by Annie Scott
August 16, 2009

Here’s what’s going on in a parched land far away from the Mitten …

“If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

It’s funny how many people and policymakers tend to forget that little cliché during desperate times.

Here in California, in the midst of a serious statewide drought, enforced water rationing and an ever-growing population, while part of the state is on fire (again) and governments and taxpayers are pretty much broke, many people and elected officials are more enthusiastic than ever about desalination plants as a means of increasing the drinking water supply.

As the name implies, desalination removes the salt from seawater and turns it into freshwater suitable for human use. How? Commonly, the seawater is forced through a semi-permeable membrane (water gets through; salt and various other things do not). A great deal of energy is needed to power the process, and, as we’re all learning, energy doesn’t come cheap or without its own set of problems.

Though it’s a very pricey means of getting one’s drinking water, the “desal” concept is catching on worldwide as populations grow and freshwater resources become more and more strained. More than 21,000 desalination plants are now operating worldwide, producing 3.5 billion gallons per day of potable water.

Of course, desalination’s appeal is easy to appreciate: turning seawater into freshwater is as lucrative as turning common metal into gold. Practical alchemy. The potential payoff is huge: tapping the “infinite” ocean to increase supply of a precious resource rather than worrying about trying to curb growing demand. After all, it’s always more fun (and easier to sell politically) to “get more” than to try to “use less,” right?

Plus, I do understand the desire to have more local supply. I was alarmed to read that roughly 90 percent of San Diego County’s water is imported from the Sacramento Bay Delta and the ridiculously over-allocated Colorado River (both hundreds of miles to the north). “But that’s crazy!” I shared with a friend who’s lived here all his life. His response? “Yeah. It’s a desert.”

Oh, right. Sometimes I forget I’m no longer living in the Great Lakes wonderland that is Michigan. I no longer am surrounded by the largest freshwater system on the planet. It was tough to grasp the true scarcity of accessible freshwater until I moved out west and realized things work a little differently when you don’t have 20 percent of the world’s and 90 percent of the country’s surface freshwater supply at your fingertips. It’s helped me understand what the professor of my “Global Water” course meant when he tried to impress upon us that future international relations will hinge on the allocation of water — the New Oil or “blue gold.”

No stranger to gold rush fever, California is definitely on the hunt to get more water. There are nearly 20 desalination plants proposed throughout the state. One is in my very own little north coastal corner of San Diego County, in Carlsbad. After being stuck in permitting-purgatory and fighting off legal challenges from environmental groups since 2003, champions of the $300-million Carlsbad Desalination Project now say they will break ground later this year and have the facility operational by 2012.

If all goes as planned, the Carlsbad plant will produce 50 million gallons of fresh drinking water per day. That’s enough for 300,000 people, about 8 percent of the county’s drinking water use. It’s billed as the largest seawater desalination plant in the western hemisphere.

Poseidon Resources is the developer and operator. An attractive part of its pitch is that private investors will assume “the majority of the risks associated with the project,” so tax- and ratepayers won’t have to.

All in all, the company has done a masterful job of selling the project as a perfect solution to a growing problem that cannot wait a moment longer. It’s the ultimate drought-proof water supply! It’s a locally controlled source — better than importing! We’ll pay for everything (asterisk) — no added expense for taxpayers or ratepayers! We’ll use “green” technology and create jobs! It will mean improved water quality and reliability!

And so on. Appropriately, the company’s initials are “P.R.”

The Carlsbad project is a landmark case being watched closely throughout California and the nation. The results of the permitting process itself carry huge implications in setting precedent for the future of desalination in the U.S. It’s a notable step forward for public-private partnerships, but it also has folks worrying about the potential for abuse when corporations are in control of such a fundamental resource. Think rate-gouging or selling to the highest bidders.

Desalination may be the only solution in poor, arid parts of the world (read: places that don’t have enough water to waste). In California, says renowned all-things-water guru Dr. Peter Gleick, it makes more sense to look first at less expensive options such as maximizing efficiency for using the water we already have and investing in more water recycling. Gleick’s Oakland, California-based Pacific Institute has published heavily referenced desalination studies that also emphasize the superior cost-effectiveness and necessity of investing in water recycling and efficiency.

But those are never exciting, buzzworthy, dollar-sign-invoking ideas.

When asked for her thoughts on the Carlsbad project, one of my neighbors’ honest response was, “If it means my lawn will finally be green again, my tap water won’t taste any worse and I don’t have to pay extra, then it sounds like a good deal to me.” I asked if she had concerns about potential environmental impacts. “Yeah, but drought isn’t good, either. It seems like there’s always some bad impact no matter what you do.”

On the other hand, an eco-minded coworker expressed concern about how many fish would be killed and how much energy it would use. She doesn’t like that it would contribute significantly to climate change.

Dr. Gleick recommends requiring any U.S. desal proposal to include new, non-carbon emitting energy. As he points out, “It may be more costly at first, but it may also be the cost of doing business right.”

Unfortunately, it seems up-front cost and immediate results are most policymakers’ and taxpayers’ primary concerns. And while it seems like a foregone conclusion that a desalination plant soon will be part of my local coastline, I hold on to hope that any future desal plants are just one part of a diverse water supply portfolio in this unquenchable state.

Yes, it sounds like Poseidon Resources’ Carlsbad Desalination Project probably is too good to be true — and maybe we all know it is. But six years of hearings and lawsuits haven’t lessened the thirst for a good photo-op and more local water.

Annie Scott lives and works in San Diego and sends dispatches back to her beloved Michigan.