Water Officials Agree to Build Prototype Desalination Plant

Water officials in Long Beach and Los Angeles agreed Tuesday to co-sponsor construction of a $5.3-million prototype desalination plant capable of producing 250,000 gallons of high-quality drinking water daily.

The project, which will be partially funded by the U.S. Department of Reclamation, will test a patent-pending system believed to be more energy-efficient and cost-effective than traditional methods, said Ryan J. Alsop, spokesman for the Long Beach Water Department.

“If the research pans out, we will eventually build a full-scale, 10-million-gallon-per-day plant in Long Beach that could go online by the end of the decade,” Alsop said. “The goal is to bring the costs of desalinization down to competitive levels.”

In a prepared statement, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn said the project could make Southern California’s water less vulnerable to drought and political battles.