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Calif. Agency Warns of Ocean Water Risks

Posted on: Friday, 8 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

Companies are lining up to help California squeeze salt from the sea in its quest for new water sources, but the agency that would approve the projects says tapping the ocean could pose serious problems for the coastline.

In a report to its board of directors, the California Coastal Commission warns that allowing desalination plants to proliferate could threaten marine life, spur development in sensitive habitats and turn what has long been considered a common good - the ocean - into a commodity.

The commission's board of directors is reviewing the report during its monthly meeting in Huntington Beach this week. A 60-day public comment period will follow.

The report says desalination poses risks to marine life because it can trap plants and small sea creatures while drawing in water, and it releases large amounts of salt back into the ocean.

The study also says private and multinational companies that are permitted to build and run desalination plants are likely to seek profit over protection of coastal resources.

Under international free trade agreements, multinational companies could claim exemptions from state rules on coastal protection, the report says.

The report does not take a stand for or against desalination. But it urges California to join other states to petition the U.S. government to ensure that international free-trade agreements do not infringe on the ability of states to protect coastal resources.

Environmentalists and consumer advocates called the commission report cutting-edge.

"It's the first state agency to look at these issues very critically in California and one of the first in the U.S.," said Juliet Beck of the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen.

Some water companies say the report stems from an anti-privatization bias.

"I think on the one hand, they are trying to get ahead of the issue, but they are making some real broad assumptions," said Billy Owens, senior vice president of U.S.-based Poseidon Resources, which wants to build two massive desalination plants in Southern California.

Desalination is expected to provide only a tiny fraction of the state's water in the next decade. But the commission says that amount could increase, and it's not too soon to take a look at the issue.

About a dozen desalination plants now operate along California's coast, with 20 more being considered. At least six of those are proposed by private companies or public-private partnerships.

Most of the new projects remain in the planning stage and have yet to come before the commission.

Commission director Peter Douglas cited a $110 million desalination plant that recently opened in Tampa Bay, Fla., as an example of potential problems. The plant is the largest in the nation but has been shut down for weeks because its filters keep getting clogged.

"In a case like that, if it doesn't work, tell me what happens?" Douglas said. "Who picks up the cost?"

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On the Web:

www.coastal.ca.gov

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