The Economics of Bulk Water Transport in Southern California
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Market Participants and Water Availability
2.1. Humboldt Bay MWD’s Potential Water Exports
2.2. Municipal Water Agencies Seeking New Water Supply Sources
2.2.1. San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Agency | San Diego | San Francisco | Santa Cruz |
---|---|---|---|
End-use and wholesale customers, 2010 | 3.11 million | 2.60 million | 91,000 |
2010 Deliveries (MCM) | 697.88 | 313.81 | 13.33 |
2030 Projected Population | 3.76 million | 2.99 million | 98,000 |
2030 Normal Year Projected Demand (MCM) | 929.68 | 363.74 | 15.31 |
New Resources Brought On-Line to Meet Projected Demand | Agricultural conservation and transfers; canal lining; purchases through MWD; ocean-water desalination; groundwater storage | Water transfers; ocean-water desalination; additional recycled water, groundwater, and conservation | Conservation; use curtailment in drought years; ocean-water desalination |
Proposed Desal Facility (MCM) | 69.07 | 69.07 | 3.45 |
Estimated Desal Costs ($/m3) | 1.77 | 0.31 | 3.22 |
Distance from HBMWD (nautical·km) | 1048 | 355 | 435 |
Data Sources | [17] | [16] | [18] |
2.2.2. City of Santa Cruz Water District
2.2.3. San Diego County Water Authority
3. Case Study
3.1. Water Supply Augmentation through Ocean-Water Desalination
San Diego SDCWA | San Francisco SFPUC | Santa Cruz SCWD | |
---|---|---|---|
Total Capital Cost ($millions) | 1003 | 168.5 | 120 |
Annual Capital Payment ($millions) | 63.5 | 10.68 | 7.60 |
Annual Operating Costs ($millions) | 58.86 | 11.39 | 3.82 |
Annual Total Payments ($millions) | 122.41 | 22.07 | 11.42 |
Expected Plant Yield (MCM/yr) | 69.07 | 69.07 | 3.45 |
Annual Per-Unit Cost ($/m3) | 1.77 | 0.32 | 3.31 |
Data Sources | [17] | [16] | [18] |
3.2. Bulk Water Transport
Agency | Units | San Diego SDCWA | San Francisco SFPUC | Santa Cruz SCWD |
---|---|---|---|---|
Quantity | m3/yr | 69,074,936 | 69,074,936 | 3,453,747 |
Number of tugs | 9 | 5 | 1 | |
Number of bags per trip | 20 | 20 | 14 | |
Number of trips per year | 203 | 36 | 14 | |
Water cost | $/m3 | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0.05 |
Fuel cost | $/m3 | 0.19 | 0.06 | 0.11 |
Other variable costs | $/m3 | 0.28 | 0.17 | 0.21 |
Capital cost | $/m3 | 0.21 | 0.15 | 1.68 |
Total per-unit cost | $/m3 | 0.74 | 0.44 | 2.06 |
Fuel as % of per-unit cost | % | 26% | 15% | 5% |
Total capital costs | $in millions | 106 | 148 | 58 |
3.3. Cost-Effectiveness of Water Bags versus Desalination
4. Incorporating Reliability
4.1. Yield Risk
4.2. Cost Risk
4.3. Environmental/Regulatory Risk
4.4. New Technology/Adoption Risk
5. Discussion and Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
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Hodges, A.; Hansen, K.; McLeod, D. The Economics of Bulk Water Transport in Southern California. Resources 2014, 3, 703-720. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources3040703
Hodges A, Hansen K, McLeod D. The Economics of Bulk Water Transport in Southern California. Resources. 2014; 3(4):703-720. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources3040703
Chicago/Turabian StyleHodges, Andrew, Kristiana Hansen, and Donald McLeod. 2014. "The Economics of Bulk Water Transport in Southern California" Resources 3, no. 4: 703-720. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources3040703
APA StyleHodges, A., Hansen, K., & McLeod, D. (2014). The Economics of Bulk Water Transport in Southern California. Resources, 3(4), 703-720. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources3040703