H.B. closer to water plant

The company that plans to build a desalination plant on Huntington Beach coastline to sell fresh water to the region has taken another step forward to doing so.

Poseidon Resources recently announced that it has chosen a team that would design, engineer and build the proposed plant.

The companies involved will be Tetra Tech Inc., Israeli Desalination and Engineering (IDE) Technologies, and J.F. Shea Construction.

Tetra Tech will lead the team, according to a news release from the companies. IDE Technologies built and operates the world’s largest desalination plant in the Middle East, Poseidon Resources Chief Executive Andrew Kingman said. And J.F. Shea Construction has been working with Tetra Tech on the largest reverse-osmosis water purification project in Southern California, part of Orange County’s groundwater reclamation project. Reverse osmosis, which filters through a fine membrane, is the same technology used in desalination.

Estimated prices for water won’t change as a result of the team, Kingman said.

“I’m comfortable with the Tetra Tech team that the water pricing we’ve been talking to public agencies about is very reasonable,” he said. “We had our bidders in mind when we made those estimates.”

The $250-million Huntington Beach Water Desalination Facility would have the ability to pump 50 million gallons of drinking water each day. That’s an estimated 7% of county water use, according to a Tetra Tech news release.

The plant still has several major hurdles, however. A recent federal court ruling put into question the legal status of the AES power plant it will use for water and cooling. And it must still get permits from the California State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission.

Despite those obstacles, Poseidon Resources thinks the plant’s chances are good, company spokeswoman Brenda Anaya said.

“We’re very optimistic as far as the current political climate in California,” Anaya said. “With the current drought we’re experiencing, global warming, little by little the public is going to demand from the government an alternative source of water.”

Without any delays, construction could begin next year, Kingman said.

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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