Plans for the biggest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere received final California state approval – USA-California

… clearing the way for construction to start next year and for the plant to open north of San Diego in 2011.

The California State Lands Commission, which unanimously approved the plant at a meeting in Los Angeles, was the last hurdle before construction can begin. The $300-million (about R2,1-billion) plant will turn seawater from a lagoon off Carlsbad into 50 million gallons of drinking water daily, enough to supply about 110,000 households and about 10 percent of the needs of San Diego County, home to 3 million people.

Desalination is common in the Middle East, but […]