California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced on Wednesday it is investing $5 million in three projects to help diversify potable water supplies for local communities.
The DWR also announced it is working with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI) to support another six projects to “advance desalination implementation and research.”
“California is taking action to adapt to the extremes in weather we’re seeing across the state, reshaping our water systems to meet these new challenges and better protect our communities,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
“Our all-of-the-above approach includes capturing and storing more water and innovative solutions like desalination to boost supplies and prepare for a hotter, drier future.”
Desalination removes salts and minerals from brackish water and seawater to obtain water deemed by the state as suitable for drinking, irrigation, and other needs.
According to Newsom’s office, the state government is working to expand brackish groundwater desalination production by 28,000 acre-feet per year by 2030.
3 Projects
The three projects—in Los Angeles, Fresno, and Mendocino counties—are being awarded the $5 million in funds from the DWR’s Water Desalination Grant Program. The grant funding is from Proposition 1, passed by voters in 2014.The project in Los Angeles County is located in the City of Torrance. Titled the “Water Replenishment District of Southern California Construction Project,” it will build a conveyance pipeline to connect an existing well to the existing Goldsworthy Desalter system. The project will also install a self-cleaning auto-strainer.
In Fresno County, the “Westlands Water District Design Pilot Project” will desalinate brackish groundwater drawn from the westside upper aquifer. Salt-tolerant plants will remove the salts from the brine. The project seeks to provide potable water to the Coalinga, Huron, and Avenal communities.
In Mendocino County, the “City of Fort Bragg Design Pilot Project” will install a “innovative, wave-powered seawater desalination iceberg buoy,” near Fort Bragg, the DWR stated. The project seeks to produce water without grid electricity and strengthen the city’s water resilience during droughts.
“The State is exploring all opportunities to invest in innovative strategies like desalination to meet our growing water needs—including treating brackish water and ocean water where it’s environmentally appropriate on our 840 miles of coastline,” DWR Director Karla Nemeth said in a statement.
The DWR to date has awarded over $82 million in Proposition 1-funded desalination grants, to support 20 projects, three of which are currently under construction.
Meanwhile, the additional six projects that have receiving funds through DWR’s partnership with NAWI will treat water from multiple locations to generate potable water, and “pilot breakthrough technologies to reduce energy demand and costs for desalination projects.”
“The selected pilot projects will help to augment California’s water supplies with non-traditional water sources such as brackish (or salty) water and wastewater,” NAWI Executive Director Peter Fiske said in a statement.
“With the California Department of Water Resources as a partner, the NAWI pilot program will align national and international research questions with real people and real places—including producing water for those communities most in need.”
