Report clears subsurface intake feasibility for Huntington Beach desalination project

A technical expert report on the seawater desalination facility at Huntington Beach in California, US, has cleared the feasibility of the use of subsurface water intakes at the plant.

The draft report prepared by the team concluded that both seabed and beach intakes are possible at the facility.

The team from environmental company Concur was appointed by California Coastal Commission and the builder for the plant Poseidon Water to assess the feasibility of using one or more potential subsurface intake technologies to supply the feed water to the Huntington Beach seawater desalination facility proposed by Poseidon.

The report was released after analysing nine subsurface methods.

However, the report observed that the two subsurface intake systems may involve complex engineering processes that could create a negative impact on the beach during construction of the facility.

Located on a 12-acre site inshore of the Pacific Coast Highway, the plant will be at a distance of five miles from the regional potable water delivery system operated by the Municipal Water District of Orange County along with other water utilities.

Poseidon Water will construct a pipeline to the existing distribution system to deliver treated water from the facility.

The second phase of the report will establish the economic feasibility and environmental effects of the systems in the region.

The Huntington Beach Desalination Project is a 50 million gallon per day facility being built adjacent to the AES generating station.

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Image: The Huntington Beach Desalination Project is a 50 million gallon per day facility being built adjacent to the AES generating station. Photo: courtesy of WPPilot / Wikipedia.