Help Us Stop a Terrible Desalination Project in Huntington Beach This Week!

The final adoption hearing for the proposed Poseidon Huntington Beach Desalination plant is on the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board’s agenda this Thursday, July 30 to Friday, July 31. The meeting will be held virtually and the public can participate over zoom. This is the hearing where the Regional Board could deny the project - and kill Poseidon's dreams of profiting hundreds of millions of dollars off Californian's drought fears at the expense of the environment, marine life and water quality! Regional Board members have already expressed major concerns at the last workshop thanks to great public participation. Now it's time to put the nail in the coffin!

We need all hands on deck to come and oppose the plant! The meeting starts at 9am on Thursday and Friday. Please sign up to speak on Item 4 using this link! You can also find more information here and the meeting agenda here. Interested in listening in and following along? Visit www. cal-span.org for the live stream.

The proposed Poseidon desalination plant in Huntington Beach would increase the cost of water for Orange County families, harm our ocean and our climate, and we don’t need it! Help us oppose it. Surfrider is not "anti-desal" - we support safe, clean, reliable water supplies for all communities! However, this project is not the right project for Orange County - or anywhere in California!

WE OPPOSE THE POSEIDON PROJECT BECAUSE:

• Orange County has cheaper, cleaner water options. Local solutions like water recycling, conservation, and cleaning up contaminated groundwater are the best alternatives to wasteful water projects like Poseidon, at a fraction of the cost.
• The Poseidon plant is a billion-dollar boondoggle and would increase water bills for Orange County families, hurting low-income families and coastal businesses like hotels and restaurants. 
• We need to protect Orange County’s oceans and beaches. The Poseidon plant would kill marine life and discharge polluted brine, creating a “dead zone” offshore of Huntington Beach.
• The water is not needed, the 2018 Municipal Water District of Orange County Water Reliability Study ranks Poseidon last as a source of new water.
• We need to protect our climate. Desalination is the most energy-intensive way to produce fresh water and would generate more climate pollution. The Poseidon plant’s location is vulnerable to flooding from rising seas and extreme storms, as well as earthquakes and tsunamis.

Please join and voice your opposition! Speakers will be given two minutes each.

For more information, suggested talking points and to RSVP, please contact California Policy Coordinator, Mandy Sackett at msackett@surfrider.org.