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Environment

Final Vote On Poseidon Desal Plant Could Be This Week

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published November 26, 2012 at 3:00 AM PST
This story was published more than 12 years ago.
The desalination project is located at the Encina Power Station in the City of Carlsbad.
Poseidon Resources
The desalination project is located at the Encina Power Station in the City of Carlsbad.
Final Vote On Poseidon Desal Plant Could Be This Week
The Poseidon water desalination plant, that’s been debated for a decade, is up for a vote this Thursday.

This week could be a decisive one for San Diego water agencies struggling to find the best way to avoid future water shortages. The Poseidon seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad has been debated for years, and it is up for a final vote before the County Water Authority on Thursday.

If approved, the plant's desalinated water could provide 7 per cent of San Diego’s water within a decade. But it would also add $5 or $6 to the average monthly water bill; maybe more.

Ann Tartre is Director of the Equinox Center, a non profit that focuses on a sustainable quality of life for San Diego’s future. She said desalination is energy intensive so it adds to the region’s carbon footprint, but it is a drought-proof water supply.

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“I think it will play some role in our water portfolio,” she said, “The question is when and how much. It’s obviously the most expensive source of water that we have, so that’s a concern for ratepayers.”

Critics like the Surfrider Foundation and the Coast Law Group , say the region should first consider more conservation and water recycling, otherwise known as indirect potable reuse. They point to lower carbon emissions, less damage to marine life and lower costs. Desalination is currently two or three times the cost of imported water.

But Chris Cate of the San Diego’s Taxpayers Association believes the Poseidon desalination project is worth the higher cost.

“Even though imported water is cheap, it’s not reliable," Cate said. “And whether it be desal or indirect potable reuse, all those things are going to have an additional cost associated with it. We want to make sure that investment is made now so we are ready moving forward. We want to be in the position where we can control our own destiny.”

The City of Carlsbad will vote Tuesday whether to support the project. Oceanside has voted to support the regional water authority, the CWA, to enter into a contract with Poseidon, but has voted against entering into an individual contract with the company.

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All 24 water agencies, members of the San Diego County Water Authority will have a vote on whether to give Poseidon the go ahead.

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Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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