Santa Barbara city in US to invest $55m to revive desalination facility

Santa Barbara City Council has unanimously given consent for an investment of $55m to revive the Charles E Meyer desalination facility in California, US.

The plant, which was constructed during a drought in the 1990s, had not been used beyond a testing period.

It has been dysfunctional since 1992 once the water scarcity issues ended following steady rain, but was retained by the city as a safeguard measure for future occurrences.

Once operational, the facility will have a capacity to deliver one third of the city’s potable water supplies.

Santa Barbara mayor Helene Schneider was quoted by Los Angeles Times as saying: "Desalination has been a last resort.

"The way the drought has continued these last four years, we are really getting at that last resort."

The city had decided to revive the facility last September, when the capacity of Santa Barbara’s main water reservoir Lake Cachuma dropped below 30%.

Santa Barbara City Council had voted that month to speed up their efforts for turning the facility operational by fall 2016.

Out of the allotted $55m, $46.6m has been set aside for design and construction of the facility. The remaining funding is expected to be spent over legal and consulting charges to be required during the permitting process.

Schneider added: "We recognise it’s a big decision to make.

"We also recognise that desalination is not just for this particular drought, they are cyclical."