CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SANTA BARBARA : Council to Pursue Desalination Plant

After reviewing dozens of proposals for providing the city with emergency water supplies, the Santa Barbara City Council has decided on desalination to cope with the drought. The city will begin negotiating with a Massachusetts company that has proposed building the nation’s largest seawater desalination plant in Santa Barbara, a facility expected to provide about 5,000 acre-feet of water a year, about one-third of the city’s normal demand. If the contract with Ionics Inc. is approved, the city could receive water by February, 1992, said Sandra Lizarraga, coordinator of the city drought response programs.