Saturday, February 15, 2025

Fort Bragg’s Desalination Water Treatment Systems Comes Online

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As Mendocino County navigates a record-setting drought, the City of Fort Bragg held a blue-ribbon ceremony officially bringing online an Aquaclear Desalination-Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment System that will bolster the city’s freshwater stock and relieve water shortages. 

Public Works Director John Smith stood in front of a gathering of approximately 25-30 Fort Bragg leaders and residents thanking the Water Board for the grants and emergency funds that made the installation of the system possible and the water operators who worked long hours to install the system. He also expressed appreciation for the Fort Bragg City Council who fiscally supported the efforts to install the system.

The Aquaclear Desalination-Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment System [Pictures provided by Judy Valadao]

Smith said the treatment system will allow the city to continue treating water through high tide periods when the Noyo River becomes brackish. In the past, “we would just shut off our system during those times, now we can just continue to process water.”

Heath Daniels, the City’s Operations Manager, said to the crowd the plant will turn Summer’s Lane Reservoir into a drought management reservoir.

City Councilman Lindy Peters told us the plant will “provide up to 144,000 gallons of additional water capacity to the City water system.” 

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The concrete tank that holds the brackish water before it has been filtered

Reflecting on the day’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, Councilman Peters said, “It was my pleasure to cut the ribbon and push the start button today.”

He described first advocating for a desalination plant back in 1992 and “thanks to City Manager Tabatha Miller, Public Works Director John Smith, the City Council and the entire City staff (especially the Public Works crew) for making this finally happen.”

“We now should make it through the drought safely with enough water to supply our needs,” Councilman Peters said.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. Even if California has above average rainfall for the next 10 years, keep the desalination plants going and start recycling water ! Go overkill with water storage. Build several reservoirs with trout fishing.

  2. Why don’t they build a permanent one ? There is literally a “sea” of water ? There always talking about rising sea levels ? What better way to combat that !

    • Exactly is what I say if the sea levels are coming up then even if the drought starts to turnaround in the way of rain totals coming up on we combat 2 things rising sea level and letting our reservoirs fill back up n maybe be smart about and build additional reserve resources sounds logically to me but it’s always about money so umm

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Matt LaFever
Matt LaFeverhttps://mendofever.com/
For the past seven years, Matt LaFever has covered the North Coast of California in both print and radio news. A Humboldt State graduate, he has lived in the Emerald Triangle for nearly 20 years. His reporting spans local issues like crime and wildfires. When not writing, Matt is an avid outdoorsman, exploring Northern California’s rugged landscapes. Reach out to him at matthewplafever@gmail.com.

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