You’re Invited: Town Hall About Desal in L.A.

July 8, 2016 — Last year, our supporters helped defeat a proposal to drill for oil underneath the Hermosa Beach seafloor. Now we face another ill-advised project in our Bay – a desalination plant on the El Segundo shoreline near the Manhattan Beach border.

In a time of persistent drought, we all agree on the need to reduce Southern California’s dependence on imported water. But a coaliton of environmental groups — including Heal the Bay, LA Waterkeeper and Surfrider — respectfully disagrees with West Basin Municipal Water District that building a costly and harmful ocean desalination plant is our best option.

Instead of literally sucking the life out of the Bay, West Basin can increase reliable local supplies by aggressively expanding reuse of water supplies we already have. By expanding reuse, we’ll seize on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reliably meet our future water needs while reducing daily dumpings of tens-of-millions of gallons of wastewater in Santa Monica Bay. It’s a win-win.

Each day the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant uselessly dumps 250 million gallons into the Bay. It’s time to value that highly treated water as the precious resource it is. We can no longer afford to throw water away. If Orange County can recycle 100 milion gallons each day, so can we.

To learn more about the proposed desal plant, and our preferred alternatives for securing water independence, please join our staff scientists and policy experts for a lively town-hall meeting in Manhattan Beach on July 21.

THE NEXT WAVE

A Special Town-Hall Meeting

Thursday, July, 21, 7:30 p.m.

Joslyn Community Center

1601 N. Valley Drive

Manhattan Beach