Demonstration Plant

Poseidon has been operating an International award-winning seawater desalination demonstration plant at the EPS since January 2003.

The demonstration plant operates under permits issued by Coastal Commission, Regional Water Quality Control Board and City of Carlsbad.

The facility has produced over 20 million gallons of high-quality potable water.

The demonstration plant operation has confirmed several important considerations related to the full-scale project:

• Confirmed the capabilities of the project design to perform under both normal and adverse conditions;
• Confirmed the capabilities of the project to comply with all applicable state and federal regulations; and
• Confirmed that there is significant public support for the project.

The Pilot Plant

The fully operational desalination pilot plant at the Encina Power Station is 1/36 scale of the planned facility. It currently produces about 40,000 gallons of desalinated water per day. The scale model operates under the same conditions that the full-size project will. This allows Poseidon to demonstrate the reliability and viability of the technology, and confirm that appropriate environmental safeguards are in place and working properly.

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

In 2006, the pilot plant was awarded the prestigious Global Grand Prize for Applied Research from the International Water Association (IWA), a global network of water professionals in science, research, technology and practice. IWA established the Project Innovations Award Program to recognize excellence and innovation in water engineering projects. The award is considered the highest international recognition a company in the water industry can receive.

Poseidon's seawater desalination research and development program has also won the Environmental Engineering Award from American Academy of Environmental Engineers.
Tours are scheduled so guests can see the intake area where seawater enters the system and then watch as it is processed into high quality drinking water in 20 minutes. They can even taste the product water right on-site.

Observers can see the on-site desalination fish tank, a 200-gallon aquarium where the most sensitive local sea dwellers are flourishing in the by-product water from the desalination process.