Blog: What About Desalination?
From the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) Blog, in a post by Nancy Vogel, California Department of Water Resources:
“Despite high costs and other barriers to adoption, the appeal of desalination never vanishes in California. It sharpens during drought or when debates over the Delta intensify, but so far, it has not proven the silver bullet to end California’s water woes. So where does desalination fit in?
“Today, desalination creates an estimated 84,000 acre-feet of potable water a year in the state, mostly through treatment of brackish groundwater, which is not so salty and cheaper to treat than sea water. Most of these plants are operated by local water districts on the South Coast. They serve as one of many supply water sources that protect local communities during droughts.
“A few small plants in California treat pure ocean water, but that picture is shifting. The San Diego County Water Authority intends to get up to 56,000 acre-feet a year — roughly seven percent of the water it needs — from a desalination plant now under construction next to a coastal power plant in Carlsbad.”