U.S.A. – San Diego’s Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant was awarded $170 million in federal financing to upgrade its facility and meet environmental requirements. The low-interest loan is intended to help the plant’s owner, Poseidon Resources, meet state regulations for protecting fish and other marine life at the plant.
Part of the federal loan will help pay for the rehabilitation of 125 acres of coastal wetlands in San Diego Bay. Poseidon is mandated by the state to complete the project in order to offset potential environmental degradation caused by the plant. A state-mandated overhaul of the desalination plant’s ocean-water intake system is estimated to cost around $274 million. Poseidon plans to complete construction of the new intake system by the end of 2024.
TUNISIA – Tunis Afrique Presse reported that the Tunisian government plans to desalinate 650 million m3/day and recycle more than 350 million m3/day of wastewater to use in the agricultural sector to guarantee food security. According to Hamadi Boubakri, a member of the executive board of the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fishing, there is a need to fast track the development of seawater desalination plants to alleviate the pressure on conventional hydraulic resources and groundwater. (Zawya)
SAUDI ARABIA – Saudi Water Partnerships Company (SWPC), intends to develop 28 projects with the private sector, consisting of desalination water production, water transmission, strategic reserves and wastewater treatment. The projects include 5 Independent Water Plant (IWP) projects with an aggregate production capacity of 2.2 million m3/day and 8 Independent Sewage Treatment Plant (ISTP) and Small Sewage Treatment Plant (SSTP) projects aggregating 0.6 million m3/day treatment capacity. (Zawya)
Construction site of Taif Independent Sewage Treatment Plant (ISTP), Saudi Arabia. Credit: Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC)
AUSTRALIA – In his first “state of the state” address, South Australia’s premier Peter Malinauskas outlined plans to fast track the development of a desalination plant in the Upper Spencer Gulf. The facility will supply water for a proposed nearby gigawatt green hydrogen plant and for copper-producer BHP’s mines in the far north of the state. (MichaelWest Media)
U.S.A. – After years of pursuing their desalination projects separately, the city of Corpus Christi and the Port of Corpus Christi have decided to reconvene and reconsider whether to collaborate on establishing the water treatment facilities. The City Council and the port commission recently directed their respective staffs to begin negotiations over the terms of working together, with the City Council asking for an update in the coming weeks.
Despite city and port leaders supporting desalination, disagreements on which locations near Corpus Christi Bay are best suited and which entity would operate the facilities have soured relations in the past. Neither the city nor the port currently possesses the necessary permitting to operate a desalination facility. Both the city’s and port’s primary sites – Inner Harbor and Harbor Island, respectively – face legal and administrative hurdles. (Caller Times)