A proposed California desalination plant that would produce 50 million gallons of drinking water per day failed a crucial regulatory hurdle on Monday, possibly dooming a project that had been promoted as a partial solution for sustained drought.
Highlights
- Staff of the California Coastal Commission recommended denying approval of the Huntington Beach plant proposed by Poseidon Water.
- The plant is expected to produce 50 million gallons of drinking water per day, enough for 16% of the homes in the Orange County Water District, where 2.5 million people live.
- The commission’s staff said the project was more susceptible to sea-level rise than was understood when it was first proposed more than two decades ago.
- It also deemed the project harmful to nearby fish and bird habitat, said the ground beneath the plant posed a seismic risk.
- The Coastal Commission, which is scheduled to consider the matter on May 12, could defy the staff recommendation and vote to approve the project.