Water authority: Desalination critical for water supply

SAN DIEGO — San Diego County should use the Pacific Ocean to quench its future water needs, the San Diego County Water Authority officially stated. In a city that has long had water supply problems, the authority said it favors building two desalination plants to meet future growth, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Combined, the plants could supply 200 million gallons of water a day, according to the article, which said the opinion is part of a plan to address the area's water needs through 2030. On Wednesday, Richard Pyle, the water authority's principal civil engineer, shared the initial conclusions with the Intergovernmental Relations Committee of the San Diego City Council, the Union-Tribune said, and the plans were well received by city officials. Though technology is being pitched to supply the county with a new water source, the plan also relies on upgrades to the system to keep it flowing, the newspaper said. In conjunction with the new plants, other proposals include: increasing the amount of water recycled in the county, expanding storage capacity with a new dam and rebuilding pipelines to improve efficiency, the newspaper said. If all of the plans are implemented, Pyle said there would be no need to follow through on a proposal to build a sixth pipeline to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles, the county's main water supplier, the article said. The earliest desalinated water could be available is 2006. It would come from Poseidon Resources Corp., Tampa, FL, which has proposed building a $230 million plant next to the Encina Power Station in Carlsbad, the newspaper reported. The newspaper said the second proposed plant would be adjacent to the South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista. Pyle said he expects to have a written report ready for the board by October and the plan could be formally adopted next year.