The Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC), California, USA, announced on 3 February 2010 the award of a US$ 1.05 million dollar contract for Phase 3 of the South Orange Coastal Ocean Desalination Project.
The contract went to Separation Processes Inc, the lead membrane process design engineer responsible for selection of the membrane technology for the successful Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System. Phase 3 is expected to take approximately 18 months and will include a temporary mobile testing facility and will provide for pumping, testing and treating water from the demonstration well installed in 2006.
MWDOC is the managing organization on behalf of five local partners; Laguna County Water District, Moulton Niguel Water District, City of San Clemente, City of San Juan Capistrano and the South Coast Water District.
The partners are funding the project in anticipation of improving their future water supply reliability. The full-scale project has not yet been permitted and is expected to be completed in 2016.