Arizona and Nevada officials recently signed onto a Memorandum of Understanding that could result in the two states receiving water from a desalination plant in Carlsbad, Calif.
The facility in question is operated by the San Diego County Water Authority. Participants in the MOU include the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Central Arizona Project, Salt River Project, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Bureau of Reclamation.
While the memorandum does not serve as a commitment to exchange water, it does serve as an initial step in considering and establishing a water exchange process.
If an exchange does take place, it would result in the San Diego County Water Authority using more desalinated water, with the two other Lower Basin states being able to buy part of California’s unused Colorado River water. This would allow the agencies to use existing water infrastructure.
The price of exchanged water has yet to be determined. CAP currently sells water in its Arizona distribution areas for $365/acre-foot. Water from the Carlsbad facility is expensive, currently priced at roughly $3.5K/acre-foot. Projections indicate the cost could exceed $7K/acre-foot in the 2040s.
The desalination plant in Carlsbad cost $1B to construct and has annual operating costs in the tens of millions of dollars. Its output is also comparatively small, yielding only around 10% of the San Diego area’s annual supply. (Source: KJZZ Phoenix)
