An Interesting Bit of San Diego Historical Trivia.
February 7th, 2008 categories: Local San Diego News You Can Use, San Diego Real Estate
A few months back I wrote a post about the Poseidon Resources in Carlsbad and their new technology to provide a Desalination plant where the old power plant is located at the Aqua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad, California.
Desalination plants, though an expensive alternative for supplying water in areas of California where the supply has been stretched thin, has a bit of history that I learned today reading an editorial post in the local paper.
Get this, way back in the 60s under the Johnson administration there was additional rift between Cuba and the US well after the Bay of Pigs conflict and Cuba decided to cut of the water supply to the Guantanamo base in Cuba. Johnson was informed about a Desalination demonstration plant in Point Loma California under the authority of the Interiors Department of the Office of Saline Water ( I didnt know we had an Office of Saline Water). Built there by the US Navy, it had been successfully desalinating water for over a year and the Johnson Administration ordered that the plant be disassembled , moved and reassembled at Guantanamo Bay. Piece by piece it was disassembled packed and shipped and ultimately with in a short few weeks ,was rebuilt and is still to this day producing water for the military base in Cuba. 50,000 gallons a day.
The article was a fascinating read and impressed me about the will and determination in overcoming obstacles placed in our way by unfriendly countries. Johnson could have of course sought to confront Cuba but with better advisement from the Interior Department, overcame the water supply obstacle in a Herculean effort to supply the resources needed and at the same time avoid additional confrontation with this small but unfriendly country.
This is a very interesting story and if you are interested you can read entire story using this link. Desalination History in San Diego
