Ventura Will Build Desalination Plant
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VENTURA — City Council members decided Monday to abide by the voters’ wishes and move forward with building a seawater desalination plant.
Residents voted last week 55% to 45% in favor of constructing a plant to desalt 7,000 acre-feet of water a year. An acre-foot is enough water to serve two families of four for a year.
A city-ordered engineering study has estimated that it would cost $30.4 million a year for 30 years to build and maintain the facility.
There are only five desalination plants in California, and two are temporarily shut down, said Shelley Jones, the city’s director of public works. The active plants are at Gaviota, Diablo Canyon and Santa Catalina Island. The others are in Santa Barbara and Morro Bay.
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