Santa Clara Valley Water District studying San Jose, Palo Alto, Mountain View as possible locations
The Carlsbad, Calif. desalination plant, that borders Interstate 5 on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other in Carlsbad, Calif. America’s largest seawater desalination plant, shown here in 2015, produces 50 million gallons of drinking water for the San Diego area each day. Saying it needs to evaluate all options for new sources of drinking water, Silicon Valley’s largest water district is studying a plan to build the first seawater desalination plant along the shores of San Francisco Bay.
In theory, desalination can provide an endless supply of water. In 2015, crews built a $1 billion desalination plant in Carlsbad, in San Diego County. It provides 54 million gallons per day — nearly 10% of the drinking water for San Diego. It is the largest plant in North America. Why is it so expensive? Desalination plants run 24 hours a day, blasting water through membranes at pressures higher than a fire hose, and use huge amounts of energy.
David Lewis, executive director of Save the Bay, an environmental group in Oakland, said that building pipes into a national wildlife refuge to draw millions of gallons of water a day from sensitive wetland areas that are home to endangered species would almost certainly cause a major controversy. Similarly, the Marin Municipal Water District proposed building a desalination plant on the bay near San Rafael in 2009 but shelved the plan after Marin voters approved a ballot measure in 2010 saying desalination facilities couldn’t be built without voter approval.
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