Water Plant Turned Down

In a major setback for the firm seeking approval to build the largest private desalination plant in the state, the Huntington Beach City Council rejected the project early Tuesday, saying it would do little to benefit the city and could harm marine life.

The 4-3 vote opens the door for a public agency to partner with a contractor and build its own desalination plant.

The private firm that hoped to build the plant, which would turn seawater into drinking water, must redo its environmental impact report if it hopes to salvage the project.

Poseidon’s proposal to build the $250-million plant next to the AES power generating facility on Pacific Coast Highway had the endorsement of the city staff, which said the project conformed with the land use and would improve the area’s appearance.

But after a parade of residents and environmental activists denounced backers’ assurances that the plant’s effect on marine life would be minimal, council members Jill Hardy, Debbie Cook, Connie Boardman and Pam Houchen rejected the environmental impact report, effectively killing the project for now.

Orange County Water District officials said Tuesday they would continue exploring the possibility of forming partnerships with private engineering and construction companies to build a desalination plant, perhaps at the AES site.

The defeat of the Poseidon proposal “presents an opportunity for us to team up with a private company,” said Denis R. Bilodeau, president of the water district’s board of directors.

“We are moving ahead. Long term, there will be ocean desalination in Orange County.”

Poseidon said that the project would add at least $1.8 million a year to the city’s property tax revenues. The company also offered to build a 10-million-gallon water storage tank, which would bring in another $100,000 a year in property taxes. Billy Owens, senior vice president of the firm, estimated there would be $100 million in indirect benefits to the city from plant construction costs.

The promised financial rewards, as well as a new source of water for a county that relies largely on imported water, persuaded Mayor Cathy Green to support the project. “When you take into consideration the benefits,” she said, “they seem to outweigh the adverse impacts.”

Among Poseidon’s arguments was a commissioned poll of 500 Huntington Beach residents, which showed 69% favored a desalination plant and 29% were opposed.

“Your polling doesn’t reflect my e-mails,” said Boardman.

Poseidon has been working on the project for three years, proposing to build next to a power plant, which would permit it to use the plant’s water intake and discharge system.

Poseidon said it would produce as much as 50 million gallons of fresh water daily by removing salt from ocean water with filters and chemical processes.

The water would be sold wholesale to water districts in Orange County for distribution.

But environmentalists and groups such as Orange County Coastkeeper said Poseidon’s studies on the potential harm to small marine organisms were outdated and incomplete.

Owens disagreed that the report was inadequate but conceded the firm must address the issues raised by the council.

Those issues include a study of the marine life that is sucked into intake pipes or in the path of the discharged water.

The company plans to have a revised environmental impact report by the spring. By then, however, Poseidon may have company.

The Orange County Water District manages the county’s enormous groundwater basin, which supplies half the water needs of 2.3 million people in northern, central and coastal Orange County.

Bilodeau said the district views desalination as a way to lessen demands on the basin, preventing salt water from seeping into the natural freshwater basins under much of coastal Orange County.

Tonight the district board is expected to approve a letter that will be sent to nine construction and engineering companies to gauge their interest and solicit cost and technical information about building a desalination plant that can produce 30 million to 50 million gallons of fresh water a day.

The firms include Fluor Corp., Ionics Inc., J.F. Shea Construction Co., Kiewit Pacific Corp., Ondeo/Degremont, Pridesa Desalination Technology, Thames Water and U.S. Filter. Also on the list is Poseidon Resources Corp.

The district joined forces this year with the Municipal Water District of Orange County in a conceptual study of a desalination plant that could be built at the AES power plant.

In the study, water districts in the county would manage the project and contract with a developer to build the plant.

Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Newport Beach would receive water from the facility and reduce their reliance on groundwater supplies by 95%.