Desalination decision expected soon for California

UPDATE: Central Coast mayors were at the California State Capitol Wednesday talking desalination with the water board. Several areas on the Central Coast have looked at the idea of desalination projects and its one piece of a new water supply project for the Monterey Peninsula.

Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter returned from a meeting with the State Water Board in Sacramento, where the established a statewide policy for evaluating desalination proposals. This is important because any area that wants a desalination plant will now have to go through this process.

Gunter urged the water board to consider a desalination plant in Moss Landing. It’s a project that has been trying to get off the ground for years. Gunter said it would provide a permanent source of water to thousands of people in the Salinas Valley, but understands the state’s environmental concerns on how the facilities operate.

“We need to make it workable because humans are very important as well as all the animals and I appreciate the environment and I want it to be taken care of,” Gunter said.

Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett was also in Sacramento for the hearing. He was updating the water board on the peninsula’s desalination project and where their environmental impact report stands.

PREVIOUS STORY: Financial and environmental risks to desalination were discussed Wednesday during a State Water Board hearing at the California Environmental Protection Agency building.

Mayors Jason Burnett of Carmel by the Sea and Joe Gunter of Salinas attended the hearing.

An amendment to the proposed desalination plan has been designed to clarify regulations that must be met in order to construct and operate water desalination facilities.

Supporters of the amendment say that more regulations will soften the impact desalination will have on the environment.

One of the greatest risks is creating what is called “hypoxia” in the ocean water. This could happen if a facility dumped the concentrated salt removed from the water back into the already salty seawater. That area of the ocean would become too salty and uninhabitable by fish and other marine life.

Supporters also say that regulations on desalination facilities will reduce the risk of hypoxia as more facilities are constructed and become active.

Others, such as Burnett, said the amendment is solving the wrong problem, and more attention should be given to less expensive solutions to the worsening drought.

“Desalination is expensive and it’s environmentally problematic if it’s not done right,” said Burnett, “It’s not practical for a short term drought because it takes years to plan, permit and build.”

There are already several desalination facilities along the Central Coast, such as Sand City. Some of them are producing clean water and others are not even being used right now.