Desalinization plant could come to Surf City

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A Connecticut firm wants to build a desalinization

plant off of Pacific Coast Highway to give the city an alternative water

supply that would be reliable during droughts and natural disasters.

“If this project were built, it would be drought-proof because [the

company] can produce [drinking] water whether there is rain or not,” said

Virginia Grebbien, a senior vice president of Poseidon Resources Industry

in Stamford, Conn.

The project, which is still in the conceptual stages, would involve

building a 10-acre desalinization plant behind the AES Power Plant on

Pacific Coast Highway that could produce 40 million gallons of water per

day. The proposed site sits on property that is owned by Southern

California Edison.

In February, Poseidon and the Municipal Water District of Orange

County reached an agreement for the company to submit a formal project

proposal in December. Poseidon is hoping to sell its water to the county

agency, Grebbien said.

She said the company intends to strike a deal to sell its water to the

water district before applying for a coastal development permit from the

city.

Poseidon officials have informally talked with some City Council

members about its plan. If all goes well, construction of the

$100-million plant could begin as soon as 2003, she said.

The desalinization plant’s water would be available to both Huntington

Beach and residents throughout the county.

Huntington Beach gets 75% of its water from an underground aquifer

that stretches from south Orange County to the Los Angeles County border.

The aquifer is managed by the Orange County Water District, which charges

the city a user fee of $150 per 326,000 gallons of water. The remaining

25% is bought from the municipal water district, which brokers imported

water from the Colorado River and the Sacramento River delta. Imported

water costs $436 per 326,000 gallons.

Keith Coolidge, an associate general manager at the municipal water

district, said Poseidon’s proposal will address such issues as the

water’s price, and where and when the water would be needed.Grebbien said

she doesn’t know if the price of desalinated water would affect

Huntington Beach residents.

The site near the AES Power Plant was selected because of the

availability of warm water, she said. The AES plant maintains a large

intake and outflow pipe that sucks in water from the ocean for cooling

purposes during its operations. During the process, the water is heated

and discharged back into the sea.

Poseidon’s plant would use the warm discharged water for its

desalinization process, Grebbien said. The warm water provided by the

pipeline would make it easier to extract salt from the ocean, she said.

Grebbien said desalinated water has less salt than either ground or

imported water.

“The water industry in Southern California spends tens of millions a

year to keep the salinity of its water low,” she said.

In addition, Grebbien said, a supply of desalinated water would be

available during droughts and natural disasters, such as earthquakes.

Because of the extensive desalinization process -- which includes

reverse osmosis and chlorinization -- bacteria in the ocean would be

thoroughly removed, she said.

Coolidge said there is an abundant water supply in Southern California

but that additional sources of water may be required in the next 10 to 15

years.

“There are many variables in this” project, he said. “In our minds, it

is not a project that is ready to go tomorrow, but it certainly deserves

a long hard look as a project for the future.”

Councilman Dave Sullivan said it is too early to tell if the plant

will be needed in Huntington Beach.

However, Sullivan said he is concerned about the plant’s size because

residents in the southeast part of the city already live among large

power and sanitation plants.

“I guess [the desalinization plant] would have to be unintrusive to

satisfy the people in the area,” he said. “That should be an important

part of the council’s decision.”

Mayor Dave Garofalo said he would rather see efforts go into improving

water quality instead of desalinating the ocean.