VENTURA : Lower Cost Cited for Desalination Plant

The president of a California company that builds desalination plants contends that one could be built for the city of Ventura that would cost substantially less than previous estimates.

Art Whipple, president of Aqua Design of Campbell, told a group of about 80 people Wednesday night that his company could build a plant to convert seawater to drinking water for $33 million.

In a study commissioned by the city of Ventura, a consultant has estimated that a desalination plant would cost the city $55.1 million. A pipeline to import state water, another alternative, would cost $36.8 million. Whipple was invited to speak in Ventura by Desal Water, a group of Ventura residents who advocate desalination as a way to expand the city’s water supply.

Tim Downey, a spokesman for the group, said members feel that a private company can build a plant for less than the city’s estimates.

Whipple said his company can build the plant for less because it has the experience of already building 100 plants--including two in Morro Bay and San Simeon and 35 in the Caribbean.

Jay Spurgin, a senior civil engineer with Boyle Engineering Corp., called it unfair to the public to compare the $33-million estimate with his company’s $55.1-million estimate.

“They are not apples-to-apples comparisons,” he said. Aqua Design’s estimate does not include several costs included in Boyle’s study, he said, such as a $9-million contingency allowance for unforeseen problems.

“It’s prudent to include contingencies in a budget,” Spurgin said. Boyle also included nearly $2 million for obtaining necessary permits and environmental studies, as well as costs for easements and bond financing.

He also said his company put in more than a year on its study comparing the cost of desalination with the cost of state water. Aqua Design “came in on the spur of the moment.”

Whipple said his estimate doesn’t include a contingency allowance because one isn’t necessary. “We have a fixed price,” he said. Also, in his estimate he has included $1 million for permitting costs.

“That ought to be enough to permit anything in California,” he said.

Ventura voters will be asked in an advisory measure on the November ballot whether they favor a desalination plant over a pipeline to the State Water Project. City Councilman Todd Collart, who attended the meeting, said Thursday, “I’m not going to take a position until I have more facts.”