City opens Santa Barbara’s desalination plant for public tours

This weekend, members of the community are invited to visit Santa Barbara’s desalination plant for the first time. The facility came on line last year and supplies the city with a third of its water. One-hundred eighty people have signed up to take tours of the plant, and hundreds more are on a waiting list. But will taking a tour make residents feel better about drinking treated sea water?

The city’s desalination plant converts seawater to potable water for Santa Barbara customers. Photo credit: Kathryn Barnes/KCRW.

An aerial view of the facility on Yanonali Street. Photo credit: City of Santa Barbara.

Those who take the tour can taste the desalinated water before it mixes with the rest of the city’s water supply. Photo credit: City of Santa Barbara.