Proposed Solutions to Water Scarcity Heighten Injustice in California

By Alfredo Ramirez

There is a clear global need to ensure affordable and equitable access to safe, clean, potable water. This is evident not only in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but also in the growing recognition that water is a basic human right. The quest for access to clean water has spawned an industry of supply-side innovation; among the most controversial and costly is desalination.

The proposed Poseidon Water Huntington Beach Desalination Plant in Southern California is a microcosm of desalination to address water scarcity. It is evidence that some solutions when advanced without the will and guidance of the communities they aim to support, can perpetuate environmental injustice issues.

Poseidon Water Huntington Beach Desalination Plant.

Poseidon Water Huntington Beach Desalination Plant.

The Poseidon Huntington Beach Desalination Plant is a project nearly two decades in the making, designed to feed clean drinking water into the homes of Orange County, California. Through the process of reverse osmosis, the plant would use Pacific Ocean seawater to produce 56,000 acre-feet of water annually, enough for about 450,000 of Orange County’s 3.2 million residents. The inexhaustible and drought-resistant water source would free up water sources for other residents of the water-scarce state. However, there is a reason the project has not yet come to fruition: local community leaders and environmental organizations are worried about the increased costs of water and environmental pollution the plant could generate.

While the price of water in California has been rising for decades, the plant would not address this issue. Though the estimated cost of production is over five times the cost of local aquifer extraction and more than twice the cost of imported water (currently in use), Poseidon has refused to provide reasonable estimates of what cost changes would mean for Orange County residents’ water bills, citing uncertainty around the future cost of water. Customers may end up paying much more than what independent sources have estimated.

Desalination is an energy-intensive process that is still in its infancy. Its waste output, a hazardous brine outflow, is a high salt liquid that can contain chemicals that damage seafloor ecosystems and wildlife when it sinks. A proposed remedy to counteract environmental damages from the Poseidon Desalination Plant is for Poseidon to invest in the restoration and conservation of the local Bolsa Chica Wetlands, a need of about $2 million annually, though even this potential solution has divided local environmental groups.

In addition to the ecological effects, local leaders and organizations like Marce Gutierrez-Graudins’ Azul, a grassroots organization working with Latinx communities to protect the ocean and coastal communites, point to environmental racism and environmental justice issues that the plant would exacerbate.

Demonstrators outside a Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board hearing in December 2019 protest against giving Poseidon’s planned Huntington Beach desalination plant a permit. LA Times

Demonstrators outside a Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board hearing in December 2019 protest against giving Poseidon’s planned Huntington Beach desalination plant a permit. LA Times

A UCLA study found that low-income residents outside of the area of benefit would be among the most likely to see increases in their water bills. Furthermore, the new plant would be built on top of a retired power plant in Los Alamitos, a community with a greater share of people of color—primarily Hispanic and Indigenous peoples—relative to the rest of predominately white and affluent Orange County. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are being asked to take on the sacrifice of higher water bills and increased pollution so that a neighboring high-income community can have unfettered access to desalinated water.

Given the cause for concern, it’s no surprise that at the July public hearing of the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board, more than half of the speakers voiced opposition to the project. It appears that the Poseidon Desalination Project follows an alarming environmental justice trend whereby low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately forced to deal with environmental burdens like high concentrations of hazardous facilities.

This is only natural when communities, especially those historically marginalized, aren’t included in the decision-making process. Equitable solutions to water security issues in the U.S. and internationally will require equitable access, burdens and benefits, as well as civic involvement, and trusted data and management processes.

Desalination may be the best solution in certain settings, and its attractiveness will undoubtedly increase with reduced costs and more innovation. Still, with the next hearing by the Regional Board tentatively set for the spring, it may be time to look for alternatives in Orange County, California.

Alfredo Ramirez is a first-year MALD student at the Fletcher School studying equitable and just decarbonization in oil exporting states and the global economy. He is the President of ALRAS Digital and co-founder of Prosal.