Poseidon urged to try new treatments

The lieutenant governor of California has urged Poseidon Resources, the company that plans to build a desalination plant in Huntington Beach, to seek more environmentally friendly ways of creating drinkable water.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, in a letter July 15, told Poseidon Chairman and Chief Executive James M. Donnell that he would oppose any new desalination plants that use ocean water until all options for treating wastewater had been tested and rejected.

Using wastewater would use less electricity and have a much smaller environmental impact than using ocean water, he said.

Poseidon intends its Huntington Beach plant to take seawater drawn in by the neighboring AES power plant.

The cooling method used by AES, known as once-through cooling, involves taking in ocean water and releasing it back to the ocean after a single cycle of cooling, a method some consider harmful to the environment.

Poseidon spokesman Brian Lochrie, though, said the company hadn’t changed its plans for Huntington Beach.

The amount of water the Poseidon plant would need for desalination, he said, is far less than the amount the AES plant brings in, and if the power plant were forced to shut down its system, Poseidon would submit an application to draw in its own water.

In addition, Lochrie said, having a desalination plant in Orange County would reduce the region’s dependence on imported drinking water, especially during a drought.

— Michael Miller