An old seawater desalination plant in California wants to make a deal with Nevada, Arizona, or Utah to replace water no longer coming from the Colorado River.

That seems relevant to the Suwannee River Basin’s diminishing Floridan Aquifer water supply. Jacksonville has the Atlantic Ocean next door. Let it desalinate and stop pumping so much groundwater.

Also, if western states can do this, so can Jacksonville:

In addition to desalination, some states are considering recycling wastewater. In 2021, Arizona and Nevada each invested $6 million in a water recycling initiative that is in the final stages. The project, Pure Water Southern California, could eventually convert enough sewage into purified drinking water to supply 500,000 homes.

Both seawater desalination and potable reuse make much more sense than the JEA, SJRWMD, and SRWMD plan to pipe treated Jacksonville wastewater 60+ miles west into the Suwannee Basin. For more about Water First North Florida (WFNF), see:

https://wwals.net/issues/wfnf

San Diego’s Carlsbad Desalination Plant opened in 2015, so it’s more than a decade old. It cost about a billion dollars and produces about 50 million gallons a day (mgd) of drinking water.

For half a dozen bigger, less expensive seawater desalination plants around the world, see, NAQA’A Desalination Plant in Umm Al Quwain, U.A.E. 2019-07-09.

Old San Diego Carlsbad Desalination Plant may sell water to Arizona, Nevada, or Utah 2026-04-17

Scott Dance, The New York Times, April 17, 2026, Western States Need Water. San Diego Has Extra. Will They Make A Deal?
San Diego County is shopping a surplus of desalinated seawater to Western states that are facing increasingly urgent drought and short supplies.

As most Western communities expect to grapple with water shortages this summer and fall, one is looking to share its unlikely surplus.

San Diego County in California spent nearly $1 billion on a desalination plant after a 1990s drought left it with scarce supply. Now, with the seawater-to-tap water plant running at just one-third of capacity, its water utility is shopping around deals to sell its water across the West.

Because of drought and minimal snowmelt, little water is expected to flow into Colorado River basin reservoirs this year, creating a shortage that could lead states such as Arizona, Nevada and Utah to try to buy excess water from San Diego.

“We’ve all collectively taken a step back and have realized we can’t continue to put a fence around ourselves,” said Dan Denham, general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. “We can’t go at this alone any longer.”

It’s not yet clear how interstate transfers of water could occur — likely by Arizona or other states paying San Diego for its Colorado River water rights. Such transfers have never occurred and could require new federal laws or regulations.

Central Arizona water managers have been discussing the prospects of a deal for San Diego’s water, but have made no decisions, said DeEtte Person, a spokeswoman for the Central Arizona Project, the system that transports Colorado River water to most of that state’s populous areas.

John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, told The Wall Street Journal this week he plans to sign “an exploratory agreement” with San Diego County. Mr. Entsminger could not be reached for comment.

Utah, meanwhile, has been exploring investments in desalination, including through a potential partnership with California that would involve trading California’s Colorado River water rights.

In recent weeks, the San Diego County authority has announced deals to sell water to two utilities in Riverside County, Calif., a sprawling and rapidly developing region that borders the Colorado River.

“Regional cooperation is essential for a stable water future,” Stephen J. Corona, board president for the Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County, said in a statement last week.

Mr. Denham said he is hoping for additional partnerships. The San Diego County utility approved an agreement in February with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a broader consortium of water systems that includes the San Diego system, that featured plans to include utilities in Nevada and Arizona in the collaboration.

In addition to desalination, some states are considering recycling wastewater. In 2021, Arizona and Nevada each invested $6 million in a water recycling initiative that is in the final stages. The project, Pure Water Southern California, could eventually convert enough sewage into purified drinking water to supply 500,000 homes.

…

There’s more in the story.

Map: Carlsbad Desalination Plant, 2026-04-19 –Google Earth

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can help with clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable, water in the 10,000-square-mile Suwannee River Basin in Florida and Georgia by becoming a WWALS member today!
https://wwals.net/donations/

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