Keeping Things Flowing

The region has always been water-conscious, never more so than today, with the latest challenge coming from the failure to reach an agreement among water districts on proper curtailment of Colorado River use. With the region facing an immediate cutback of hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water (an acre-foot represents about 326,000 gallons, or 1.24 million liters), the Metropolitan Water District and others are already taking measures to alleviate the stress that the cutback will put on the region by pursuing both conservation measures and the construction of desalinization plants.
        Oceanside was ahead of that curve too, says McVey.
        "Pharmaceutical companies are very water-intensive, and Oceanside has a reverse osmosis plant that produces 20 percent of the city's water needs," she says. We're also co-venturing with another city in a study about a desalinization plant, and we happen to have a couple companies that make reverse osmosis membranes."
        Nearly as competitive and secretive as the biotech and pharma companies is the cutthroat cluster of golf equipment manufacturers in and around Carlsbad. But it's no secret that another $15 million in investment at Ocean Ranch is coming courtesy of golf apparel maker Ashworth, which is establishing its U.S. distribution hub on a 15.5-acre (6.3-hectare) site. Phase 1 will cover 200,000 sq. ft. (18,580 sq. m.), with another 100,000 sq. ft. (9,290 sq. m.) available for future expansion. The center will be a significant upgrade from Ashworth's current facility – some 10 miles (16 km.) away and 10 years old – when it is completed in 2004, employing the same 150 workers.
        "The site should also support our expected long-term growth plans," says Randall L. Herrel, Sr., chairman & CEO. "The company plans to operate its old distribution center for approximately three months with parallel operations after the start-up of the new facility. The material handling system is being designed to take advantage of the improvements in computer technology which have occurred over the past few years, which we believe will provide significant productivity increases after parallel operations cease."