to produce 5 million gallons of drinking water per day, is the first desalination facility that the Coastal Commission has approved since more strict regulations were adopted in 2019.
The California Coastal Commission has approved a $140 million desalination plant, amidst an ongoing drought
The plant, which is expected to produce 5 million gallons of drinking water per day, is the first desalination facility that the Coastal Commission has approved since more strict regulations were adopted in 2019.
However, it is still opposed by various groups, including several Sierra Club activists who spoke against the Doheny project at this week’s hearing, when they expressed their concerns about the impact on marine life and the amount of energy required to pump ocean water through the plant’s reverse osmosis filters.
By rejecting a $78.4 billion plan to desalinate seawater in Mexico and pump it to California in favour of a local $17 billion initiative, the panel also hopes to accelerate the restoration of the Salton Sea’s salinity levels to historic levels, while slashing the estimated annual CO2e emissions of the project by nearly 90%.