Wattier Gives Progress Report on Long Beach Desalination
 Project Before Key Congressional Committee

Washington, DC - Today, Kevin Wattier, General Manager of the Long Beach Water Department, testified before the Resources Subcommittee on Water & Power of the United States House of Representatives.  Long Beach Water was invited to provide testimony at the hearing, which dealt with energy reduction and other costs of the desalination process, by Rep. George Radanovich, Chairman of the Subcommittee.

Also providing testimony were:  David Garman, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewables, Department of Energy; Ms. Maryanne Bach, Director of Research and Development, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Director, Congressional Budget Office; Bernie Rhinerson, Member, U.S. Desalination Coalition; Colin Sabol, Chief Marketing Officer, General Electric; Pat McCourt, City Manager, Alamogordo, New Mexico; and Dr. Michael Max, Chief Executive Officer, Marine Desalination Systems.

In his testimony, Wattier reported on the progress of the largest seawater desalination research and development effort of its kind in the United States.  The Long Beach Water Department, in partnership with the United State Bureau of Reclamation and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, is finishing construction on a 300,000 gpd Prototype Desalination Facility, that will seek to verify energy savings of the two-pass nanofiltration process, or the "Long Beach Method", of desalinating seawater.  This process will be optimized so that it can be duplicated at a larger scale.

Long Beach is also planning the construction of an Under Ocean Floor Seawater Intake and Discharge Demonstration System, the first of its kind in the world, that may demonstrate an alternative to traditional open ocean intake and discharge practices.

The Resources Subcommittee on Water & Power has jurisdiction over all Federal measures and matters concerning water resources planning conducted pursuant to the Water Resources Planning Act, water resource research and development programs and saline water research and development.  In addition, it oversees all measures and matters pertaining to irrigation and reclamation projects and all resource development and recycling programs, including policies and procedures.

The Long Beach Water Department is an urban, Southern California water supply agency who is setting the standard in water conservation and environmental stewardship.  For more information visit us at www.lbwater.org.