Bay Area company develops new technology that holds promise of safer desalination practices

MENLO PARK, Calif. (KGO) -- An experimental technology now in testing holds the promise of revolutionizing California's depleted water supply.

California spends billions to store water, pump water and recycle water. But even with climate change bearing down, one strategy is a tougher sell: desalinating water and pulling it from the sea.

Just ask Tim Quinn, Ph.D., who spent four decades as one of the state's top water managers.

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"Every step in traditional desalination is hugely fraught with controversy," Quinn said.

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There are roughly a dozen desalination plants operating in California, including the massive Carlsbad plant at San Diego. But approval of new plants is typically met with fierce opposition from many environmental groups. Now, Quinn and his colleagues, at a startup called OceanWell, believe they have a system that's much safer for the environment.

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"And so, at every stage of developing this technology, the environment has been a consideration. And we've resulted in a technology that can provide substantial volumes of water over time with virtually no negative environmental impact," Quinn said.

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The system works with a network of pods the company describes as a water farm. They're placed on the sea floor more than 1,000 feet below the surface. At that depth, the pods use the natural water pressure of the ocean to help force salt water through a series of membranes. They say the leftover brine dissipates safely away and the fresh water is pumped to shore.

Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Haswell says the system also leverages the ocean depth in another critical way.

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"The second major benefit is that we are avoiding marine life and treatment into the system, because we're not drawing water from the surface layer. We're drawing water from the aphotic zone of the ocean, which is 200 meters and below, where less than 1% of sunlight reaches, where we have limited photosynthesis, and so limited marine life to contend with as compared to the surface layer of the ocean," Haswell said.

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He added that OceanWell's intake system also includes safeguards to prevent marine life like plankton from becoming trapped in the pods. A prototype is currently being tested at a reservoir in Southern California. The company's goal is to have a water farm in full operation off the coast in the next three to five years. Producing up to millions of gallons of fresh water per day.

It's a volume they believe could revolutionize California's water supply.

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"I think it's a tremendously exciting opportunity to work on water scarcity and technologies like this really open up the opportunity to move the needle here, adding water anywhere," Haswell said.

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"This is the perfect time. And, climate change is the main challenge for water managers in the western states or around the world. And, this technology is climate proof. It is drought proof. It is always going to be there," Quinn said.

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The company also believes the water farm technology can evolve with California's climate challenges because the system is scalable, depending on the number of pods that are deployed.

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