On December 14, 2015 Poseidon Water opened the largest ocean desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. The $1 billion desalination facility is located in California, a state entering its fifth consecutive year of drought so severe that Governor Jerry Brown had to issue an executive order mandating an average 25 percent cut back in residential water use across the state.
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| Poseidon Water Desalination Facility |
More specifically the plant is located in the San Diego Region, the 4th largest metro area in California. The Poseidon plant can create up to 50 million gallons of fresh water a day; enough to meet about 7% of the county's annual demand of 390,500 acre-feet. The San Diego County Water Authority, the region's main water manager serving 3.2 million people, is buying the desalinated water under a 30-year purchase agreement.
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| San Vicente Reservoir |
With the extended California drought and austere water restrictions it would follow that Poseidon’s desalination plant should be welcomed with open arms. Environmental issues aside, there is one issue however that has created controversy with many San Diego County residents: San Diego County has superfluous water. Even before Poseidon’s water comes online and even with the statewide drought, San Diego has had such a large excess water supply it needed to negotiate a temporary cutback of 9.8 billion fewer gallons on purchases of imported water it was contractually scheduled to purchase from the region’s suppliers. Yet even with these cutbacks San Diego has run up against storage limits requiring special permitting to sock away 13.7 billion gallons in the newly expanded San Vicente reservoir, filling it to its temporarily approved limit.
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| Filter Bank at Poseidon Water Desalination Facility |
Despite having such an extreme water surplus, to make the Poseidon plant financially feasible water officials agreed back in 2012 to buy all the water produced - whether they need it or not. The desalinated ocean water will cost San Diego water agencies at least $113.6MM — more than double the $45.2MM they would pay for the same amount of imported water. Couple that with the fact that the statewide conservation mandates have applied equally to areas that have plenty of water and those that don't; so in spite of the readily available water supply San Diegans were compelled to conserve water further exacerbating the piling up of unused water. The City of San Diego alone has cut water use by 26% since May 2013, which is more than the 16% mandated by the state. Net result of having excess water and exceeding conservation targets: San Diegans will be paying more for water.
City officials have said that reduced water usage by San Diegans this year cost the Utilities Department about $73 million in revenue. To make up for lost sales and the higher cost of the desalinated water the local water agency has raised water rates. Water bills will soar 16% in San Diego next year under rate increases the City Council recently approved. Together with the additional scheduled rate hikes (6.4% in July 2017, 5% in July 2018 and 7% in July 2019) San Diegans will see a 40% compounded rate hike within four years.
To impose a 40% rate hike to satisfy contractual obligations to buy the more expensive desalinated water for an area that has superfluous water and has exceeded mandated water conservation targets does seem controversial - today. However the cost of treated imported water is expected to surpass the cost of desalinated water by 2030. Considering that the Poseidon undertaking took nearly 15 years with final approval to begin construction only received in late November 2012 it seems the project has come online just in time. And that is forward thinking and seeing the forest for the trees.
And should there be any increases in demand for any of California’s quixotic top three (3) agricultural crops, which as described subsequently are water intensive crops that together account for 32% of California’s developed fresh water supply, San Diego’s imported water supply could be at risk making the need to start undertaking more regional desalination plants as soon as possible an imperative.
#1 Alfalfa
Primarily exported to China for livestock feed. In 2012, California exported 575,000 tons of alfalfa to China, for $586 million. Alfalfa consumes about 5.2MM acre-feet of water annually (18% of California irrigation water, 14% of the State’s developed water) which is enough water to supply the San Diego County Water Authority’s total annual water needs for its 3.2MM residents more than 13 times over.
#2 Almonds & Pistachios.
California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds. Each individual almond requires slightly more than one gallon of water by harvest time. The cultivation of almonds and pistachios consumes about 3.8MM acre-feet of water annually (13% of California irrigation water, 11% of the State’s developed water) which is enough water to supply the San Diego County Water Authority’s total annual water needs for its 3.2MM residents almost 10 times over.
#3 Rice.
California grows many rice varietals that are exported to both Japan and China as a premium product. The most water intensive of the top 3 crops, every pound of processed rice requires 299 gallons of water. Rice consumes about 2.7MM acre-feet of water annually (9% of California irrigation water, 7% of the State’s developed water) which is enough water to supply the San Diego County Water Authority’s total annual water needs for its 3.2MM residents almost 7 times over.
The following info-graphic visualizes the quixotic allocation of developed fresh water for the top three (3) agricultural crops in California.
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