The Orange County Register published an editorial on Monday, June 16, 2014 lauding the Grand Jury’s report that notes the importance of a diversified water supply.
Additionally, the Orange County Register ran three letters to the editor on Saturday, June 14, 2014 identifying desalination as an important tool in Orange County’s water diversification arsenal. The Orange County Grand Jury, the OC Register Editorial Board and residents throughout Orange County agree – desalination is an important component to Orange County’s future water supply! Download the "Answer for a Thirsty County" editorial pdf or the "Move Forward on Desalination" letter to the editor pdf. 

Grand jury: Time to move on desalination plants
Saying environmental accommodations have been made, and comparing the cost to the luxury of premium coffee, a report calls for ‘world class’ plants to ensure a water supply unbroken by drought or disaster.

By MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER

Orange County’s drought-caused water woes call for a coordinated and urgent approach from public officials, including swift approval of long-delayed seawater desalination plants along the Pacific Coast.

That was among the findings in a county grand jury report released this week that described “world class” desalination plants – including one proposed for years in Huntington Beach – as critical to a more self-sufficient local water supply.

(CNN) — It’s been a cruel irony for ancient mariners and any thirsty person who has ever gazed upon a sparkling blue ocean: Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.
But imagine a coastal city of the future, say in 2035. Along with basic infrastructure such as a port, roads, sewer lines and an electrical grid, it’s increasingly likely this city by the sea will contain a newer feature. A desalination plant. Thanks to improved technology, turning ocean water into freshwater is becoming more economically feasible. And a looming global water crisis may make it crucial to the planet’s future.

CARLSBAD — On sunny afternoons, this stretch of beach 35 miles north of San Diego offers a classic So uthern California backdrop: joggers, palm trees and surfers, flanked by waves rolling in and pelicans soaring overhead.

But just across the road, another scene, unlike any other in the state’s history, is playing out: More than 300 construction workers are digging trenches and assembling a vast network of pipes, tanks and high-tech equipment as three massive yellow cranes labor nearby.

​The crews are building what boosters say represents California’s best hope for a drought-proof water supply: the largest ocean desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. The $1 billion project will provide 50 million gallons of drinking water a day for San Diego County when it opens in 2016.

Wedgewire screens protect 99.98% of all marine life.
Wedgewire screens and brine diffuser makes HB Desal Project environmentally benign.

Poseidon Water has proposed to use state-of-the-art wedgewire screens that have a width of one millimeter, which is narrower than the thickness of a dime or a credit card.  No fish can get through the screens and only two marine larvae would be impacted for every one thousand gallons of seawater withdrawn.  9,998 of every 10,000 marine larvae at risk of entrainment in the area of the screen will be unaffected.  There are no threatened or endangered species that would be at risk and no measurable impact to any Marine Protected Area (MPA) species.