A pilot project designed to study new technology that uses ocean waves to create fresh water by removing salt is slated for 2024 for Fort Bragg, California—a small coastal community in Mendocino County, north of San Francisco.
“We’re super excited about this,” John Smith, Fort Bragg’s director of public works, told The Epoch Times. “This is a big deal for us.”
A first-of-its-kind for the state, the project centers on floating mechanical devices that utilize pumps powered by waves to force water through filters that remove salinity, thus creating clean drinking water.
Buoys containing the devices will be anchored between a half-mile and a mile from shore, with an underwater pipe transporting clean water onshore—where it can be accessed by the city and distributed to residents.
Funded by a $1.49 million grant from the state’s Department of Water Resources, the project will help state officials determine whether such could benefit communities across the Golden State’s 840 miles of coastline.
“The [agency] and state were extremely helpful through this,” Mr. Smith said. “We’ll gather data ... and our hope is to see this expanded to other areas in need of water.”
Fort Bragg was prioritized by state officials after the city was affected by years of prolonged drought and ran dangerously low on water in 2021—resulting in a federal grant to develop a desalination treatment plant that will operate in tandem with the new project.
The region relies on surface water to supply the community, with no groundwater sources available, and the 13,000 gallons per day that the project could provide will have a significant impact, according to Mr. Smith.
“If we don’t have rain, we don’t have water,” he said.
Projects are easily expanded by creating arrays of buoys, and the manufacturer—Oneka, out of Canada—offers various-sized units—from smaller devices producing, per day, approximately 250 gallons of clean drinking water to those capable of more than 2 million gallons, according to company documents.
The devices are attracting attention from other states and governments around the world, based on recent installations and projects under consideration, as their low cost to operate and maintain offers significant competitive advantages to traditional desalination techniques that rely on heavy machinery and traditional fuel-based energy.
One of the first commercial projects installed in Algarrobo, Chile, is delivering water to the local community and marina, and an operation Fort Pierce, Florida, is demonstrating the ability to deliver water to areas in the Caribbean with historic water quantity concerns, according to the manufacturer.
While funding is secured for the California project, installation isn’t expected for another eight months, as permits from state and federal agencies are needed before construction can begin and timelines for approval are unclear.
“This is California, so there are always unknowns with regulators,” Mr. Smith said.
Once approved, local fishermen and contractors will be used to transport materials and provide labor for infrastructure development—primarily consisting of underwater pipes—according to Fort Bragg officials.
Installations, according to the company, will be far enough away from the shore to be obscured from view, and efforts will be undertaken to safeguard wildlife from intake areas and protect turtle habitats from pipe construction.
