A new poll released by USC Dornsife and the Los Angeles Times found that a majority of Californians support desalination as a response to the state’s perpetual drought cycle.
As part of larger poll on water issues—which found 89 percent believe the drought is a major problem or crisis—75 percent of the respondents believe the state needs to invest in desalination of ocean water to make it suitable for household use. The support was consistent across demographics with 48 percent strongly in favor and 26 percent somewhat in favor.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “pollsters conducted the telephone survey of 1,511 registered California voters from May 21 to May 28 for the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles Times. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.”
The poll comes as Poseidon Water is constructing a seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad that will deliver enough drinking water to serve approximately 300,000 San Diego County residents when it is completed in 2016. The desalination project will be highlighted in an upcoming CNN special titled “City of Tomorrow,” in which the network discusses innovative solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, including the lack of clean drinking water.
The California Coastal Commission is also considering another proposed Poseidon desalination project in Huntington Beach. The facility would provide 50 million gal of drinking water per day. Poseidon and the Orange County Water District are evaluating a public-private partnership that would allow the district to purchase the plant’s full capacity in an effort to drought-proof its water supply portfolio and further reduce the county’s demand on imported water.
“It is clear, we need to be bold and innovative in responding to this drought crisis,” said Scott Maloni, vice president of Poseidon Water. “Californians overwhelmingly support desalination as a means of having a local, drought-proof source of high quality water to meet demands and protect against the public health, security and economic consequences of water shortages.”
Source: Poseidon Water
