Your CalDesal August Newsflash Is Here!

Governor’s Water Supply Strategy

On August 11, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom released a publication – California’s Water Supply Strategy – which builds on the Governor’s Water Resilience Portfolio released in July 2020. Among the specific strategies for developing new water supplies, the Governor’s water supply strategy highlights the following goal:

Expand brackish groundwater desalination production by 28,000 acre-feet per year by 2030 and 84,000 acre-feet per year by 2040 and help guide location of seawater desalination projects where they are cost effective and environmentally appropriate

The water supply strategy also identifies five specific action items to achieve the broader goal, along with specific timelines for accomplishment of the action items over the course of the next 12-18 months:

By January 2024, identify brackish desalination projects that have the potential to be operational between 2030 and 2040.

By January 2024, review groundwater basins impaired by salts and nutrients to determine the volume of water available for brackish groundwater desalination.

Continue to work through the U.S. Department of Energy’s desalination innovation hub to guide research investments towards technological breakthroughs that solve California desalination challenges.

Work toward streamlining and expediting permitting to provide better clarity and certainty to further desalination projects, including the development of criteria for siting desalination facilities along the coast and recommendations of new standards to facilitate approval, by June 30, 2023.

Identify potential mitigation sites to facilitate the expedited approval of desalination facilities, including the consideration of amendments to the California Ocean Plan to streamline permits that meet the recommended siting and design standards for projects located in the identified priority areas.

CalDesal is working to engage immediately with the Newsom Administration to participate in shaping and developing the specific implementation and action items identified in the Water Supply Strategy report.

Annual Conference – Call for Abstracts

The CalDesal Events Planning Committee is very pleased to announce that the next CalDesal Annual Conference will be held at the Embassy Suites in Sacramento in February 2023! More details about registration, exhibitors, and sponsorship opportunities will be available in the coming weeks – please stay tuned!

In the meantime, CalDesal has widely announced a Call for Abstracts for the Annual Conference – the link to the Call for Abstracts announcement is here. An on-line portal for submittal of Abstracts is embedded within the Call for Abstracts notice.

Please share the Call for Abstracts widely with your colleagues, through social media, and within your industry contacts to ensure we have broad distribution and are able to construct a fantastic conference next February.

New Social Media Feature

We are very excited to announce a new feature to CalDesal’s ongoing social media outreach through the various platforms on which we’re active. We will soon begin to spotlight two CalDesal member organizations each month through our various social media channels.

We are looking for volunteer member organizations so we can have a chance to “brag” about our amazing members! We will need:

Organization logo
Brief written content about your organization
Brief written content about your interest/involvement in the California desalination community
Contact name and information

Please send to: Executive Director Glenn Farrel – glennf@caldesal.org, CalDesal Outreach Communications Committee Chair Stacy Taylor – stacyt@mesawater.org, and CalDesal Outreach Communications Committee Vice-Chair Sharene Gonzales – sharene.gonzales@acwd.com

Recent Polling Data

Support for desalination in California remains at a very high level! In recent weeks, two major public polls have been released, and both demonstrate strong support for desalination to address California’s water resilience concerns.

In June, the California Chamber of Commerce released results from polling that reaffirms public sentiment that California should be doing more to expedite permitting of desalination plants, with 89% of respondents supporting action to move desalination forward!

In July, the Public Policy Institute of California released polling data which demonstrates similarly strong support for “building desalination plants on the California coast,” with 72% of all adults, and 79% of likely voters, supporting that action.

This broad and substantial public support is underscored in the Governor’s Water Supply Strategy, and provides a critical opportunity for CalDesal and our industry colleagues to make meaningful progress in advancing the desalination conversation and move projects forward.

Email: info@caldesal.org |

Website: www.caldesal.org