New York Times
CARLSBAD, Calif. — On a calm day, a steady rain just about masks the sound of Pacific Ocean water being drawn into the intake valve from Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Listen hard, and a faint sucking sound emerges from the concrete openings, like a distant straw pulling liquid from a cup.
0 Comments
Private Equity Purifies Pacific to Boost California Water
After a decade of struggles to assuage environmentalists, raise almost $1 billion and win permits, Poseidon Resources Group will finally answer a critical question: Is converting seawater to drinking water a profitable venture in the U.S. when there are cheaper options? The developer of water infrastructure projects began site work last month on the Carlsbad desalination plant, the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. When completed in 2016, the facility 33 miles (53 kilometers) north of San Diego each day will create 54 million gallons of drinking water after drawing it from the salty Pacific Ocean. Bankrolled by a $922 million JPMorgan Chase & Co.-led public-private bond offering -- the biggest U.S. project financing deal of 2012 -- Carlsbad’s chances of success are aided by a 30-year agreement with San Diego’s water authority to buy water from the plant. If successful, the project may become a model for how to ease a growing water crunch.Read the full article at bloomberg.com. Preliminary site preparations are well underway for the first phase of construction on the pipeline aspect of the project. Construction teams have begun to position heavy equipment and materials as site planning moves forward. Meanwhile, salvage operations continue on large physical plant features and grading and other foundational preparations have begun to lay the groundwork for plant construction. More updates to follow.
With Financing Complete, Poseidon Inks Deals for Construction, Operation of Carlsbad Desal12/24/2012 SAN DIEGO - Poseidon Resources (Channelside) LP, a subsidiary of Poseidon Water LLC, has closed the $922 million financing and secured all funding needed to build the Carlsbad Desalination Project, capping a decade-long development effort to create the largest seawater-desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.
The 4th District Appellate court has ruled in favor of Poseidon Water in the case of Surfrider Foundation vs California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego Region. From the ruling:
"Surfrider Foundation (Surfrider) appeals from the trial court's denial of its petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the approval of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego Region (the Regional Board) for a desalination facility that Poseidon Resources (Channelside), LLC (Poseidon) plans to build on the coast in Carlsbad, California. Surfrider contends that in issuing the NPDES permit the Regional Board failed to comply with the requirements of Water Code section 13142.5, subdivision (b) (section 13142.5(b)),1 which provides that "[f]or each new or expanded coastal powerplant or other industrial installation using seawater for cooling, heating, or industrial processing, the best available site, design, technology, and mitigation measures feasible shall be used to minimize the intake and mortality of all forms of marine life." (Ibid.) We reject Surfrider's arguments and conclude that the Regional Board complied with section 13142.5(b). Accordingly, we affirm the judgment." Download the full ruling. |
What's the latest?
|