OceanWell Release Successful Pilot Results
OceanWell Release Successful Pilot Results
OceanWell is proud to share that its California pilot program was successful as reported by environmental journalist Ian James of the Los Angeles Times.
The pilot represents a significant milestone in OceanWell's mission to provide affordable, abundant, and environmentally responsible fresh water. Conducted at the Las Virgenes Reservoir in Southern California, the project was designed to validate OceanWell's submerged water purification technology under relevant operating conditions before advancing to offshore ocean trials.
The report produced by Las Virgenes Municipal District can be found here
A Successful Demonstration of Next-Generation Water Technology
Over the course of the pilot, OceanWell's submerged purification pod operated in a biologically active reservoir environment, allowing engineers to evaluate system performance, reliability, and environmental compatibility. The technology successfully produced clean drinking water while gathering valuable data on system efficiency, water quality, and biological interactions.
A report produced by Las Virgenes Municipal Water District highlights 3 key findings:
KEY FINDING #1 ENERGY EFFICIENCY
The DWPR Final Report confirms that the OceanWell pilot system operated with high energy efficiency during its time in the Las Virgenes Reservoir. The report measures this efficiency in terms of “specific energy,” which simply refers to the amount of power required to produce a specific volume of fresh water.
KEY FINDING #2 MARINE LIFE SAFETY
Pilot footage confirms safety of intake system
To confirm that the intake was truly safe for local wildlife, engineers deployed an underwater remote-operated vehicle (ROV) and cameras to monitor the system in action. The resulting footage showed fish freely and safely swimming directly around the intake screens during normal operations and cleaning cycles without getting stuck to the surfaces.
Microscopic life returned unharmed to habitat
While the outer screens protect larger animals from impingement, the report also examined what happens to the microscopic life, such as plankton, that are small enough to get pulled through the screen’s tiny gaps. These microscopic organisms are caught by internal prefilters and routinely returned to the reservoir through an automated “backwash” process, which simply reverses the water flow to gently flush out the system.
KEY FINDING #3 WATER FILTRATION RELIABILITY
Exceptionally Pure Water
The system produced freshwater that was roughly ten times purer than standard drinking water requirements. The filtered water (also called “permeate”) generally contained fewer than 50 parts per million (ppm) of total dissolved solids, which are the salts and impurities left in water. To put that in perspective, the World Health Organization’s limit for safe drinking water is 500 ppm, meaning the pilot’s water was well below the safety threshold. At the very start of the trial, the impurity levels were even lower.
Th full report outlining these results and their implications can be found here:
Looking Ahead
The reservoir pilot marks an important step toward proving that a new generation of subsea water infrastructure can help communities build reliable water supplies for the future. With strong pilot performance and increasing industry interest, OceanWell is moving closer to demonstrating how deep-sea water farms can deliver sustainable, scalable fresh water while protecting marine ecosystems.
As Ian James' upcoming coverage brings broader attention to these results, OceanWell remains focused on advancing innovative water technology that can help communities adapt to a changing climate and secure clean water for generations to come.
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