Where should Newport News seek solutions to its water needs? The city long has cast its eye west, toward King William and a reservoir that would draw from the Mattaponi River. But maybe it should look much farther west -- to California.
Water authorities recently approved a desalination plant to be built near Carlsbad, to the north of San Diego. The $320 million project would be the largest outside the Mideast, and will supply as much as 50 million gallons of water per day.
Would a similar facility work equally well on this end of the continent? Perhaps. At the very least, the Carlsbad project bears watching. It still has some hoops to jump through before it gets under way, and would not be fully operational before 2011. But given the pace at which the King William reservoir is proceeding -- glacially, with reversals along the way -- Newport News should have plenty of time to analyze the desalination option.
That's especially true given the fact that demand for water has not risen as projected. In fact, demand has remained essentially flat for more than a decade. Newport News officials acknowledge this, but argue that water needs inevitably will increase during the next three to four decades. They could be right.
Just think how much desalination technology will have advanced by then.
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