Jordan Cunningham is the leader to make desalination a reality
Jordan Cunningham in his recent commentary in the Santa Maria Times, “Fight the Drought with Desalination,” adeptly summarizes the problem with desalination: It’s not a technological problem, nor an economic problem, but rather a political problem.
Filtration technology has come a long way and so has the means to produce fresh water in an environmentally sound manner. Furthermore, as the Carlsbad desalination plant has proven, the challenges are not economic — after all, the produced water costs just a little more than state water but comes with 100 percent reliability. People pay a premium for convenience regularly, yet we seem to choke when it comes to paying what amounts to a pittance for a pure and stable water source.
As is often the case, the problem lies in the realm of politics: The Central Coast has simply lacked the leadership to shepherd such a project to completion.
Jordan Cunningham gets it right. We need this type of forward-thinking, innovative and energetic leadership.
Jayson Parsons, Santa Maria
This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Jordan Cunningham is the leader to make desalination a reality."