Your front page story on February 4, 2024, was entitled “Sweetwater pursuing floating solar.” The article failed to mention that this installation over drinking water would be a first in the United States. Floating solar is from the agriculture and mining industries. Yet, the Sweetwater Authority’s infatuation with new technology would dump another unwanted infrastructure project on the South County. Their board members visited Noria Energy’s “biggest floating solar farm in the nation” in Healdsburg, Calif. After seeing floating solar over a shallow, rectangular wastewater pond last September, they were gung ho. The potential for energy generation is vast, hundreds of acres. The proposed floating solar project would urbanize our local drinking water reservoir and destroy its natural beauty.
The trails and open space surrounding the Sweetwater Reservoir are a regional asset and heavily used by South County residents who don’t have many other places to go to enjoy nature. Land-based solar options, which are cheaper, were not considered. Like any urbanization, a floating solar farm would create water quality issues. This floating solar farm would be inside the “ring of protection” that currently protects our water supply from urban runoff and that costly treatment. The long term safety of our drinking water supply with floating solar would be jeopardized. Academic research to demonstrate safety is not there. The drinking water standards being cited were not developed for this use. The float material (HDPE) can leach compounds and other additives that may be costly to remove. The Sweetwater Authority did not conduct a thorough fiscal, legal and risk analysis before starting this project with a sole source contractor.
I participated in the Citizen Advisory Work Group that the Sweetwater Authority touted as an “ongoing process to share information and gather feedback about the project.” The Sweetwater Authority capstoned the floating solar topic in January. Their proposed floating solar farm is no longer discussed at these meetings. Many questions remain unanswered.
The Sweetwater Authority management’s failure to see that a floating solar farm warrants an Environmental Impact Report is very disconcerting. We need this green energy put on land. Why the Board advocates want to be on the bleeding edge of technology baffles me. Our children and grandchildren should not be guinea pigs. This Sweetwater Authority cost saving measure would make us the next Flint, Michigan.
