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2004 Desalination News
December, 2004
California American Water puts Moss Landing pilot desalination plant on hold
Cal Am didn't give a reason for the delay, which follows Monterey County's decision to pull out of a proposed partnership with Cal Am in a large regional desalination project on the Duke Energy power plant property. The state ordered Cal Am to pursue a desalination plant to replace water it has pumped illegally from the Carmel River over the years. When Cal Am and the state identified Moss Landing as the best site for that plant, the county stepped in and announced its intention to be a partner with Cal Am to build a regional plant serving all the water needs of North Monterey County and the Monterey Peninsula. The county is now working with local mayors and city managers to develop some sort of joint power structure to operate a desalination plant. Additionally, Cal Am and Pajaro-Sunny Mesa continue to develop desalination plans. AP/San Jose Mercury_ 12/29/04 (logon required)
Metropolitan board members, in a squeaky-close vote last week, approved a new policy that would ban water agencies from taking Metropolitan subsidies ---- including one San Diego County wants to cut the cost of a proposed desalination plant ---- unless the agencies promise never to challenge Metropolitan's rate system in court or the Legislature. Meanwhile, leaders of the San Diego County Water Authority, the agency that supplies nearly all the water county residents use each year, say that any threat to local desalination plans endangers the county's future water supply. North County Times_ 12/19/04
November, 2004
Tampa Bay water approves $29.1 million desalination repair contract
In agreeing to the deal with American Water-Predisa, LLC, Tampa Bay Water rejected a last-minute request from companies being sued over the plant's construction to delay the decision and allow them time to test a solution. Under the contract, the joint venture between American Water Services, Inc. and Predisa SA of Spain has until Oct. 20, 2006 to complete alterations intended to make the desalination plant operate efficiently as designed. Tampa Tribune_ 11/15/04
October, 2004
The Moss Landing project lacked a required environmental assessment and project details said an administative law judge. He ordered Cal Am to cease public notification of the application until it is complete. Leonard Weiss, attorney for Cal Am, said both the water purveyor and staff at the utilities commission knew the application was incomplete, but decided it should be filed anyway so that state agencies would be notified that Cal Am was working on a desalination project. The company's "proponents' environmental assessment" won't be submitted until June, according to Cal Am's engineer, Larry Gallery of RBF Consulting. Weiss said the judge's "routine" ruling will not delay progress on the project, or the time-consuming environmental review. Monterey Herald_ 10/9/04
The 30-year contract calls for Poseidon to supply the city with up to 25 million gallons of desalinated sea water a day from a $270 million plant proposed for a four-acre site at the Encina Power Station along Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Water users will pay no more than what the city's current water supplier ---- the San Diego County Water Authority ---- is charging at the time Poseidon's proposed plant opens. The opening is scheduled for 2008, but there are many hurdles before that point. First is resolving whether the Metropolitan Water District, southern California's main water supplier, will be involved in the project. North County Times_ 9/28/04
Carlsbad, California set to consider Poseidon Resources desalination plan
Details of an agreement with Poseidon call for the city to buy 25 million gallons a day of purified water. The company would develop a $270 million facility at the Cabrillo Power plant on the coastline without any financial contributions from the city. The desalination plant would open later this decade. However, there are 12 clauses that, if not met, could lead to termination of the contract. San Diego Union-Tribune_ 9/25/04
The authority, power plant owner Cabrillo Power and desalination plant developer Poseidon Resources wrangled over access to the location for weeks. With the agreement, officials believe they can meet the December 2005 deadline to complete the environmental impact report. San Diego Union_ 9/24/04
The consortium of American Water Services/Pridesa outbid the $50 million offer of its only rival, French-owned Veolia.The utility staff estimates the repair could increase the monthly cost of water for the average customer by 72 cents. It will be 2006 before the plant is fully operating again, three years after its original deadline. The $110 million desalination plant, the largest in the United States, has had to overcome three bankruptcies and a series of missed deadlines. Tampa Bay Water decided in February to pay plant builder Covanta $5 million to go away, ending three months of legal wrangling. AP/Miami Herald 9/21/04
Israeli 'water factory' aims to filter tensions
It has become almost a cliché in the Middle East that the most divisive issue is not land, not oil, but water. In fact many experts believe water will be the cause of the next war in the region. But the Israeli desalination plant at Ashkelon, on Israel's Mediterranean coast, promises to cut the cost of desalted water by building a power station as part of the unit. BBC News_ 9/7//04
Saudi Arabia to privatize all desalination plants
Fehaid Al-Sharief, governor of the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) said the privatization would cover not only the existing plants but also future projects. So far, tha nation has spent SR 54 billion on projects that meet 60 percent of the water needs in the main cities. SWCC runs 30 desalination plants on the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf with a capacity to produce more than 2.9 million cubic meters of water and generate more than 3,400 megawatt of electricity daily. Arab News_ 9/4/04
Seas only hope for world water supply, says Spain at start of major desalination program
Spain's Socialist government, elected in March, has ditched plans to reroute the country's longest river to irrigate its parched southeast, saying it would harm fragile wetlands in the north, cost too much and not provide enough water anyway. Under a new 3.8 billion euro proposal, a variety of smaller schemes to improve existing infrastructure and build desalination plants would provide 1,063 cubic hectometers of water -- or just under three percent of Spain's consumption. Spain, which suffers annual water shortages, has been using desalination technology for 30 years and has 700 such plants -- making it the world's fifth highest consumer. Reuters_ 9/2/04
The Connecticut firm and county water officials have clashed over environmental tests at the Carlsbad, California Encina Power Plant site. Poseidon officials have said they're afraid the Water Authority would use the information to cut Poseidon out of any deal to build the plant. Officials from both sides said they hoped the "no-testing, reconnaissance-only" visit would thaw the chill between the agency and company ---- and possibly lead to an agreement to allow the Water Authority testing. North County Times_ 9/1/04
August, 2004
Altogether the water projects will total $1.85 billion. The Water Authority supplies nearly all the water that San Diego County residents use each year, mostly by buying it from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District, tacking on a delivery fee, and shipping it to 23 cities and member agencies countywide. The new projects are intended to give San Diego more independence from the MWD and Colorado River supplies. However, the agency is at odds with Poseidon Inc., the Connecticut-based private firm that holds a 60-year-lease on the proposed desalination plant site. North County Times_ 8/27/04
San Diego County Water Authority and Poseidon Inc. call a truce on desalination project
County water officials and Poseidon ended a six-month dispute--temporarily, at least--and said they would renew talks to build a futuristic seawater plant in Carlsbad, California. At issue were county demands for environmental informaton about the Encina Power Plant in Carlsbad that Poseidon refused to provide, citing corporate confidentiality. Poseidon, in turn, wanted the county to promise never to use eminent domain to force the company--which has a 60 year lease--out of the project. Separately, Poseidon and city of Carlsbad officials say they have a deal to build a smaller, "local" desalination plant at Encina that, they say, won't preclude the county project. North County Times_ 8/12/04
Cost to fix Florida desalination plant jumps by millions
Fixing Tampa Bay Water's troubled desalination plant could add more than $1 a month to area water bills, the regional utility announced. Two contractors bidding to fix the Apollo Beach plant, American Water Services/Pridesa and Veolia North America, initially estimated the repairs would cost no more than $14-million. But when the companies submitted their proposals, one put the cost at up to nearly $29-million and the other at up to $50-million. More worrisome is the potentially higher cost to operate the plant over the next 30 years, said Mike Bennett, director of Tampa's water department. That will hurt water customers the most, he said. St. Petersburg Times_ 8/7/04
Former Hillsborough Commissioner Chris Hart, who offered the motion to end Poseidon Resources' contract to build the Tampa Bay desalination plant, told the San Diego Water Authority in November that the company did a good job. He said he believes the Tampa Bay Water board was duped by its staff into making a poor decision to take over ownership of the plant. In a letter to San Diego water officials, Tampa Bay Water General Manager Jerry Maxwell said some of Hart's comments were incorrect, including that the agency had made engineering changes to plant plans that have caused problems. St. Petersburg Times_ 8/6/04
Texas governor urges state to build first big, coastal desalination plant in the U.S.
Gov. Rick Perry, addressing the American Membrane Technology Association, said the state's water supply is in good shape, but future population growth, economic development and fickle weather will require Texas to find new and reliable supplies. Experimental projects are in their early phases in Corpus Christi, Freeport and Brownsville. AP/Houston Chronicle_ 8/5/04
Metropolitan's General Manager Ron Gastelum is proposing a new policy that would ban the Water Authority from accepting a critical subsidy to build the desalination plant ---- unless the Water Authority promises not to challenge Metropolitan's rate system in court or the state Legislature. Water Authority leaders say Gastelum is holding the desalination subsidy hostage, and trying to unfairly force the Water Authority to give up its legal right to seek resolution ---- outside of Metropolitan's board room ---- to its unhappiness over the rate system. They also hinted that losing the subsidy could kill the increasingly-confusing saga of the desalination plant. North County Times_ 7/31/04
Monterey California water board gets proposal details from desalination suitors
There's a big one and a little one and environmental issues and geo-political concerns. Monterey County Herald_ 7/30/04
A$350 million Australian desalination plant will increase Perth water supply by 17 percent
The southern hemisphere's largest desalination plant - able to distribute 45 gigalitres into the regional water system - is due to be completed in 2006. It will adopt technologies used in the Middle East and the US to remove salt and impurities from sea water, producing water of equal or better quality than current water supplies. News.com_ 7/29/04
The major question facing the district is whether to pursue its own plant -- an environmentally friendlier proposal, but one that would not solely solve the district's water problems -- or seek a partnership with one of two larger plants. The competition between those two proposals has provided high drama.Monterey Herald_ 7/28/04
The position contradicts the Ministry of National Infrastructures', which supports the expansion from 100 million cubic meters a year to 120 million, in view of the delays in other desalination projects that were already supposed to be underway. The VID consortium comprises IDE Technologies, owned by Delek Group and Ofer Brothers; Veolia Water, the water division of Veolia Environnement (formerly Vivendi Environnement), and Elran Infrastructures, owned by the Dankner group. Globes_ 7/27/04
India's first indigenously designed and developed desalination plant to come up in ’05
More such plants will be set up across 7,500 km coastline of the country. The technology for this low temperature thermal desalination plant has been developed by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, a unit of the department of ocean development (DOD). The plant will have a capacity to produce 100,000 litres of water per day. At a later stage, India will look at commercialising this technology and make it available to its neighbours. Financial Express_ 7/23/04
Desalination plant on California's San Francisco Bay gets tentative OK
Marin County Municipal Water District officials have tentatively agreed to go forward with plans to build a pilot desalination plant to see whether drinking water can be siphoned out of the bay during a drought. The test with the temporary plant would help determine whether a full- scale plant should be built in Marin, providing 5 million to 10 million gallons of drinking water a day -- enough to serve 15,000 to 30,000 homes. San Francisco Chronicle_ 7/23/04
$150 million San Luis Obispo County, California water pipeline moving ahead despite urging from private desalination effort to put it on hold
The Nacimiento Water Project is a 45-mile-long pipeline from Nacimiento Lake to San Luis Obispo, delivering water to communities along the way. A private group is working on preliminary plans to build a $90-million desalination plant that could be used instead of, or in addition to, the pipeline. At a public workshop a spokesman for DesalNATE of Woodland Hills, the private desalination plan being developed by Parson Brinckerhoff, advocated putting the pipeline on hold while his project is given more consideration. Local officials say there aren't enough details yet on a desal plant to justify halting the pipeline. San Luis Obispo Tribune_ 7/18/04
California lawmakers back $1 billion western U.S. desalination and water reclamation research projects
Research and development projects on reclamation, desalinization and other techniques would be conducted by federal laboratories and coordinated by
Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M. The "Department of Energy National Laboratory Water Technology Research and Development Act of 2004" is sponsored by a bipartisan group of senators and House members led by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. AP/San Francisco Chronicle_ 7/14/04
Reliable water through 2025 outlined under updated integrated plan adopted by Metropolitan Board
An updated water resource plan that provides the roadmap for maintaining Southern California's reliable future supply has been adopted by the Metropolitan Water District's board of directors. Increased investments in seawater desalination and a water supply planning buffer are added key ingredients of the updated Southern California water plan, which outlines a coordinated approach to resource management. Press Release _7/13/04
Kangaroo Island desalination plant in hot water
Corrosion plagues residents' systems
THE troubled $3.5 million Kangaroo Island desalination plant continues to be linked to an unusually high number of hot water system failures. "The problem with the desalination plant hasn't been fixed," said, Opposition Deput Leader Dean Brown, "You have brand new hot water systems in brand new houses having to be replaced in five to six months." news.com.au _7/12/04
Maui's mayor looks to desalination as answer to water problems
With Maui's main aquifer nearly tapped out, lawsuits arising over the use of stream flows and drought warnings still all too common to Upcountry residents,Mayor Alan Arakawa has been looking seaward. Maui News_ 7/4/04
June, 2004
$6 million federal appropriation to focus Sandia research on New Mexico drinking water desalination, removal of arsenic
Tom Hinkebein, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration's Sandia National Laboratories' Geochemistry Department and author of the Desalination and Water Purification Technology Roadmap, says the desalination program will focus on advanced research projects. Some of these projects will be tested at the Tularosa Basin National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo. Press Release_ 6/28/04
San Diego County Water Authority approves nearly $2 billion in new projects to decrease dependence on southern California's Metropolitan Water District
The three most important of the 22 projects are a desalination plant, a $103 million water-treatment facility and a plan to create new reservoir storage space in the county. They'll decide next month how to pay for the projects. North County Times_ 6/25/04
Florida's Tampa Bay Water sues Hydranautics Inc. of Oceanside, California over failure of Tampa Bay's desalination plant to work the way it should
The water agency also is suing two insurance companies that posted a nearly $24 million performance bond to guarantee that the desalination plant would run properly. Hydranautics, in a suit of its own, says other companies involved in the construction are responsible for fixing the problems. Tampa Bay Water provides water to 2 million customers in three central Florida counties, the agency's Web site stated. North County News_ 6/23/04
India to build massive low-temperature desalination plant
The plant won't use reverse osmosis technology said Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ocean Development. WebIndia123.com_ 6/22/04
World Bank shocked by plan to build expensive desalination plants on coast of India
The Bank, which has been funding projects on safe water supply and water management, earlier rejected the desalination of sea water as a possible option of supplying water to Chennai because of the high cost factor. The government wants to go ahead with the plan anyway. The Economic Times_ 6/21/04
Massachusetts towns lead the way in desalination ideas to replace ebbing groundwater and lack of water storage
Desalination technologies contain no fatal flaws but a need exists to identify, understand and address environmental concerns that are increasingly being raised by the general public. Contractormag.com_ 6/16/04
Singapore Hyflux to invest US$90 million in China seawater water desalination plant
Hyflux will also develop, design and own the plant in Tianjin, China, which is expected to be completed in 2006, the Singapore company said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange. It intends to fund the investment through internal resources and some borrowings. The plant, which uses membrane technology to process up to 100,000 cubic meters of seawater a day, will be one of the biggest desalination facilities in China, Hyflux said. Press Release_ 6/14/04
Saudi Arabia to overhaul and extend the life of Jeddah Desalination Plant
The cost is SR 209.6 million and implementation has been entrusted to Arabian-Sasakura Co. The projects are part of a comprehensive plan for renovation, extension of life and overhaul of a number of desalination plants, which produce drinking water and generate electric power on the side. MENAFN News_ 6/9/04
Israel inaugurates first private desalination plant
The new facility, a joint venture of Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael and the multinational firm Ionics, was built at a cost of $9 million and will supply 8.5 million cubic meters of desalinated water per year to some 85,000 people, mainly in the Haifa area. It will process water that is saline due to significant quantities of dissolved salt, but is less salty than sea water. Haaretz_ 6/9/04
Vietnam installs sea water desalination system in northern port city of Hai Phong
It's an 11 cubic meter per hour chain, manufactured by a centre for consultancy and transfer of safe water technology and environment.
Vietnam News Agency_ 6/7/04
Thames Water to build Britain's first desalination plant
the German-owned London utility company will invest £200 million to cope with a shortage of water that it believes makes London drier per head of population than Madrid or Istanbul. The plant, which could open as early as 2007, will be built in the Thames Estuary. The Times_ 6/1/04
May, 2004
Marin County, California Municipal Water District names Paul Helliker as new leader
Helliker arrives in Marin as the district wrestles with how to meet future water demands. One plan has a voter-approved pipeline going to the Russian River, but more recently officials have focused on desalination of bay water as a solution. Marin Independent Journal_ 5/29/04
San Diego County Water Authority approves $2 billion plan designed to meet growth through 2030
The board of directors will meet again in June to approve specific projects and ways to finance the plan. Proposals include a new desalination facility near the coast, a water treatment plant in North County and increasing the capacity of local reservoirs. The authority imports about 90 percent of its water, the bulk of it from the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles. Under the new plan, imported water could drop to half of the total supply by 2016. San Diego Union-Tribune_ 5/28/04
Santa Cruz, California considers $42 million desalination plant
The City Council’s advisory Water Commission backs a $100 million plan to expand and update its water system. The desalination plant would be the city’s first major supply project in about 30 years. Other parts of the plan include repairing old, leaking pipes and mains. The City Council is scheduled to discuss the package of projects and rate increases on June 8. Santa Cruz Sentinel_ 5/25/04
Environmental impact of desalination plants can be eased by combining with wastewater treatment experts tell Monterey, California seminar
Among the many concerns cited by environmentalists, scientists and governmental regulators was the biological impact on marine life killed as it goes through the process, and by the release of the brine that is flushed back into the sea. David Furukawa, a desalination expert with the National Water Research Institute, said the brine impact could be decreased by building desalination plants near treated wastewater outlets. In fact, he said, combining brine with wastewater improves the wastewater for ocean release. Monterey Herald_ 5/21/04
Prototype technology using wave power for water desalination tested in Australia
The Seapower Pacific unit to be deployed off Fremantle should begin operating later this year. Gizmo.com_ 5/16/04
Capacity of Israel's Ashkelon desalination plant to increase, making it the world's biggest
Developer VID, which has already invested $190 million in building the plant, will now invest a further $20-30 million to expand the site to 120 million cubic meters a year from 100 million. HAARETZ.com_ 5/18/04
San Diego County Water Authority outlines $2 billion water "master plan," including desalination and other longterm proposals and consumer costs
Members of the Water Authority board chose the plan centered on seawater desalination last year as a way of insuring regional water supplies well into the future. North County Times_ 5/13/04
Swansea, Massachusetts voters OK $650,000 desalination plant study
The money will be used to continue studies on the environmental impact a desalination plant would have on aquatic life in the Palmer River. Herald News_ 5/12/04
Mideast water dilemma could benefit from desalination plants
Drinking water has long been scarce in the Middle East, it's estimated that by the year 2040, combined Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian demands for water will outstrip supply by between 870 million and 3.5 billion cubic meters of water per year. Desalination may be the answer. Voice of America_ 5/10/04
Private desalination plants could escape California laws, environmentalists worry
Once multinational water companies are allowed a foot in the desalination door, they will use international law to bypass state and local regulations, said Marc Del Piero, a former county supervisor and state Water Resources Control Board member who represents the publicly owned Pajaro-Sunny Mesa Community Services District. Sunny-Mesa is one of nine entities with proposed desalination projects on the Monterey Bay, and is competing on some levels with the German-held California-American Water Co. for a plant in Moss Landing. Del Piero said it was imperative to get the Legislature to enact comprehensive policy regarding desalination plants, including a requirement they be operated by public agencies. Monterey Herald_ 5/8/04
U.S. calls off desalination plant and another water project in Gaza because of October bombing of embassy convoy
U.S. officials have expressed displeasure over the failure of Palestinian police to arrest those responsible for setting off a remote-control bomb next to a U.S. Embassy convoy in Gaza that killed three American guards, the first fatal attack on U.S. officials there. The projects, worth tens of millions of dollars, have not been officially canceled, an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. However, bids will not be taken, effectively freezing them at an early stage. AP/San Francisco Chronicle_ 5/6/04
San Diego County Water Authority, city of Carlsbad, California meet privately on desalination issue for the first time in months
The desalination plant, which would turn roughly 50 million gallons of seawater a day into drinking water, was previously proposed as a countywide water project run by the Water Authority, which serves 23 cities and water agencies in San Diego County, including Carlsbad. The Water Authority broke off talks with Connecticut-based project developer Poseidon Inc. in January following a dispute about documents needed for an Environmental Impact Report. Poseidon now plans to build a privately owned plant that would supply water to Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista and San Marcos. The environmental effects of this proposal are being reviewed by the city of Carlsbad. North County Times_ 5/4/04
California, Florida, Texas and other states look to desalination plants in unprecedented numbers
Seawater that has been desalinated is not cheap, costing on average about $1,000 an acre-foot as opposed to about $30 from a readily available source such as a river. Desalination also comes with its share of environmental concerns. Plant discharge dumped back into the ocean can be much saltier, affecting marine life, for example. There is also the question of private water distributors selling what is considered to be a public resource, seawater. The powerful California Coastal Commission, the state agency charged with regulating coastal development, is worried about this, while Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration supports the private companies. Chicago Tribune_ 5/3/04 (logon required)
The Authority’s Regional Water Facilities Master Plan is a long-term plan to meet San Diego County's future water demands. It focuses on diversifying the region's water supply and identifies new water sources and facilities that will be required to meet the region's water needs through 2030. The Water Authority board of directors selected seawater desalination as the preferred alternative for providing a new, safe and reliable water supply for the region. Press Release_ 5/3/04
April, 2004
Turkmenistan: Desalination of drinking water needed, UNICEF reports
Thousands of rural people in the northern Turkmen province of Dashoguz and parts of neighbouring Lebap province lack access to clean drinking water, while those in Dashoguz have to consume high salinity water in periods of low water flow, resulting in serious health implications. IRIN news org_ 4/26/04
Florida Rep. Jim Davis introduces $200 million desalination assistance bill
The measure, H.R. 3834, would establish the program within the Department of Energy. Funding would come from DOE’s renewable energy program. The plan is supported by the US Desalination Coalition.
California desalination plants in place by January 2006 could get a break on energy costs
A bill pending in the state legislature would allow the state Public Utilities Commission to establish a lower electricity price for those plants. The measure comes as a string of plants are proposed along the state’s coast. Santa Cruz Sentinel_ 4/22/04
Thirsty China turns to sea to solve water crisis
China, the world's most populous country, is mulling a special programme to freshen seawater for its drought-hit northern and coastal areas. Officials and scientists said the programme spells China's strategic choice in the new century to tap new water sources through seawater desalination. Xinhua/IANS/newkerala.com_ 4/19/04
Brownsville, Texas tests the waters of desalination--brackish water, that is. Not sea water
With a new $21.1 million plant up and running, the city finally has a drought-proof source of water. Dozens of similar plants have sprung up across Texas in recent years as growth has outpaced traditional water sources and the cost of desalination technology has dropped. San Antonio Express-News_ 4/18/04 (logon required)
More Massachusetts towns see desalination plants as answer to water woes
Many of the plants are proposed for tidal estuaries where environmentalists are worried that powerful intake pipes sucking in millions of gallons of water, as well as salty discharge, could upset the ecosystems. Public policy specialists are alarmed because some of the plants could be privately owned and public water supplies could be sold to the highest bidder. AP/Herald Tribune_ 4/10/04
Central California water board gives up on its own desalination plant but hopes to partner with others being planned nearby
After learning of severe limitations on output from the Sand City desalination plant, the Peninsula's water board signaled that it will seek a partnership with one or both of the entities poised to duke it out over a similar plant in Moss Landing. Monterey Herald 4/2/04
March, 2004
Poseidon seeks customers for its proposed $270 million San Diego-area desalination plant
Some 50 officials from northern San Diego communities learned more about the plant that Poseidon Resources, a Connecticut company with offices in San Diego, plans in the town of Carlsbad. The San Diego County Water Authority broke off negotiations with Poseidon in January and now Carlsbad is the main customer. San Diego Union-Tribune 3/31/04
Saudi Arabia seeks desalination water investments for four Red Sea and Gulf coast projects totaling $5.3 billion
Private firms will have a 60 percent share in the build-own-operate projects, with the Saudi government holding 32 percent and the partly state-owned Saudi Electricity Company holding the remaining eight percent. Reuters 3/30/04
As U.S. water use mounts, all eyes are fixed on Tampa Bay's troubled desalination plant
For better or worse, Tampa Bay Water chief Jerry Maxwell is emerging as one of the country's great defenders of desalination, a title thrust on him after Tampa Bay Water, a public agency charged with managing the area's water resources, took control of the troubled desalination plant built along the brackish waters of Tampa Bay. St. Petersburg Times 3/29/04_
Texas plans for more desalination
As state and local officials briefed lawmakers on the potential benefits of three competing sites for regional seawater desalination projects, officials from Brownsville touted the quality and low price of desalted water they're getting from a local aquifer. San Antonio Express-News 3/25/04
Carlsbad officials and representatives of Connecticut-based Poseidon Inc., say the plant can't be built without the Metropolitan Water District subsidy. North County Times 3/25/04
Several San Diego, California-area businesses may benefit from proposed Carlsbad desalination plant
Local businesses, which make up a large and prosperous desalination industry, could be awarded with as much as 70 percent of the plant's estimated cost of $250 million, according to a report drafted for Poseidon Resources Corp. San Diego Union-Tribune 3/21/04
Three companies to test proposed Tampa desalination plant solutions
The three firms are American Water Services, Veolia Water of N. America, and a partnership between Ionics and the engineering firm of Montgomery-Watson Harza.
Each company will run small-scale pilot operations from April 1 to July 12 to test its mix of chemicals, filters and alterations in the plant operation designed to make Tampa Bay Water's plant work as it should. Tampa Tribune 3/16/04
A wave of desalination proposals: California considers more than 20 projects
Poseidon Resources, is one of a handful of private companies that want to sell Californians tens of millions of gallons a day of desalinated water. Los Angeles Times 3/14/04
Schwarzenegger backs desalination
Putting the Coastal Commission on notice, the Schwarzenegger administration made it clear yesterday that it fully supports building desalination projects along California's shoreline. San Diego Union-Tribune 3/12/04
February, 2004
Desalination plant is issue for Carlsbad, California to decide, agency says
The city needs to make its own decision on whether to partner with a private company seeking to build a $270 million desalination plant here, San Diego County Water Authority officials said. Carlsbad is talking with the private company Poseidon Resources to see if it can build a desalination plant to produce 50 million gallons of drinking water per day, enough for 300,000 people. San Diego Union-Tribune 2/28/04
Repairs on Tampa, Florida desalination plant could take 20 months. Cost could reach $14 million. Tampa Tribune 2/24/04
Bernie Rhinerson, the chair of the San Diego County Water Authority, elected chair of the United States Desalination Coalition. Water agencies and utilities from Southern California, Florida and Texas formed the coalition to press for increased federal support. North County Times 2/13/04
January, 2004
San Diego Water Board unanimously rejects desalination project. Deteriorating relations with developer Poseidon Resources part of the problem. Poseidon may partner with a coastal community. LATimes 1/30/04
Troubles in Tampa, Florida desalination plant imperil California project. San Diego News Tribune 1/29/04
San Diego water officials end three years of desalination negotiations. Confidentiality agreement one of the issues. North County Times 1/29/04
British-American consortium wins consulting contract for Bahrain desalination plant. Binnie Black & Veatch already at work on the design phase of the Hidd power and water project. Gulf Daily News 1/27/04
Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources Corp. wins approval from the Carlsbad, California city council to move ahead with its $270 million desalination plant. But the firm still is at loggerheads with the San Diego Water Authority and needs state coastal approval. San Diego.com 1/22/04
Singapore begins construction of seawater purifying plant. Desalination reduces Singapore's dependence on Malaysia for water. AFP/Borneo Bulletin 1/19/04
New Mexico governor unveils state water plan. Desalination and water banking are key elements. He also promises to open negotiations with Texas and Mexico. New Mexico Business Weekly 1/15/04
Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. completes tender offer for Bahamas' Waterfields Company Limited. Waterfiellds owns and operates desalination plant. Press Release/Biz Ink 1/14/04
Fight between Tampa Bay Water and the operator of its desalination plant hits new stage of bitterness. Florida water agency wants plant turned off to keep from damaging filters. Operator says turn-off unnecessary. St. Petersburg Times 1/10/04
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