Desalination plant reaps undesirable outcomes

By Danielle Smith
Executive Arts Editor

The West Basin Municipal Water District plans to revamp El Segundo’s water recycling system by installing a desalination plant to improve access to fresh water in the South Bay. Although the proposed plant will provide residents with a drought-proof supply of water, ultimately, the vast environmental and economic consequences coupled with the lack of information and accommodation to the area proves the plant is an unwise choice for the city.

PHOTOS: The proposed desalination plant in El Segundo poses multiple problems.

West Basin hopes to construct the desalination plant on the preexisting NRG Energy power generation station campus at the border of El Porto and El Segundo. The plant is currently under consideration for approval and has been since it was proposed in 2015. The company is proposed to complete construction by 2018 according to a pending contract with the California Energy Commission.

According to Heal the Bay’s Water Resources Policy analyst Steven Johnson, the plant will result in irreversible damage to the climate and neighboring marine life by releasing large amounts of brine into the ocean. Thus, the process of desalinating water could potentially negatively impact the local marine ecosystem by changing the composition of the water, according to Johnson, threatening the lives of countless ocean animals and plants.

For more information regarding the desalination plant read the Los Angeles Times article here.

According to West Basin, the construction of the proposed plant would cost between $400 million and $900 million, depending on the approved scale of the project. The immense price outweighs the possible benefits of the desalination plant, as it is not a necessary addition to the South Bay community because it supplies more water than needed.

The plant will provide drought security to the South Bay, producing 20 to 60 million gallons of desalinated water per day, according to West Basin General Manager Richard Nagel. However, the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant already produces up to 250 million gallons of treated wastewater for recreational use, which is unnecessary because Manhattan Beach residents use approximately 100 million gallons of water a month on average, according to Southern California Public Radio.

Furthermore, according to West Basin, in order for construction to begin, the company’s prices for water will increase each month by $3 to 5 per person, according to the El Segundo City Council. The inflation of water prices is likely to extend financial pressure on consumers in the area, negating the benefit of increasing the amount of water available to consumers. As a result, wealthier consumers will likely enjoy more of the benefits of increased water supply and suffer much less.

In El Segundo City Council meetings, another concern about the plan is that many residents report that the company’s hasty approach to approving the project has not given them enough time to fully understand both the positive and negative impacts the plant will have on the community. NRG Energy should provide sufficient information so that residents will be able to form well-informed opinions about the construction.

For more information regarding the impacts the proposed desalination plant will have on the community, read local newspaper the Daily Breeze’s article here.

The high costs of construction, detrimental environmental consequences and insufficient information presented to locals make the installation of the West Basin Desalination Plant an undesirable and unnecessary addition to the South Bay. In order to benefit residents and local aquatic ecosystems, the community should not rush forward with the installation of a desalination plant.