In face of drought, San Diego's desalination efforts won't stop there

2015-09-14T13:05:00-04:00

San Diego may be known as "America's Finest City," but — at least this week — it's also the epicenter of the desalination and water reuse movement. [...] The area had one of the first desalination plants — opened in Point Loma in 1961 — and will soon see a $1-billion facility open in Carlsbad. [...] a sustainable water future depends on two things: "political leadership and public engagement, whether it's desalination or reuse."

Desalination is just one large-scale technology for treating potable water, but it's attracted recent attention in places like Santa Barbara and San Diego as the California cities ramp up their water-conservation efforts and learn how to market the large upfront costs of desalination as long-term money savers.

While not necessarily practical for inland cities, desalination for has been adopted in Australia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, and experts from these areas shared their success stories recently with San Diego officials. While desalination can seem like a silver bullet, cities should never be comfortable relying on a single technology, but combine what they have with new strategies to always be anticipating future needs.

Nearby Carlsbad, also in San Diego County, is home to the nation's largest desalination plant, which opens soon.

For more on California's drought:

As a "last resort" in historic drought, Santa Barbara dusts off its desalination plant

2015-07-24T18:55:00-04:00

Santa Barbara City Council members on Tuesday unanimously approved spending $55 million to reactivate a mothballed desalination plant that could provide the city with nearly a third of its drinking water. [...] “Desalination has been a last resort,” Mayor Helene Schneider told The Times Tuesday night after the vote. “The way the drought has continued these last four years, we are really getting at that last resort.”

More on the historic drought in the U.S. southwest:

Have an idea for how to address the drought with design? Submit your ideas to the Dry Futures competition!

Archinect - News

In face of drought, San Diego's desalination efforts won't stop there

As a "last resort" in historic drought, Santa Barbara dusts off its desalination plant