It's expensive
Desalinated seawater costs over $2,100 per acre-foot, more than desalting (brackish) groundwater, harvesting rainwater, purifying wastewater and far more than water conservation and efficiency programs.
It's the most expensive way to meet LA's water demands.
It's energy intensive
Taking salt out of seawater requires more energy than all the alternatives... even more than pumping water hundreds of miles across the state to LA.
West Basin is proposing the desalination of 20-60 million gallons of seawater per day. Our studies estimate that will contribute ~44,000 – 146,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere every year. This is equivalent to the emissions associated with the electricity demand of ~18,000 – 59,000 California homes.
It's Ugly
Did you know California's coastal economy accounts for about 80% of the state's gross domestic product? We should treasure our coastline and maintain its ecological and aesthetic integrity... not build new industrial blemishes on the beach.
Additionally, open-ocean desalination, which West Basin is proposing, causes a plethora of damage to our precious coastal ecosystems.
It Harms Our Ocean
Seawater intakes and discharges create adverse impacts on the marine environment (including impingement and entrainment of wildlife as well as the disposal of brine and other pollutants into the ecosystem), unless properly sited and designed to use the best technology available.
It's Unnecessary
Mayor Garcetti Sustainability pLAn outlines how the City of LA will obtain 50% of its water locally by 2035 - without any mention of desalination.
The proposed site for West Basin's facility is just 3 miles from the Hyperion Wastewater Reclamation Plant, which currently dumps over 200 million gallons of treated wastewater into the ocean... every day. Rather than reclaiming that water directly, West Basin is proposing we suck the seawater right back up to desalt it! It's inefficient and nonsensical.
