The January 7, 2015 edition of the OC Register contains an editorial advocating purchase of 56,000 acre feet of desalinated water from Poseidon Resources by the Orange County Water District (OCWD). Of course, there is no desalinated water yet to purchase, because Poseidon, despite years of trying to sell OC cities on its enterprise, hasn’t yet managed to build it’s $1 billion desalination plant in Huntington Beach.
Tonight’s meeting of OCWD Directors to begin discussions about a possible purchase should be a perfect opportunity for Fullerton’s representative to the OCWD, Fullerton Councilmember Jan Flory, to point out all that is wrong with Poseidon’s plan to needlessly divert a public resource into private hands. Conservation is a far better strategy for meeting our freshwater needs than an energy-intensive and environmentally destructive desalination plant right in the middle of Southern California’s tourist-friendly coast.
The Register’s conclusion that conservation and reclamation are insufficient methods of meeting the region’s water needs reflects a shortsighted understanding of what is truly needed to address current and future deficiencies in our overall infrastructure. Water shortages should instead be understood as the natural result of our irresponsibly unlimited growth without the necessary resources to sustain our population and its concomitant development. Indeed, the Register’s perfunctory and wrong-headed reasoning that Poseidon’s desalinated water is necessary for future human population growth only underscores the need for a wholesale change in our relationship to our environment, rather than desperately seeking new ways to dominate it for our own unrestrained expansion.
As John Earl notes on the Surf City Voice website:
Mr. Earl further notes that “Poseidon’s customers would be required to purchase all of its water every year, regardless of whether they need it or not—the kind of ocean desal contract that has brought extreme financial hardship for ratepayers in Australia.”
Since her appointment last year, Fullerton’s Jan Flory has been admirably outspoken in her objections to OCWD members discussing critical issues in subcommittee meetings instead of full board meetings and in her proposal that OCWD’s full meetings be live-streamed for remote viewers.
Ms. Flory should extend her concerns for responsibly representing the ratepayers of Orange County by opposing any deal with Poseidon Resources. We don’t need to be involved in a boondoggle scheme to purchase overpriced desalinated water from a private company when we should instead be focusing on learning to live with the water we have.
fullertonrag.com 
Like most of us, I do not have enough information at this time to be either for or against the purchase by OCWD from Poseidon.
However some of the negative comments made by the Fullerton Rag I find very troublesome. For instance, “Water shortages should instead be understood as the natural result of our irresponsibly unlimited growth without the necessary resources to sustain our population and its concomitant development” What level of growth in OC is acceptable to Matt Leslie, a little growth, no growth? The idea about contracting with Poseidon in theory at least is for OC to have the necessary water supplies to meet the expected future demand. Hoping that little or no future demand would exist, seems more like wishful thinking on Matt Leslie’s part, rather than facing the realities of Orange County’s future water resource requirements. It seems that Mr. Leslie’s opinion is tainted by his Green Party’s position of very strictly controlling any growth going forward.
With regard to whether the contract makes financial sense and whether the terms are good ones for the Orange County taxpayers is indeed another consideration that must be examined carefully. Based on past history, I am not very confident that the OCWD will look out for the taxpayers, which should be one of their top responsibilities.
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Barry Levinson, I suggest that you read the Surf City Voice http://www.surfcityvoice.com for more detailed information about the OCWD’s dealings with Poseidon Resources. However, I will note that Poseidon’s water will be far more expensive to purchase than water from other available sources, and, as I noted in the succeeding post to this one, OCWD will be required to purchase all 56,000 acre feet of it whether we need it or not. Additionally, it will be financed with bonds floated by OCWD, placing the financial risk on the ratepayers, and not the private water processors.
As for growth, it does seem counterintuitive to grow beyond one’s available resources, doesn’t it? Financial and environmental concerns are only separated by those who think in the short term.
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One major reason for the purchase of this extra water supply again is to meet the future demand of OC. Therefore to bring out the concept of growing beyond one’s available resources is for you Matt ignoring the reality that those resources will be available to us from Poseidon.
Why Matt did you not answer my simple and direct question to you? Namely, what level of growth is acceptable to you Matt in Orange County? It is impossible to have an intelligent conversation/debate when one party, you Matt chooses to ignore a simple question asked of you by me.
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Barry, should we avail ourselves of resources at any cost? Poseidon’s cost is too expensive for what we would get for it.
By growth, do you mean population? Over what period of time?
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