Projects set to tap the ocean for water

Desalination facilities planned for San Diego County

By Michael Burge, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. June 7, 2009

MAJOR FACILITIES

The world's largest ocean-water desalination plants in operation or in the planning stages include:
Camp Pendleton, CA. : Proposed for 150 million gallons per day, starting in 2018.
Oran, Algeria: Proposed for 132 mgd, starting in 2011.
Melbourne, Australia: Proposed for 108 mgd, starting in 2011.
Sydney, Australia: Proposed for 66 mgd, starting next year.
Ashkelon, Israel: Started in 2005, generates 86 mgd.
Carlsbad, CA. : Proposed for 50 mgd, starting in 2012.
Fujairah, United Arab Emirates: Started in 2003, generates 45 mgd.
SOURCE: Water Desalination Report

With a large-scale desalination plant approved for the Carlsbad coast and others possibly on tap nearby, San Diego County is positioned to become a global leader in turning ocean water into drinking water.

If planned desalination facilities go forward, nearly one out of every five gallons of the region's tap water will come from the ocean by 2020.

Besides Poseidon Resources' envisioned plant in Carlsbad, which is scheduled to churn out 50 million gallons of purified ocean water each day starting in 2012, the San Diego County Water Authority has just completed a feasibility study on a potential 150 million-gallon-a-day operation at Camp Pendleton.

The second project would take a decade and nearly $2 billion to complete. It would likely begin as a smaller complex and gradually expand.

“If they go ahead with (the full-sized version), it will be the biggest seawater desalination plant in the world,â€