In San Luis Obispo County, local officials support the proposal to expand the desalination plant of Diablo Canyon Power Plant.^[1]   The power plant produces 7 percent of the California residents’ electricity needs, and its desalination facility is capable of producing 5,678 cubic metres of water a day—although it currently produces 40 percent of its full capacity.  After the proposed expansion, the desalination plant would supply up to 1,604,000 cubic metres of water a year to South County residents. 

This week, San Luis Obispo county supervisors agreed to spend $900,000 (USD) to plan and permit for the project, which involves a 7-mile pipeline to connect the plant to the Lopez Lake pipeline in Avila Beach.  The project will take roughly 2 years to complete, and may cost up to $36 million.

Meanwhile, California’s South Coast Water District has released a Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Impact for the proposed Doheny Ocean Desalination Project located at Doheny State Beach.^[2]   The plant would produce up to 56,780 cubic metres of water a day.  The water district is holding a public meeting on March 31 to discuss the project proposal and the environmental report, as well as any related issues of concern.

Late last week, Israel’s Health Ministry shut down the country’s largest desalination plant.   The facility released treated effluent into Soreq stream, polluting its waters and the surrounding maritime environment –when it should have stored the effluent for irritation.^[3]  Zalul, an environmental group, has demanded an examination into this disruption of the water supply and its causes.  The plant, located southwest of Rishon Letzion, will not reopen until the issue is resolved.

In Victoria, Australia, the government has ordered a supply of water for the Wonthaggi desalination plant.  The water order represents 30 percent of the plant’s supply capacity.^[4]  The consortium, AquaSure—which is made up of Suez (ex. Degrémont), Macquarie Capital, and Thiess—is responsible for the operation of the plant (and previously, its construction).  As of October 2016, Aquasure had $830 million in debt, and has taken on a new debt of $900 million, financed by banks in Australia, China, Japan, and the United States.  Ratings Agency Standard & Poor’s has reported that the water order is a positive development for the company.^[5]

The Barka Desalination Company will finance, build, and operate Oman’s new desalination plant in Barka.  The plant, which will become the largest reverse osmosis plant in the country, will produce 281,000 cubic metres of water a day.^[6]  The Barka Desalination Company (a consortium that includes Suez) will work alongside Japanese firm Itochu Corporation and the Omani firm Towell Engineering—in accord with a 20-year, public-private build-own-operate (BOO) contract.  The plant will begin operations in early spring 2018.  The plant is Suez’s second desalination plant in Oman, and it is one among several other plants that will soon open in Sohar, Qurayyat, and other coastal cities.

The International Desalination Association has also just announced that in early 2017 it will host an Energy and Environment Symposium in the United States.  The event will join leaders in the global desalination and water reuse community; and it will feature a meeting of the organization’s global Energy and Environment Task Force.^[7]