Long Beach Desalinization Case Study

Annually, Long Beach's port ships more than $180 million in trade, which means that this city is one of the wealthiest in the state of California.(Port of Long Beach). Therefore, even though desalinization is an expensive and energy consuming process, Long Beach's economic standing makes it one of the few cities in California that is actually capable of constructing a desalinization facility. Along with its wealthier economy, Long Beach its located on the Pacific coast of California, which also makes it an ideal location for a desalinization facility because this allows for direct access to the ocean and the salinated water supply that the facility requires. In October 2005, the Long Beach Seawater and Desalination Research and Development Facility was officially commissioned. It operated for four years as a research facility for a new technique for desalinization (Bradley). Half of the funding of the estimated $20 million project was from the federal government, and the other half came from state and local sources (Bradley). It was constructed on less than an acre at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Haynes Power Plant in East Long Beach and at the time it was considered to be the largest of its kind in the
Even though the Long Beach desalinization facility was not a success, it broke ground for a more efficient and productive plant in Carlsbad, California. For four years this drought has been destroying the state of California through wildfires and water shortages. Though many methods have been attempted to aid this state in its crisis, the drought is persistent. However, with advances in technology along with the new desalinization facility, the water consumption cut backs, landscaping changes, and new laws, California may have just what it needs to beat the drought and recover. California has taken an economic blow from this drought, and only time will tell whether or not desalinization will be California's