Valley Economy Blog by Dr. Jeffrey Michael takes apart the Department of Water Resources’ public relations claims
“Delta Conveyance Facility (DCF) Water Is More Expensive Than Desalination, Not Less As DWR Claims.” 5/19/2024: Read Dr. Jeff Michael’s analysis of DWR’s faulty math comparisons between the Delta Conveyance Project and Southern California desal projects.
From the article:
Capital Cost: Recent large scale desalination projects/proposals in southern California (Huntington Beach, Carlsbad) have capital cost estimates of about $1.5 billion in 2023 dollars for about 50,000 acre feet (af) of reliable water supply ($30,000 per annual af). The DCF is $20 billion for highly variable water yield that is projected to average about 400,000 af ($50,000 per annual af ). (Advantage: Desal)
Time to Build: Large-scale Desalination, about 5 years. DCF, about 15 years. (Advantage: Desal)
For our young readers, this is a case of the #MathAin’tMathing, and you are the ones who will end up paying for the Delta Conveyance Project, rather than for the climate, education, and societal investments for which you all are envisioning for the future.