The financing will go toward funding an updated cooling system and ensuring the protection of local marine life.
San Diego’s Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant was awarded $170 in federal financing to complete a state-mandated overhaul of its intake system and meet environmental regulations, reports Joshua Emerson Smith for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The article explains, “The facility didn’t initially have to deal with such environmental regulations. The Encina Power Plant, which was decommissioned in 2018, previously pulled in water from the Agua Hedionda Lagoon for its cooling process, providing it to the neighboring facility as an afterthought.” The plant currently provides around 10 percent of the region’s water, pumping in roughly 300 million gallons of seawater per day. “Part of the federal loan will help pay for the long-awaited rehabilitation of 125 acres of coastal wetlands in San Diego Bay. Poseidon is required by the state to complete the project in order to offset environmental degradation caused by the plant.”
In 2022, the California Coastal Commission denied Poseidon, the operator of the Carlsbad plant, a permit to build a new facility in Huntington Beach.
FULL STORY: San Diego County’s desal facility to get $170M federal loan to help with costly overhaul
What Happened to all those Desalination Plants Proposed for California?
Less than a decade ago, "desal" proposals in California numbered over 22, but only one major one was built—in Carlsbad, serving the San Diego region. A newly released study by the Pacific Institute explains why.
California Coastal Commission Rejects $1.4 Billion Desalination Project
The unanimous decision by the Coastal Commission on May 12 might have dealt a fatal blow to the costly seawater desalination project proposed for Huntington Beach, but it was not 'a referendum on the future of desalination in California.'
The Case for Desalination: Option of Last Resort for Some California Cities
In this radio report on the use of the expensive, controversial strategy of desalination to meet California's water needs in an epic drought, KQED's science reporter speaks with the mayor of Carmel, a V.P. of Poseidon Water, and an environmentalist.
Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units
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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California High-Speed Rail's Plan to Right Itself
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Tenant Advocates: Rent Gouging Rampant After LA Wildfires
The Rent Brigade says it's found evidence of thousands of likely instances of rent gouging. In some cases, the landlords accused of exploiting the fires had made campaign donations to those responsible for enforcement.
Seattle’s Upzoning Plan is Ambitious, Light on Details
The city passed a ‘bare-bones’ framework to comply with state housing laws that paves the way for more middle housing, but the debate over how and where to build is just getting started.
DOJ Seeks to End USDOT Affirmative Action Program
The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program encouraged contracting with minority- and women-owned businesses in the transportation sector, where these groups are vastly underrepresented.
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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