South County Water Agency Joins Seawater Project

By North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

Jan. 5–SAN DIEGO — South County water officials said Thursday that they had reached a deal to buy water from a long-discussed, proposed plant in Carlsbad that would turn sea water into drinking water.

Sweetwater Authority officials said Thursday that they had reached a deal with Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources Inc. — the company that has dreamed of building the plant since 2000.

Sweetwater joins a list of San Diego County water agencies — the city of Carlsbad, the Valley Center Municipal Water District and Escondido’s Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District — to buy water from the proposed plant.

Poseidon is applying to the California Coastal Commission for a permit that would pave the way for the plant to be built and hopes to be operational by 2009.

Sweetwater, like Valley Center and Rincon, would not actually get water from the plant. Instead, their deal with Poseidon would hinge on Poseidon selling water to the regional San Diego County Water Authority. The Water Authority would then send desalted sea water to other local agencies, and provide Poseidon’s partners with imported Colorado River and Northern California water.

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Copyright (c) 2007, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

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