The Counterintuitive Solution to California’s Drought Crisis

As drought lowered reservoirs and scorched front lawns, California residents looked longingly to the great body of water at the continent’s edge: the Pacific Ocean, tantalizingly close but undrinkable. At least, until recently.

This December, Poseidon Water, a Boston-based infrastructure developer, opened the world’s largest desalination plant in Carlsbad, Calif., a coastal city just north of San Diego. Seventeen years in the making, the new facility removes the salt and purifies 50 million gallons of ocean water every day. At the moment, the technology is expensive — nearly double the price of importing water from outside the county — but Poseidon’s executives believe that extreme weather events and population booms in the future will make water scarcer and, by extension, drive up the price.

“Seawater desalination is the only water supply in the county that’s drought-proof,” says Jessica Jones, spokesperson for Poseidon. “It’s not dependent on snowpack or rainfall.”

Reverse osmosis membranes, inside the Carlsbad Desalination Plant.

A water source like it has been a dream of humankind’s since ancient times, when marooned sailors first tried to remove the salt from seawater by catching the steam rising from boiling pots. In the 1960s, scientists hit upon a way to extract pure water molecules from a tainted source. Using reverse osmosis, the briny water (already treated to remove algae and silt) flows through pipes equipped with a porous membrane, its holes barely one-millionth the diameter of a human hair, Jones explains. At extremely high pressures, the water molecules pass through these microscopic holes, but salt ones are too large to fit. Jones compares the process to trying to fit a baseball into a tennis ball can.

The process works so effectively that Poseidon is in the final stages of obtaining permits to open a similar plant in Orange County’s Huntington Beach. Environmentalists have voiced concerns about damage to sea life sucked in by the facility, but to offset any loss of marine life, Poseidon is restoring wetlands south of San Diego to be a bird and fish habitat.

Could Poseidon’s executives be correct in their belief that technology like this will be the only way to prepare for a harsher, dryer world that’s rapidly approaching?

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You Can Now Have a Virtual Picnic in the Park, Thanks to Google

California’s Department of Parks and Recreation is getting a facelift, and Google is operating.
The Mountain View-based company has spent the last three months traversing the California countryside, through the towering redwoods and atop Mt. Tamalpais to create virtual maps for more than a dozen parks, helping the once-antiquated state agency plug in and capture a new audience online.

“Information is key for people who are not active users of state parks,” says Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation. “You want to know what a place is like. You want to prepare in advance.”

Google mapped the parks at no cost, using Google Trekker, which was previously used on the Grand Canyon in 2012, according to the Los Angeles Times. Users can view the virtual images of the 14 parks mapped using the Street View feature, with the aim of attracting a younger generation of potential hikers and campers.

“It’s really important to connect a new generation to California parks,”  says Jon Christensen, a UCLA senior researcher working on the software. “We know that generation is very technologically adept and socially connected.”

The impetus to play tech catch-up was prompted by an accounting scandal in 2012, which revealed millions of dollars concealed in a department account during the height of state park budget cuts. Earlier this year in April, the Parks Forward Commission, an independent group created by the Legislature, issued a report finding that the parks system “is debilitated by an outdated organizational structure, underinvestment in technology and business tools, and a culture that has not rewarded excellence, innovation, and leadership.”

In addition to the maps, California officials have also begun experimenting with mobile parking payment at some state beaches in Orange County, while budding architecture students at Cal Poly Pomona are designing park cabins as an alternative for camping out in a tent. And state officials plan to triple the number of parks where visitors can pay fees by credit card by the end of the year, too.

Elsewhere in San Francisco, Stamen Design is teaming up with conservation group Resources Legacy Fund to develop a mobile application to assist users with navigating programs and activities throughout the state’s park system, regardless of whether they’re operated by a government agency.

“Years from now, when we look at the parks system, this is the time when we had the opportunity to make great change,” says Lisa Mangat, acting parks director.

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How Does Running Coast-to-Coast Help Veterans?

If you think your feet are tired at the end of the day, talk to Anna Judd.
Last month, the Orange County, California resident set out on an epic run to help veterans. Her plan? To run 3,200 miles from Venice, California to New York City’s Washington Square Park in an effort to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and Team Red, White & Blue. Judd runs 40 miles a day, six days a week, charting her grueling adventure on her website and Facebook page. Along the way, veterans and other supporters run alongside her.
According to Lori Corbin of KABC, Judd raises funds through the Charity Miles app. Corporate sponsors have committed to donating $1 million to the startup, which allows anyone to fundraise for 26 different charities just by signing up and being active. Biking a mile earns 10 cents, while running or walking a mile earns 25 cents. Anyone who exercises can participate in Judd’s fundraising effort by downloading the app and entering in #runamerica to join her running team. You can also use the app to find a map of where Judd is currently running.
Under the direction of her trainer Navy veteran Sean Litzenberger, Judd hopes to finish the run in a hundred days. As she jogs, Judd (who has completed 30 marathons) is constantly refueling with water, chia seed packs, super food shakes, liquid supplements, and coffee with butter. She lives out of an RV and takes breaks when needed. She started out the run barefoot, but was wearing shoes by the time she arrived in cactus-filled Arizona. Still, nobody can accuse this remarkable runner — set to travel on foot through 17 states — of not being tough.

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