Santa Barbara, Calif. Borrows $55 Million For Desal

PHOENIX - Santa Barbara, Calif., will borrow $55 million from the state to reopen a closed desalination plant as it deals with a serious drought.

The city council voted unanimously for the municipality of about 90,000 to borrow the money from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to get the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Facility back up and running next year to "ensure the community is prepared for future drought conditions."

The loan has a 20-year repayment schedule and an interest rate of 1.66%, according to city documents, coming to an annual debt service payment of about $3.2 million annually. Santa Barbara finance director Robert Samario said the city would not be using bonds to pay for any part of the project.

"We're not issuing any kind of municipal debt," Samario said.

The desalination plant has been in "long-term stand-by mode" since 1997, but the city has continued to maintain and preserve it in case of drought or other water supply shortage conditions. When reopened, the plant will convert seawater to drinkable water in an effort to offset shortages brought on by historically bad drought conditions that have pushed California Gov. Jerry Brown to mandate conservation measures by executive order.

But desalination is a controversial step because of both the electricity costs it takes to run such plants and the environmental detriments they can cause. Desalinated water can cost upwards of $1,900 per acre foot, according to the Pacific Institute, considerably more than alternatives like stormwater capture, and recycled water.

Desalination plants suck ocean water in through screened pipes which can trap and kill marine life.

Wayne Scoles, a former Santa Barbara mayoral candidate who attended the meeting, voiced concerns about the environmental impact and warned that the plant might not provide enough water to be the silver bullet solution some might expect.

"This isn't going to be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow," Scoles told the council.

 

 

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