Desalination at Manhattan Beach: One step forward, three steps back. Part 2

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

In Los Angeles County, there are two major sewage treatment plants that provide services to the approximately 4 million Angelinos: the Hyperion and Tillman Water Reclamation Plants. But, contrary to popular belief, there is more to the story here than just "sewage treatment". Both plants are required to treat the water they receive just below drinking water standards. Meaning, while you can't drink the water that the Tillman and Hyperion plants produce, they still produce freshwater. This freshwater is then pumped back into the ocean directly or via the Los Angeles River, rendering it unusable.

Yes. You read that correctly. Unusable.

In the words of Ginger, "what's happening is we're putting all this effort into treating this freshwater, and then we're just sending it out into the ocean." Remember how Southern California has a "human-made" water management issue? Los Angeles currently has what water quality scientists call an "open system." This means that although water is being brought into the city, it is being released irresponsibly.

To help close the system, Angelinos must adopt a water recycling program. Plans have already been proposed that could upgrade the city's water reclamation plants, allowing them to produce potable water. This, coupled with the low greenhouse gas emissions rate of the recycling process, would allow Los Angeles to solve much of its current water management issues without the added costs of desalination. "To me, it makes more sense if we treat the water that we've already treated a little bit more and we could use that for drinking, you know?", says Ginger.

A view of the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant from the Imperial Highway. Photographed by Joshua Pereira.

From a scientific and environmental activist standpoint, desalination has more costs than benefits. Yet, many of Manhattan Beach's residents have also voiced their concerns about the plant. Democratically, the plant is unfavored as well.

In the words of Ginger, desalination is "the lesser of the two options and that to me does not serve as justification. If they [West Basin] were truly concerned about local water resilience, they would be talking about water recycling instead of desalination." Only time will tell if Manhattan Beach will recycle instead of desalinating its water, particularly as the project was approved to advance into the financial planning stages in 2019, pushing the desalination plant one step closer towards its unfortunate realization.