- December 16, 2025
Coquina Coast Desalination plans are being shelved, as the major partners have dropped out of the multi-billion dollar project one by one. According to City Manager Jim Landon, there isn’t a need for alternative water sources in the next five years, so there is no need to pour more money into the design.
In fact, he said, the plans might be shelved not just until the need for water is more pressing, but also until it becomes cheaper to build and operate a proposed plant.
“The high cost of operation a desal plan is the high cost of energy,” Landon said. “All organizations are looking at how we can use alternative energy, whether it’s windmills or solar panels, etc., so maybe by the time we need to build the plant, the solar power technology will have advanced enough to cut operating costs.”
Population projections several years ago predicted a water shortage, spurring regional leaders, including Palm Coast, to investigate turning saltwater into fresh through a desalination plant.
“We truly believe that although now the plant is not needed, eventually an alternative will be needed,” Landon said. “We spent a lot of money on these plans, so we don’t want to throw it in the trash. We’ll put them on the shelf.
“We want to make sure other providers know this option is still out there."
Landon said it takes years to build a desalination plant, so it will have to be addressed in a forward-thinking way — just not now.
