1. Carlsbad and Huntington Beach Seawater Desalination Facilities
8/23/2019 4:10 PM
Carlsbad and Huntington Beach
Seawater Desalination Facilities

2. Project Setting 2

3. Existing Flow Schematic

6. Carlsbad is Operational

12. Water Delivery System

13. The Huntington beach project

14. Permitting Status Local Land Use Permits: EIR Certified – Sept 2005
HB Conditional Use Permit – Feb 2006/10
HB Coastal Development Permit- Feb 2006/10
NPDES Permit
Permit Issued –Aug 2006
Permit Renewed – Feb 2012
Department of Public Health Services
Conceptual Approval –
August 2002
State Lands Commission
Lease for Intake and Discharge Piping –
Approved - October 2010
California Coastal Commission
Coastal Development Permit – Pending

15. Huntington Beach Site Existing

16. Huntington Beach Seawater Desalination Project

17. Project Water Flow Schematic

18. Felicia Marcus discusses desalination

19. State Water Board Ocean Plan Amendment
Provide guidance to the State’s Regional Board on how to evaluate the best available technology for the intake and discharge of seawater from a desalination facility.
Requires “best available site, design, technology and mitigation measures feasible to minimize the intake and mortality of marine life” (CWC Section (b)).
“Feasible means capable of being accomplished in a successful manner within a reasonable period of time, taking into account economic, environmental, social, and technological factors.” (Coastal Act § 30108)

20. State Water Board Ocean Plan Amendment
Seawater Intake
Must prove subsurface intakes are infeasible before using a screened open ocean intake.
Seawater discharge
Co-mingling with wastewater discharge or high pressure diffuser best discharge technologies.

21. Subsurface Intakes – Infeasible
Independent Scientific & Technical Advisory Panel (“ISTAP”)
“Severe” environmental impacts during construction
26 acre seafloor footprint
Excavation and removal of over 500,000 cubic yards of seafloor habitat
Estimated Loss of over 977 million infaunal and epifaunal invertebrates and demersal invertebrates and fishes
Long-term environmental impacts during operations
Permanent loss of benthic habitat
Entrainment 
$1 billion – 1.5 Billion in additional cost - Not economically viable in a reasonable period of time.

22. Seawater Intake Technology
The intake screening technologies and slow water velocity will eliminate impacts to fish and other juvenile marine life.
Seawater will first pass through a velocity cap with exclusion bars spaced 9 inches apart
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23. Seawater Intake Technology
Non-swimming Planktonic organisms (i.e., fish eggs) need to float within 15-yards of the intake to be at risk of entrainment.

24. Minimizing Fish Egg Entrainment
With 1mm screens (1/25th of an inch, or roughly 1/3 the width of a dime), only microscopic planktonic organisms (eggs and larvae) could potentially become entrained.
Intake water velocity 0.5 ft/second.
There will be no entrainment of threatened or endangered species and any potential entrainment will be mitigated by contributions and improvements to local coastal wetlands.
(Continued…)

25. Minimizing Fish Egg Entrainment
Less than two plankton will be entrained per 1,000 gallons of seawater withdrawn. This equates to roughly 0.03% of the plankton in the source water.

26. Discharge Technology
Natural seawater is 3% salt. The concentrated seawater discharged by the desalination plant is seawater with 6% salt.
With the diffuser, the total area of seafloor impacted by increased salinities will be only 0.15 acres.
(Continued…)

27. Discharge Technology
The elevated salinity levels in the concentrated seawater discharged by the desalination plant comply with state regulations and will not impact water quality or marine life.
There are over 15,000 desalination plants operating around the world today. Studies and data from these plants show the concentrated seawater is being diluted without impacts to marine life or the ecology.

28. Water Purchase Agreement – Orange County Water District

29. Risk Sharing – OCWD Term Sheet
Risk Description
Poseidon
OCWD
Permitting
Project Financing
Construction
MWD LRP Subsidy
Change in Law
Technology
Water Demand
Operations & Maintenance
Pipeline Distribution System
Electricity Consumption & Price

30. Cost of Desalinated Water Today
Water Price Summary
Cost of Desalinated Water Today
Imported Water Alternative: MWD Rate + Avoided Cost Today = $1,014
Cost to Orange County Water District: MWD Rate + Avoided Cost + Premium = $1,216
Total Desalinated Water: MWD Rate + Avoided Cost + Premium + LRP Subsidy = $1,691
Average Household Impact: $~3 per month