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Carlsbad’s City Council is scheduled to weigh in tonight on a proposed desalination plant, a topic that has implications for the future of the region’s water supply.
It’s one of the final local-level steps in the project’s extensive application process.
In early May, Carlsbad’s planning commissions approved Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources Corp.’s plan to build a plant to convert 50 million gallons of seawater into drinking water each day.
Now it’s headed to the council, which has posted its lengthy 212-page staff report online.
The company still has two options for the plant. It can build it privately – the path that advanced in early May – and sell the water to a handful of local agencies. Or the company can continue negotiating with the San Diego County Water Authority, and allow the public agency to own the plant, with Poseidon building and operating it.
If approved tonight, the project’s next big step will be the California Coastal Commission, which is expected to provide more resistance than Carlsbad’s council. The City Council meeting starts at 6 p.m.