In July 2018, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House), citing Bloomberg, reported that the owners of the Carlsbad desalination plant had brought in advisers for a possible sale. Its owner was Orion Water Partners, formed by Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners together with Poseidon Water. Bloomberg put the potential price, debt included, at more than US$1 billion. The owners held a 30-year supply agreement with the San Diego County water authority.
The report showed large desalination plants with long-term offtake agreements being treated as tradeable infrastructure assets for financial investors at the time.