It’s been nearly a year since the California Coastal Commission gave an Orange County water district the green light to build a new desalination plant in Dana Point. So I decided to check in to see how the project is coming along. In not surprising news, the plant’s price tag has gotten a bit bigger while its timeline has gotten a bit longer. But the project is still advancing, and it’s serving as a model for water regulators as they develop a new set of guidelines aimed at making the ocean a bigger source of California drinking water going forward. Here are 10 things to know about the Doheny desalination plant. If it’s built, Doheny would be the second largest desalination plant in California, capable of producing 5 million gallons of water each day. There is potential to scale Doheny up down the line, to make as much as 15 million gallons a day. But the biggest plant, in Carlsbad, produces 50 million gallons each day.