Milton N. Burgess P.E.

San Diego Experience

Where Did the Water Go? Chapter Three

History in the Future
By Milton N. Burgess P.E.
Posted on Jan 02 2008
Last updated Jan 03 2008

February 15, 2102, 6:45 P.M.

The two hovercrafts settled down in front of a concrete bunker-looking low rise building on Pacific Highway, near the waterfront in San Diego. The old "Port District" sign could barely be seen.

"Sorry we are late, Charlie, but these two photogs had to get one last picture before we left when the "light was right", Scott said.

After showering and a light snack, Scott and Barry listened to Charlie talk about his life.

"I retired as District Engineer from FEWA, the Federal Emergency Water Agency. As you know I am in charge of the sea water plants around San Diego now. Some of these plants are really old, but still work. That yellowed map hanging over there in the frame shows the plants that were planned and those in operation a hundred years ago.”

“Walking over to the map, Charlie pointed a crooked arthritic finger at the legend. The ones with the red square are existing plants, and the black and red square were proposed plants. There were ten…..well, let me put it this way, that were complete, but not necessarily producing water.”

“Off the coast of Los Angeles there was San Nicholas Island and Santa Catalina Island. Chevron had one at their processing facility further north, and there was one at Santa Barbara that was only operational about six months, built following a drought. There were four more in the San Luis Obispo area – at the PG&E Morro Bay Power Plant, the town of Morro Bay, at Hearst Castle, and at Point Pladros Blanco. All of them right on the coast. Monterey Bay Aquarium and the PG&E Moss landing power plant were the northernmost desalinization plants.” (California Coastal Commission web site, www2.hawaii.edu/~nabil/seadesal.html, Coastal Desalinization Plants Map 1/21/02)

“You can see the black and red squares in San Diego for proposed plants for the U. S. Navy and the San Diego County Water Authority. MWD was proposing one in Los Angeles and up north in Ventura a plant was proposed. The Marina Coast Water District and Sand City Development were proposing plants near San Luis Obispo.”

“I thought it might be interesting to frame this other old document in this small frame over here. It has the desal statistics for that era. The plants ranged from 20 – 112,000 AF/yr; most would produce water in the range of $1,000 to $2,200 per acre-foot (1992 cost basis); it would take 2,500 to 29,500 kilowatt hours per acre-foot in energy; Recovery, as a percent of product water per unit input flow ranged from 15% to 50%, The remainder was waste brine solution containing dissolved solids.”

“This scrapbook”, Charlie said taking a tattered, bound book from under the table, “has even more about the history of water in this area, for instance…….”

“Let’s take a look clear back to 1982-3. At that time 471,360 acre-feet coming into the San Diego area was split about equally into thirds coming from three sources; Northern California, the Colorado River Aqueduct and local sources (reservoirs, rainfall and wells). About three quarters of the water, was used by the City of San Diego and other communities, and slightly over a quarter for agriculture. At that time there were fewer than 1,961,800 consuming water at the rate of 180 gallons/day per capita in San Diego and surrounding communities.” (Cheryl Clark, San Diego Union Tribune, Does San Diego Face a Dry Future?, December 7, 1984)

“There have been various proposals for a basic water requirement, but most analysts agree that water for drinking and sanitation should be provided in the range of 20 to 30 liters per person per day; when cooking and cleaning are included 40 to 50 liters per person per day is a responsible minimum.”(1) This is about 13 gallons per day, a long way from the 180 gallons per day we just talked about. Flushing an old low flow water toilet eight times during the day would use that much water.”

“Jumping ahead about twenty years, San Diego’s population grew by 1.5 times to 2.7 million. By 2015, the San Diego Metropolitan County Water Authority projected the population could be 3.8 million or higher and the water use to be over 60% higher or 787,000 acre-feet. Think about it. This was at a time when California was looking down the gun barrel of a 30% cut in Colorado River water of 1.7 million acre-feet per year.”

“Carlsbad was considering a desalination plant in 2001. A company called Poseidon Resources Corp. which built a 25-million-gallon per day desalination plant in Tampa, Fla., proposed a facility twice that big at Carlsbad…..they estimated the plant would cost $270 million with water being sold to the county at about $800 per acre-foot. That was considerably more than the $430 per acre-foot the county paid the MWD for Colorado River Water.” (San Diego Union Tribune Editorial, Tapping the Ocean, December 24, 2001)

With an impatient tone in his voice, Charlie continued, “Fast forward to November -- 2007. Poseidon was still in the process of getting that plant off the ground. Costs were now in the $300 million range. But then the Coastal Commission rejected the project because it… ‘would cause significant adverse impacts to marine life and water quality in Agua Hedionda and in near-shore ocean waters.’ (San Diego Union Tribune, Saturday November 3, 2007 “Desalination plant proposal rejected”)

“Back there in 2002, Stephen F. Mack, who was then with the Public Works Department in Santa Barbara wrote a letter to the editor of the San Diego Union Tribune in response to an editorial in the San Diego Union with some excellent observations…..’California’s existing traditional supplies can be expected to diminish with siltation of reservoirs and increasing environmental concerns, while demand is projected to continue to rise. Along with increased efficiency and greater use of recycled water, desalination will be a cost-effective source of water for those communities lucky enough to be within reach of the ocean.” (San Diego Union Tribune, Letters to the Editors, Stephen F. Mack, Public Works Department, Santa Barbara 1/7/02)

Thumbing through the old scrapbook, Charlie was silent for a moment. Then he looked up and said, “Over a hundred years ago, 2003 to be exact, some folks at the State level had their heads on straight and actually issued a report called ‘Water Recycling 2030: Recommendations of California’s Recycled Water Task Force’ which called for a community-based process to evaluate a wide range of potential uses of recycled water. The San Diego City Council took up the challenge and the result was a resolution to study increased aspects of water reuse.” (City Council Resolution R-298781 adopted January 13, 2004)

“They did – and the result was a well-written report that covered not only the sources, but the health risks, and processes that were available at that time for advanced tertiary treatment. The very extensive report concludes,

“But you know,” Charlie said settling back into his chair with a sigh, ”The political will was just not there to put into action what the report told them.” Remember what you learned on the way over here about the pejorative term ‘Toilet to Tap’? Well, it worked to kill the whole recycled water issue.”

Hunching forward in his chair, punctuating each syllable with his fist, suddenly he looked much younger. “De-mand Man-age-ment-is-the-key. That’s not just trying to save a little water with existing systems…..it is using our God-given brains to come up with new ways to reuse what we have and catch that water we are throwing away.”

“Oh yes, there was some effort put forth. There was a South Bay Reclamation Plant and a North City Reclamation plant that did produce together about 37 million gallons per day (MGD) of recycled water making it available for industrial use and watering golf courses. (http://www.sandiego.gov/mwwd/facilities/southbay.shtml) That’s only about 41,000 acre-feet per year It even included 79 miles of what they called ‘purple piping’ so they would not confuse the recycled water lines with potable water lines.”

“But think about it”, Charlie stood, his face flushed, “They were projected to consume by 2015 over 700,000 acre-feet for the area. Those two plants could make only five percent of the water they needed and they were not even advanced tertiary treatment plants!

“And look at this”, pointing to a yellowed news clipping, “Even though the City Council in 2007 approved a pilot plant to produce drinkable water, the Mayor vetoed it! But, in a first-ever event, the City Council overrode his veto. Then the whole issue dropped below the radar, no doubt due to being buried in bureaucratic red-tape. Nothing happened!

“Charlie, you better take a break before you blow a gasket”, Scott admonished.

Sitting back down, Charlie continued, "All of my working life I have lobbied hard to get newer technology under way long before the tragic loss of the Colorado, much like the stories I’m about to tell you"

“Back in 1999, believe it or not, a project was put on line at a semiconductor plant in Phoenix that was unique for that time. Two pilot rinse wastewater reuse projects were developed as part of a long-term water conservation program for a Motorola semiconductor manufacturing site. The conceptual design for the projects grew out of a detailed wastewater reuse study that characterized wastewater streams at their generation points. Both treatment techniques were specifically researched bench-tested and adapted to further water conservation efforts while ensuring 100 percent compliance with appropriate effluent regulations and industrial discharge permit conditions. Together, the pilot projects save the City of Phoenix approximately 45 million gallons of water annually.” (2)

“In southern California, the Irvine Ranch Water District was distributing recycled water way before the year 2000. Recycled water was used in high-rise office buildings for toilet and urinal flushing”…Charlie paused….”What a waste we now know that was”…and continued, “in Los Angeles and Orange Counties recycled water was even then they injected into groundwater storage basins to prevent saltwater intrusion into the basins near the coastline. And in Orange County, recycled water was given advanced treatment and added to groundwater supplies used as a source of drinking water.” (http://www.sandiego.gov/water/recycled/faq.shtml)

Charlie stopped talking, took a look at his guests and realized they were starting to suffer from TMI, too much information.

Charlie said apologetically, “Sorry about holding forth so long. I know you have had a long day. There is still some history I would like to get across to you while you are here. It will make more sense for the National Geo readers if they have the background. I know you have those hand held new scanners that provide that nice female voice with the visuals when you are ready to listen. Help yourselves to these old documents.”

“We can resume in the morning after breakfast when we are all fresher. I make a killer machaca con huevos dish that a real Mexican cook taught me to cook. Hope you like it”

“What I am really going to like is a regular bed”, said Barry. George and Judy had already closed their door. “Good night.”

About the author: Milt Burgess is a Registered Professional Mechanical Engineer in several states and a licensed California contractor with experience in all phases of mechanical construction and consulting spanning several decades.
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