CARLSBAD -- An expected vote on Poseidon Resources' controversial desalination plant has been delayed until April. However, the delay by a local agency won't affect construction plans, the company said Thursday.

Poseidon had asked the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board for approval at its Wednesday meeting. Poseidon could then have legally started construction on the plant, which has been in development for years. Instead, the board asked Poseidon for more information, and rescheduled the vote for April 8.

The plant is to be located in coastal Carlsbad next to the Encina Power Station. It would be capable of producing 50 million gallons of fresh water a day from sea water. That represents 9 percent of the county's total water consumption, a significant supplement to the region's precarious supply of imported water.

The city of Carlsbad and several water districts in the county have signed contracts to buy the water.

However, some environmentalists say the plant would severely damage coastal ocean life. San Diego Coastkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation have repeatedly objected to the plant in its lengthy regulatory process and filed suit to stop it. These groups favor wastewater reclamation as a less destructive and less expensive alternative.

The delay is minor in the plant's estimated construction timeline of 24-36 months, said Scott Maloni, a vice president of Stamford, Ct.-based Poseidon.

"Our goal is to get this finished by 2011, so we can have this operational by the last quarter of 2011 or the first quarter of 2012," Maloni said. "We're still on schedule to begin construction this year. It could be as early as this summer or as late as this fall."

Last August, Poseidon said construction was expected to begin in the first half of this year.

Besides regulatory matters, financing for the $300 million project is also a hurdle.

Maloni said talks are under way with potential investors, but a deal can't be inked until all approvals are in place. Meanwhile, the global credit crunch has made such projects difficult to finance. Poseidon has said it expects financing to be in place by this summer.

Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com. Read his blogs at bizblogs.nctimes.com.

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