Desalination plant receives go-ahead

A private company's proposal to build the nation's largest drinking water desalination plant at Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad cleared its final hurdles Wednesday before the California Coastal Commission.

The decision came at the conclusion of a 10½-hour hearing in Oceanside punctuated by objections from environmentalists and support from elected officials who stressed the crucial need to increase the region's water supply.

“We must diversify our region's water-supply portfolio,” said San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders. “We cannot conserve our way out of the water crisis.”

San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre testified in opposition to the project, arguing that it was the wrong approach to solving the region's water shortage.

“The primary way to gain new water is through reclamation,” he said, referring to the process by which waste water is converted back into drinking water.

A frustrated Mayor Bud Lewis of Carlsbad, urged the commission to make a speedy decision without adding new requirements “so we can get on with building the damn thing.”

The $300 million plant envisioned by Poseidon Resources Inc. of Stamford, Conn., would produce 50 million gallons of drinking water each day, enough to supply 112,000 households.

Nine local water agencies have collectively contracted to buy the plant's entire output of drinking water.

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