FORT BRAGG, CA., 11/17/25 — Ocean waves could soon help solve Fort Bragg’s drought worries. On Friday, the city and Quebec, Canada-based Oneka Technologies displayed California’s first wave-powered desalination pilot buoy.
The Noyo Harbor-based buoy, part of the ResilienSea Project, is a partnership with the city and supported by a $1.5 million grant from the state of California. The community is already benefiting from the project, with local labor, fishing boats and divers involved in support operations.
Oneka staff gave a walk-through tour of the “Iceberg-class buoy,” explaining how it converts seawater into freshwater. The unit to be deployed off Noyo Harbor is the ninth generation of wave-powered desalination systems developed over 10 years of ocean testing by Oneka. Its half-mile offshore site was carefully chosen to balance pumping efficiency, available wave energy, water depth for brine dispersion and visual impacts.
The system requires no batteries, grid connections or fossil fuels. And the results of this pilot project will determine whether a larger array of wave-powered units could eventually supplement Fort Bragg’s municipal water supply.
“The Oneka solution saves 1 ton of CO₂ emissions per year for each cubic meter of fresh water produced daily, compared with diesel-powered desalination plants,” Oneka staff said. “This means that in the pilot project, 50 tons of CO₂ emissions would be saved.”
City leaders and state officials in attendance called the project a model for climate adaptation, demonstrating how science and innovation can address water scarcity while protecting the ocean environment.
Fort Bragg city officials hope the system will provide a reliable source of freshwater during drought years.
Fort Bragg Public Works Director John Smith told the gathering, “Obviously, we are here for water. It has been a challenge for us in the 1970s. [Then] 2014 was the first wake-up call for us, pretty much we had no water in the river and only one reservoir. 2021 was also a bad year for us, extreme drought, and if you were living in town, you knew what the consequences of that were.”
The project also advances Fort Bragg’s “blue economy” initiative, promoting renewable energy, marine-tech jobs, ecosystem protection, and shoreline resilience — goals the city has prioritized.
Sarah McCormick, the city’s economic development manager, explained how the 2022 Blue Economy Symposium and Learning Festival sparked the wave-powered desalination project.
“We brought the community together to look at how we could work regionally to position our coastline for investment in emerging fields around the blue economy. Oneka found us through that effort,” McCormick said “We’re really proud that we could partner with them to try out this science. It’s not every community that’s willing to let science drive the decision-making.” She said the next year would involve monitoring and analyzing data to determine the buoy’s feasibility as a long-term solution to Fort Bragg’s water woes.
Since its founding in 2015, Oneka has deployed similar buoys in Florida, Nova Scotia and Chile to help communities address water shortages.
Before a guided tour of the buoy, Oneka CEO and Co-Founder Dragan Tutic explained the scope of the project.
“The Iceberg-class buoy is expected to produce roughly 13,200 gallons of freshwater per day during a 12-month trial. Freshwater will be piped to shore through a 3-inch line, and officials will monitor water quality and system performance,” he said.
“The project delivers a reliable supply of fresh water using clean, zero-emission energy, protects the environment by avoiding lead and employing a low-concentration, chemical-free design safe for marine life.” He explained that 60 sensors, including cameras, monitor the buoy’s performance and environmental impact.
The system uses a 60-micron mesh to filter out incoming debris. “To put it in perspective, 60 microns — or 0.06 millimeters — is even smaller than the mesh typically used for capturing fish larvae,” he said.
“Oneka’s freshwater technology does not require obtaining land-based operations,” Tutic said. “The unit that you see today is the same as the unit that was installed in Nova Scotia last fall, and it withstood waves converging at 20 feet on average and at extremes of 30 feet.”
Tutic then turned to a clear cube-like apparatus set up near the buoy to demonstrate how the seawater was processed.“The system has three main components: one handles the seawater intake, from there, it moves through pre-filters to remove impurities, and finally passes through the membranes for purification.”
The membranes separate freshwater from the seawater. Water with excess salt, or brine, is released back into the ocean while the freshwater is collected for use.
The Mendocino Voice interviewed officials and Oneka staff about the project’s goals and expected impact on the community.
Mary Rose Kaczorowski: How is the project financed and what are the next steps?
Fort Bragg City Manager Isaac Whippy: We got [$1,490,000] from the California State Department of Water Resources to fund this project. Next spring if all the permits go well, we will start to install the buoy moorings. We’re looking at next summer for the entire system to go live and be deployed for a 12-month trial period.
We will be using that data, and part of our plan for the next five years is to see if this could supplement our current water supply. The trial period is primarily about learning, gathering data, and studying the science.
We have a lot of whale migrations and many species of fish passing through this area, and there have been strandings. How can you prevent entanglements, especially of larger marine mammals?
Oneka Technologies CEO and Co-Founder Dragan Tutic: There are two aspects to consider regarding entanglement risks, and both are addressed as part of the permitting process. First, the design of the system itself minimizes the risk of physical entanglement: all ropes are properly secured and capped, and heavy chains are used, making first-degree entanglements extremely unlikely.
Second, for indirect risks—such as fishnets or debris getting caught—we have monitoring and mitigation processes in place to ensure that nothing in the system poses a threat to marine life. To provide some context, similar systems have been installed in Florida, Chile, and Nova Scotia, and there have been no recorded entanglements of marine animals.
Who will monitor operations? Who will facilitate rapid response to the Iceberg if needed?
Oneka Technologies Quality-Assurance Engineer Emily Veinot: “We’re now locally based so we can manage the installation, day-to-day operations and handle community relations, and work with local suppliers and laborers. If any issue comes up, once the buoy is positioned, we can quickly reach the buoy and address the situation.”
How would you describe the importance of this project?
California 2nd District Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa: This project is a great example of advancing innovative solutions to address climate change while mitigating impacts already being felt. Fort Bragg has been ground zero for drought in the past, creating challenges for both the local economy and residents. There has been a significant energy cost — and a major cost to marine life — associated with previous solutions, often pitting people against fish and against the climate. What’s different here is that this project has been designed to truly strike a balance between human needs and the needs of the ocean.
This project is exactly the kind of model we wanted to highlight here in California — another first for this coast, alongside innovative research at the Noyo Center for Marine Sciences.
Necessity is often the mother of invention, and here on the Mendocino Coast, challenges like drought and sea urchin overpopulation have spurred new businesses and ideas. Projects like this serve as a test bed for innovations that could expand along the California coast.
What brought you here to see this project in person?
California 12th District Assemblymember Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael: I represent Assembly District 12, which is southern Sonoma County and Marin County to the south of Roger’s district. A lot of the work I do in the Assembly centers on climate policy and the environment. There’s also Proposition 4, the climate bond, which is opening up an entirely new world of funding opportunities, including support for technology and breakthrough ideas that can help us confront the climate crisis. I was one of the principal authors of the climate bond that authorized $10 billion for safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, drought preparedness and clean air. That measure was approved by voters in the November 2024 election.
How do you think the California Assembly and Senate members are dealing with federal pushback?
Connolly: It’s a number of different strategies. We are pushing hard against the feds on the legal front. State Attorney General Rob Bonta; he’s now filed about 46 lawsuits as of last week. Our residents are not receiving the benefits of taxpayer money that they’re paying out to D.C., and it’s being improperly and illegally withheld, and we want to get that back for wildfire prevention, for climate, for healthcare. We are also trying to fill gaps—as federal money is withheld on these priorities, we’re looking at things like the climate bond to fill important policy gaps.
An enthusiastic reception
More than 50 people attended the event, and enthusiasm steadily grew throughout the day. The final highlight was the chance to applaud the Oneka team gathered in front of the buoy for a photo op. For some, it was their first time on the Northern California coast, and residents gave them a memorable welcome.
There was one more special touch. Once the buoy was completed, all who worked on it gathered to sign its hull with messages in French and English — from “bon voyage” to “bonne chère.”
Can’t begin to say how impressed and elated I am to see this project. I grew up at the beach in SF and always wondered why we couldn’t get seawater to supplement our freshwater supply. At 74 yo, the dream has come true. Bravo I hope more CA communities turn to this solution. We don’t have to be a desert anymore.