DANA POINT, Calif. (AP) — With California struggling through historic drought, the state’s Coastal Commission on Thursday approved a desalination plant that would turn as much as 5 million gallons of seawater a day into drinkable water.
The commission voted 11-0 to approve the proposed Doheny Ocean Desalination Project in Dana Point, southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County.
Even though it faces other regulatory hurdles, the choice by the state’s coastal guardian was a key step towards approval of the $140 million plant, which could possibly be running by 2027 and supply the South Coast Water District with enough water for about 40,000 people.
California has spent many of the last 15 years in drought conditions. Virtually the complete state currently is in severe to exceptional drought, in response to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Snow that falls in California’s mountains typically provides one-third of the state’s annual water supply, but last yr snow levels were far below average by the top of the winter. The Colorado River, one other major source of water for Southern California, can be beset by drought, threatening its ability to produce farmers and cities across the U.S. West.
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State officials say they expect California’s water supply to say no by 10% over the subsequent twenty years. In August, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted recycling and desalination as ways to shore up the state’s supply.
Newsom had backed one other Southern California desalination plant that will have been 10 times larger than the one approved on Thursday. The Coastal Commission unanimously rejected that project in May.
Commissioners said they were concerned that the privately owned plant in Huntington Beach would kill marine life and make water too pricey in an area of California that has other cheaper and more environmentally sound water sources.
Environmental groups had long fought the project but there was much less opposition to the smaller plant. Commission staff had really helpful approval, saying the project’s design had a much smaller environmental footprint.
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