Construction set for 2010 on biggest desal plant in West

Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources said it plans to begin construction early next year on a desalination facility to process 50 million gallons of seawater per day in Carlsbad, Calif.

The $320 million plant would be double the capacity of the current largest U.S. plant and larger than any seawater desalination plant outside the Middle East, according to the International Desalination Association (see Largest desalination plant in Western world gets go-ahead).

Poseidon expects the plant to supply 10 percent of the county's water needs and has already signed contracts to sell all of the facility's production for 30 years to nine water agencies in San Diego County. Construction is expected to take about two years.

The plant was approved in August 2008 and planned to begin construction this year. However, a series of lawsuits held up the process (see Off-grid and out of touch).

Threats of a drought this year in California ultimately pushed the measure through. And the potential drought has prompted other water agencies to reconsider desalination as a routine source of water, instead of as an emergency measure (see Water woes prompt California to rethink desalination). 

Desalination is an energy-intensive process, and environmental groups have questioned its safety for marine creatures because of the water intake equipment and disposal of the brine byproduct. Poseidon's project could clear the way for dozens of desal plants proposed along California's coast. 

Poseidon plans to break ground next year on another desalination plant capable of producing 50 million gallons of drinking water daily in nearby Huntington Beach, Calif.

A desalination plant has also been proposed at Camp Pendleton, which is just north of Carlsbad, for between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion. Meanwhile, Orange County is using a $487 million system to recycle 70 million gallons of water daily.

Poseidon was also involved in the largest desalination facility in the U.S.—a 25 million gallon-capacity plant in Tampa, Fla. (see Tampa Bay desalination plant rises again). 

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