Last Updated on October 6, 2020 by BVN

In summary

The proposed desalination plant in Orange County would damage sea life in our precious coastal waters and use a tremendous amount of power.

By Trygve Sletteland and Sonia Madeira de Ley, Laguna Beach

Re “Orange County desalination project doesn’t pencil out” Commentary, Oct. 1, 2020

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We support the commentary by Charming Evelyn of the Sierra Club. 

Poseidon Water Co. wants to build a desalination plant in Orange County and seeks a deal that would lock our water utility into buying its unnecessary water for decades. This water would be five times more expensive than the groundwater from our well-managed aquifer here in Orange County. 

The proposed plant would damage sea life in our precious coastal waters and use a tremendous amount of power, creating significantly more carbon emissions. 

The warming climate is stressing our water system, but there is another, less visible threat that is also jeopardizing water access: rising water rates that are making this basic necessity unaffordable for some less fortunate families and driving an increase in water shutoffs and utility debt.

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