NEW West Basin Ocean-Water Desalination Demonstration Facility and Water Education Center 

 

Adjacent the SEA Lab

1021 N. Harbor Drive, Redondo Beach - Map


 

 

 

 

 

 

West Basin Directors Ron Smith, Ed Little, and Don Dear dedicate the new desalination facility.

West Basin Dedicates its Demonstration Desalination Facility

West Basin's new, innovative ocean-water desalination demonstration facility was dedicated on Friday, November 12, 2010. Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin and Metropolitan Water District Chairman Tim Brick congratulated West Basin on its efforts to reduce our dependence on imported water by developing local water supplies.  Check presentations were made by sponsors United States Bureau of Reclamation, represented by Michael Gabaldon and William Steele, and from the State of California, represented by Fran Spivy-Weber.
Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin speaks at West Basin's desalination dedication ceremony on November 12, 2010.

 

Sponsors:

  • U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
  • California Department of Water Resources
  • United Water
  • Separation Processes Inc.
  • RBF
  • Trussel Technologies
  • Applied Membranes

Project partners:

  • City of Redondo Beach
  • AES
  • SEA Lab

  Far left: Far Right: West Basin Director Ed Little addresses the crowd, with General Manager Rich Nagel, MWD Chairman Tim Brick, and Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin looking on.

Left to right: Manager of Engineering Marc Serna explains the ultrafiltration process to consultants from RRM design group; Directors Ed Little and Ron Smith observe the various species in the high salinity aquarium; Darryl Ramos Young explains the life sized exhibit of an imported water pipe that brings water through the San Bernardino Mountains and into Southern California. The replica is 13 feet in diameter and water flows through it at 1,250,000 gallons per minute.

 

Community Open House

Dec. 4, 2010

The Importance of Water

250 people visited West Basin's new Ocean-water Desalination Facility and Water Education Center on Saturday, December 4th to view the exhibits and learn more about West Basin's efforts to protect the ocean and be environmentally responsible in its desalination processes.  Visitors learned about the significance of water in our daily lives, easy ways to conserve at home, and the need to reduce our dependence on imported water supplies from the Colorado River and Northern California.

Shrinking Fresh Water Supplies

Visitors learn at the Water Education Center that Americans are the thirstiest people on the planet, using on average 150 gallons per person every day. A lenticular photo of Lake Mead, one of our primary drinking water sources in the West, shows the lake at full capacity and at its current state - dangerously low and likely to never recover from years of persistent drought.

Innovative Desalination Technology

Visitors see and hear about the technology used in West Basin's desalination demonstration facility process - intake through wedgewire screens, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, energy recapture.

 

Becoming More Water Efficient

A conservation exhibit highlights the importance of updating appliances from water-wasting models to water-efficiency versions and 'flip lid' exhibits share easy ways to change behavior at home to save significant amounts of water.