SOUNDING OFF:We need an alternative to Poseidon

Your editorial and letters page of Feb. 22 shows that the Poseidon PR machine and its cohorts have been working overtime to influence public opinion. They are running scared of the Jan. 25 federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision that requires the EPA to be tougher in enforcing the Clean Water Act.

It is not a sure thing that Poseidon will be built. In fact, Poseidon’s only other large-scale desalination plant, in Tampa Bay, Fla., is still not operating, as was promised, after years of repairs.

Your editorial is very disappointing and it is full of omissions.

You make no mention of the high-energy consumption that Poseidon’s antiquated technology requires to produce its water. Nor do you mention the prohibitive cost consumers would have to pay for Poseidon water. Nor do you mention that Poseidon desalination technology has yet to actually work. It certainly does not work in Tampa Bay.

The truth is that Poseidon technology does not work due to a filter system that constantly clogs up. Even if it worked, it would kill all the marine life that it sucked into its system, day in and day out. Your mention of Erin Brockovich is a subliminal hint that Poseidon is indeed a polluting, environmentally destructive project.

The editorial also ignores the new, promising technology used in Long Beach and Dana Point that actually works. This state-of-the-art system is installed underground, doesn’t offend the eye and does not kill marine life. Why, then, is Poseidon holding on to its dinosaur technology?

Your editorial also omits a mention of the problems involved with private corporations like Poseidon controlling water for the primary purpose of making a profit. After oxygen, water is the most essential substance to life. Profit and greed should not be the ultimate factor in who can get water. This ugly scenario has already emerged in Third World countries where the poor have little access to water.

The great promise of water conservation is also not mentioned in your editorial. Up to half of our water goes into landscaping irrigation. Drought-tolerant gardens and other water conservation techniques can help save a large portion of our water.

Poseidon certainly is not the answer. Poseidon is stuck in the destructive, half-century-old technology of once-through cooling.

Let’s look to better and environmentally smart technologies to provide for our water future.