The Orange County Water District, which manages the groundwater basin in north and central county, gave a much-needed boost this week to a proposed desalination plant in Huntington Beach by agreeing to purchase its water.
At nearly $2,000 per acre-foot, desalinated water costs about twice as much as water imported from Northern California. Until this week, the steep price tag for what Poseidon Water calls a drought-proof water supply has failed to attract water agencies.
But Wednesday night, the Orange County Water District, which sells water to local retail agencies, said it was interested in buying all of the 56,000 acre-feet of drinking water the plant would produce.
The negotiations come after 15 years of planning, but before Poseidon has lined up all the permits necessary to actually break ground on the facility. Poseidon needs one more permit from the California Coastal Commission and must complete a multiphase technical study to get it.
Additionally, it’s not certain whether Poseidon will have to re-apply for its other permits once the state releases new rules governing desalination operations statewide in the fall.
“It doesn’t look like the way this thing is designed will comply with those standards,” said Joe Geever, an environmental consultant for Surfrider Foundation and expert on coastal permitting. “You’re talking about a contract for a project that is speculative at best.”
Poseidon, however, heralded the contract negotiations as a critical step in securing a drought-proof water supply for Orange County. The contract may come back for a final vote as soon as March.
“We look forward to these formal discussions with OCWD,” Poseidon Vice President Scott Maloni said.
The contract between OCWD and Poseidon would govern how much OCWD would pay for the desalinated water and who would foot the bill for the likely changes that are projected to cost $892 million.
Poseidon struck a similar deal with the San Diego County Water Authority for the 48,000 acre-feet of water it expects to produce per year at its Carlsbad desalination facility late this year.
A deal with OCWD would be a coup for Poseidon, which has had trouble finding buyers for the desalinated water, according to Irvine Ranch Water District General Manager Paul Cook.
Years of negotiations between Poseidon and the Municipal Water District of Orange County – a water wholesaler – and its member agencies fell through about 18 months ago.
“The Poseidon guys said, ‘This isn’t going to work. We need to find a buyer.’ And then they started working with OCWD,” Cook said.
So far, OCWD has turned out to be friendlier partner. Nine of the 10 OCWD board members voted Wednesday to advance the negotiations for Poseidon’s desalinated water.
Cook said he worries about the uncalculated costs of the Poseidon project, as well as price hikes – costs he expects would be passed on to customers. He said his agency doesn’t need the extra water, and he doesn’t believe his customers should have to pay extra.
Cook also questioned whether the OCWD has legal authority to act as the middleman between Poseidon and the retail water agencies.
“There’s a lot more questions that go along with it, and not least of all: Who really wants this water?” Cook said. “We’re not interested in paying for a project we don’t derive any benefit from.”
The water will shore up the groundwater basin, OCWD General Manager Mike Markus said.
Contact the writer: aorlowski@ocregister.com
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