Oceanside looks to upgrade its RO plant

Oceanside, the Californian city that is home to major membrane manufacturer Hydranautics, is thinking about further desalination of brackish groundwater, if it can get federal funding for it.

The city is studying whether it can desalinate water pumped inland from wells near Oceanside Harbor and has hired consultant Tetra Tech to drill a test well.

Oceanside already has a 7,570 m³/d reverse-osmosis desalination plant and is looking to adapt it for the new source. The city council discussed the matter at a meeting on 15 January 2009 and will approach the federal government in February.

At one point, Oceanside was considering buying water from the new Carlsbad seawater RO desalination plant, but now it sees this new scheme as a better alternative. For investment of about US$ 7 million, the upgraded plant would produce about 5 MGD (19,000 m³/d) of drinking water.