Two More Concerns on Desalination Project

Re “Desalination Has Pitfalls, Study Finds,” Aug. 8:

In addition to the concerns raised in the article, I have two more.

First, when studies were conducted to measure whether the Orange County Sanitation District’s sewage plume was returning to contaminate the beach, every study I ever read about stated that the AES power plant was not operating on the days that measurements were actually taken. Therefore, the effect of AES’ cooling water intake on drawing the plume toward the shore has never been measured. Now, Poseidon proposes to dramatically increase that demand. This has the potential to bring back the nightmare of closed beaches due to contamination.

Second, according to Poseidon’s own Web site for the project, it is in negotiations to sell half of the plant’s output (25 million gallons per day) to the Santa Margarita Water District. Just as AES refused to guarantee that Huntington Beach residents would be its primary customers during the energy crisis in return for a permit to revive a decommissioned generator, Poseidon wants to send half of its “product” 30 miles away, yet Huntington Beach would suffer the harmful environmental effects.

Gary A. Scapellati

Huntington Beach