Ocean Plan Requirements for Seawater Desalination Facilities
Seawater Desalination Overview
Desalination facilities produce freshwater by removing salts from brackish or saltwater for municipal, industrial, or other uses. Seawater desalination draws water from the ocean and passes the water through a membrane, resulting in an amount of fresh water and an amount of hypersaline brine. The Ocean Plan includes requirements to ensure the construction and operation of seawater desalination facilities minimize intake and mortality of all forms of marine life. Mitigation measures are required to address harmful impacts to marine life that occur even when a desalination facility uses the best available site, design, and technology feasible. State Water Board Resources Control Board Resolution 2015-0033 describes the responsibility regarding the siting, planning, construction, and operation of desalination plants in the state of California.
Seawater Desalination Siting and Streamlining Report to Expedite Permitting
The State Water Board released the Seawater Desalination Interagency Group’s Final Seawater Desalination Siting and Streamlining Report to Expedite Permitting to fulfill directives set by California’s Water Supply Strategy: Adapting to a Hotter Drier Future. The Draft Report has no regulatory force or effect but includes interagency recommendations to clarify the most efficient permitting process while ensuring appropriate review of projects.
In January 2023, State Water Board staff convened a Seawater Desalination Interagency Group, comprising state and federal agencies to establish criteria agreed upon by multiple state permitting entities for the efficient and timely approval of coastal desalination projects to help address increasing threats to California’s water supply while protecting coastal marine environments. The Report has no regulatory force or effect but includes interagency recommendations.
The Draft Report was released for public comment in July and on July 21, 2023, staff held an informational Webinar to share the impetus and approach for developing the Draft Report and provide an overview of its recommendations, including brief presentations from some of the interagency partners involved in this collaborative effort. State agencies incorporated this feedback in the final Report released in December 2023 and are committed to continue to improve permitting efficiency for desalination projects following the governor’s acceptance of their recommendations in the Report.
Seawater Desalination Facilities
- Desalination Plant Entrainment Impacts and Mitigation, October 9, 2013
- Hyper-Salinity Toxicity Thresholds for Nine California Ocean Plan Toxicity Test Protocols, July 2012
- Mitigation and Fees for the Intake of Seawater by Desalination and Power Plants, March 14, 2012
- Management of Brine Discharges to Coastal Waters - Recommendations of a Science Advisory Panel, March 2012
The Seawater Desalination MOA memorializes the relationship between agencies to coordinate timely and effective review of environmental documents and permits or lease applications for proposed seawater desalination facilities, and demonstrates the Water Boards’ ongoing commitment to interagency coordination. The included agencies and their websites can be found below:
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
California Coastal Commission
National Marine Fisheries Service’s West Coast Region
Region 1 – North Coast
Charles Reed
Charles.Reed@waterboards.ca.gov
(707) 576-2752
Region 2 – San Francisco Bay
Thomas Mumley
Thomas.Mumley@waterboards.ca.gov
(510) 622-2395
Peter von Langen
Peter.VonLangen@waterboards.ca.gov
(805) 549-3688
Region 4 – Los Angeles
Jeong-Hee Lim
Jeong-Hee.Lim@waterboards.ca.gov
(951) 576-6616
Region 8 – Santa Ana
Julio Lara
Julio.Lara@waterboards.ca.gov
(951) 782-4995
Region 9 – San Diego
Fisayo Osibodu
Olufisayo.Osibodu@waterboards.ca.gov
(619) 521-8036
Contact the State Water Board
Clifton Herrmann
Recycled Water and Desalination Unit
Clifton.Herrmann@waterboards.ca.gov
(916) 327-8638
Laura McLellan
Recycled Water and Desalination Unit
Laura.McLellan@waterboards.ca.gov
(916) 319-8288
Gintare Huckeba
Recycled Water and Desalination Unit
Gintare.Huckeba@waterboards.ca.gov
(916) 323-0684