OceanWell and Las Virgenes Municipal Water District Launch California Water Farm 1 with Capacity of 60 Million Gallons Per Day as Six Agencies Join Project

• Water Farm 1 scales from 10 MGD to up to 60 MGD to provide reliable supplies for seven water agencies across drought-prone Southern California
• OceanWell's subsea desalination pods harness ocean pressure to reduce energy use and eliminate concentrated brine discharge
• Delivery targeted for 2030 as the project enters commercial planning and phased infrastructure development 

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- OceanWell, a water technology company, announced plans to advance Water Farm 1 (WF1)– the first subsea reverse osmosis desalination project in the U.S. -- in partnership with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) and a consortium of six other California water agencies. The project is expected to deliver up to 60 million gallons per day (MGD), or just under 230,000 m³ per day, of drinking water by 2030 – offering a new model for reliable, drought-resilient water supply.

Anchored approximately 4.5 miles off the coast of Malibu, CA, in Santa Monica Bay, WF1 represents a major leap forward in resilient water supply. Using natural hydrostatic pressure at depths of 400 meters (1,300 feet), OceanWell's modular pods can each harvest up to one million gallons of fresh water daily, reducing energy use by 40% and avoiding the brine discharge and marine life disruption associated with traditional desalination.

This announcement comes as California faces mounting water insecurity due to prolonged drought, declining runoff, and overreliance on fragile ecosystems. WF1 offers a new model that reduces pressure on strained systems like California's Bay-Delta system and the Colorado River and unsustainable aquifer extraction, helping secure a more resilient, climate-aligned water future.

"California, like much of the world, urgently needs a new source of water to replace dwindling supplies," said Robert Bergstrom, CEO of OceanWell. "Water Farm 1 shows how we can responsibly and economically harvest fresh water from the ocean by building infrastructure to withstand rapidly melting snowpack, increasing drought, more extreme atmospheric rivers, sea water intrusion, and overdrawn groundwater. Water Farm 1 is a critical milestone toward OceanWell's goal of adding one million acre-feet of new potable water to the global supply within a decade."

WF1 follows the launch of OceanWell's pilot program with LVMWD, which began in March 2025 to prove the efficacy of its proprietary submerged water filtration technology. That pilot, conducted in the Las Virgenes Reservoir, is testing a single pod and showed the potential to produce freshwater in highly bio-active conditions using OceanWell’s LifeSafe™ intake system. WF1 marks the first commercial-scale deployment, expanding from one pod in a reservoir to dozens of pods operating in the deep ocean.

To prepare for the scale and complexity of WF1, the seven-agency consortium led by LVMWD is currently funding an independent feasibility study on onshore infrastructure. The study is evaluating how to integrate water produced by WF1  into regional systems, including potential delivery to Calabasas and other inland communities, and will inform investment decisions and permitting.

In parallel, OceanWell's Tribal and Environmental Working Groups will assess data from the remaining pilot stages to evaluate the environmental performance of the offshore pods. Their guidance will help shape the optimal size and configuration of the water fields, ensuring the project reflects ecological best practices and community priorities.

Mark Gold, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability Adjunct Professor: "I am eager to see if Ocean Well's ambitious Water Farm 1 project is durable, cost-effective, scalable, harmless to marine life, and performs at high efficiency in deep ocean coastal waters. Ideally, the pilot study off Malibu in Santa Monica Bay will demonstrate the potential of Ocean Well to provide a new, climate-resilient, source of 10s of millions of gallons per day of fresh water by 2030."

Dave Pedersen, General Manager, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District: "Las Virgenes water customers were severely impacted by recent droughts, because our only source of supply is the water imported through the State Water Project, which has become increasingly stressed. We are proud to provide leadership to address what is, for us, nearing a water supply crisis. Developing an alternative water supply from the Pacific Ocean makes sense, and we will work with OceanWell and other public water agencies to achieve that goal."

Ian Prichard, Deputy General Manager, Calleguas Municipal Water District: "Our region's future water reliability depends on cooperation. Figuring out how to deliver water from 400 meters below the ocean surface to inland water agencies demands the resources and creativity of multiple agencies, and that is exactly the approach water agencies are taking with Water Farm #1. The ultimate test will be whether this water can be a cost-effective alternative to other potential solutions, but the process is going to help us determine that—together."

Richard Wilson, Assistant General Manager, Burbank Water and Power: "The City of Burbank does not have the ability to receive water directly from the Pacific Ocean. But with others in this consortium, we are working with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) to develop an innovative program to receive this water through an exchange. Burbank will pay for the delivery of OceanWell water to other partners in Water Farm. The water can then be exchanged between partners within the consortium by using water within MWD's system."

About OceanWell
OceanWell has redesigned sourcing fresh water from the ocean into a clean, elegant solution that harvests affordable, abundant, fresh water. Its modular deep-sea water farm technology uses hydrostatic ocean pressure at depths of 400m+ to naturally power the reverse osmosis process and make fresh water. OceanWell will do this with vastly improved energy efficiency, limited brine outfall and limited impact to protect marine life and no onshore plant. This eliminates the legacy technology burdens of high energy use, ecological impact, and a large industrial seaside facility. Backed by Kubota, OceanWell is an Imagine H20 graduate, participant in XPRIZE's Water Scarcity competition, and is supported by a working group of 25 California water agencies. To learn more, visit oceanwellwater.com.

About LVMWD
Las Virgenes Municipal Water District provides potable water, wastewater treatment, recycled water and biosolids composting to approximately 70,000 residents in the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Westlake Village, and unincorporated areas of western Los Angeles County.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE OceanWell