It is certainly common knowledge that our lovely hometown of Carlsbad boasts an abundance of natural beauty and resources. From the sparkling blue Pacific to the open canyons filled with indigenous plants and animal life, everywhere we look we are blessed with more than our share. Carlsbad is also known for its water—from the ocean to the lagoons to the mineral waters that earned our city its name. Yet in the midst of this abundance we often forget that the clean drinking water that flows from our taps is not our own.

In fact, the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) states that we still currently import 85 percent of our water from the Colorado River and Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta through the Metropolitan Water District. And with the cyclical nature of drought conditions and the environmental impact of climate change, coupled with looming legal constraints placed on the Colorado River, it has become clear that we are in great need of a reliable, drought-proof water supply.

Enter Poseidon Resources Corporation. Currently this innovative corporation is working with the City of Carlsbad to build a 50-million-gallon-a-day seawater desalination plant on the coast of Carlsbad. Because San Diego companies have a history of pioneering desalination technologies, including breakthroughs that have made this process economically feasible, our city has partnered with Poseidon to pursue the goal to be totally independent from imported water sources within the next few years.

To understand the history of this evolution, we must first look at the history of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Today this lagoon is one of Carlsbad’s environmental and recreational treasures, but it wasn’t always the pristine body of water we now enjoy. Over 50 years ago the lagoon was given its name because of the stench it produced. In Spanish, Agua Hedionda means “stinking water”—an accurate description at the time because it was then a stagnant and lifeless lagoon of smelly salt water.

That was before the Encina Power Station was commissioned. Since 1952, the power station has regularly dredged an opening between the ocean and the lagoon to sustain a source of seawater used to cool the power plant’s generators. As a result, this 388-acre lagoon became a man-made, shallow coastal bay teeming with marine life. It’s the hardest working lagoon in Carlsbad.

Agua Hedionda is now an environmental asset with incredible public benefits. It is home to the Carlsbad Aquafarm, producing one million pounds of mussels and oysters sold to seafood vendors and restaurants each year. This helps reduce the toll that overfishing takes on the ocean by providing high-qualtiy farmed seafood. The Hubbs-Sea World Fish Hatchery also calls the lagoon home, and to date this hatchery has released over 1.5 million endangered white sea bass into the open ocean. Hubbs-Sea World will also be able to expand its marine restoration activities as a result of additional acreage dedicated by the owners of the power plant, Cabrillo Power. The Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation’s Discovery Center welcomes visitors on the east end of the lagoon, and the YMCA Camp makes great use of the west side for its summer camp recreational activities.

Poseidon has been working on this project since 1998, providing the California Coastal Commission detailed analysis and information based on almost a decade of environmental and technical studies conducted by industry experts and scientists. According to Poseidon Resources Senior Vice President Peter MacLaggan, “The Carlsbad Desalination Project is a win-win for the community. We have spent most of the last 10 years talking about the importance of developing a reliable, drought-proof water supply for San Diego County that is affordable and locally controlled by public water agencies. However, it’s important that we do not overlook the desalination plant’s coastal and environmental benefits.”

The new seawater desalination plant will be located on a 3-acre site next to the Encina Power Station on the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. It will connect to the lagoon through the power plant’s seawater circulation system. This will allow Carlsbad to minimize the environmental impact and maximize the cost efficiency by sharing the power plant’s existing ocean water intake and outfall. The existing infrastructure turns over 600 million gallons of water a day to cool its generators. Poseidon would utilize 100 million gallons of that water, and with a 50 percent recovery rate, produce 50 million gallons of high-quality drinking water per day. This quantity will serve 300,000 San Diego residents annually. The remaining 50 million gallons of high content salt water (double the salt) would blend with the 500,000 other gallons and be sent back out to sea through the discharge channel.

The filtration of the seawater utilizes the latest reverse osmosis technology, primarily provided by San Diego County sources. Local manufacturers and vendors have close to half of the international market share for desalination products and services. The Carlsbad Desalination Plant will use providers from Oceanside, Vista, San Diego, San Marcos and Poway. In fact, it is estimated that nearly 70 percent of the $250 million project costs would be awarded to local businesses, resulting in increased regional spending and employment. With construction scheduled to begin next year, Poseidon projects that the plant will go online in 2010.

The process begins with a filtration pretreatment phase, which pulls out all the dirt and sediment. Next, the water travels through a series of reverse osmosis membranes. This removes any viruses or bacteria, as well as all the salt. The final step is the addition of minerals (such as calcium), and the result is the highest quality of pure drinking water. In fact, the water is so pure that biotech and pharmaceutical companies will not have to pretreat it before using it for their own production. Once the city has made the move to desalinated water, Carlsbad will get its entire supply of potable water from this plant. This amount will represent half of the plant’s total capacity, with the other half going to neighboring water agencies.

As part of Poseidon’s project development agreement with the City of Carlsbad, four parcels of land (a total of 15 acres) currently owned by the power plant’s operator will be dedicated to the public for coastal access, recreation and marine research. Poseidon has also offered to assume responsibility for the stewardship of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon when the existing Encina Power Plant is decommissioned, including the restoration of 37 acres of lagoon habitat. The future of the lagoon depends on the desalination plant continuing the dredging process to ensure the intake and outflow of water. This spirit of stewardship is the key factor to maintaining the health of Agua Hedionda.

We have all heard that water is life. Carlsbad’s desalination plant ensures that city residents will enjoy clean, pure, drought-proof water for generations to come. Because the plant requires a healthy environment and a clean watershed to produce high-quality drinking water, we can rest assured that the future of the Aqua Hedionda Lagoon is secured as well. And that means future generations will be able to enjoy the benefits of this living lagoon and its surrounding beaches. •