NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
California American Water is hosting multiple interactive community workshops to help residents learn more about our water supply, the impact of the drought and affordability. All interested members of the community are encouraged to attend.
Upcoming meetings will be listed here.
COMMUNITY VOICES
Why desalination is essential
For decades, the Monterey Peninsula has lived under the specter of water scarcity. Our local economy, environment, and quality of life have been held captive by an unsustainable reliance on the Carmel River, a source whose necessary over-pumping culminated in a state-mandated cease-and-desist order, putting our community in a bind and leading to a building moratorium that has meant local families couldn’t add on to their homes, or build on existing lots they own. It has also prevented the development of enough affordable and workforce housing. While conservation, water reuse and aquifer storage and recovery are part of the solution, they alone cannot provide the long-term security we need. We need to ensure that our water supply will meet our demands now and in the future.
The Monterey Peninsula is a water island, disconnected from the vast state and federal water delivery systems that serve other parts of California. This isolation means our fate rests entirely on limited local resources. The state’s order, 30 years ago, to reduce pumping from the river is not just a regulatory hurdle; it’s a critical environmental mandate to protect endangered species and restore the health of one of our most important natural assets. Without a new, reliable source of water, we cannot meet this mandate while also providing for the needs of our community.
The desalination project represents the most comprehensive and shovel-ready answer to this challenge. It is part of a three-tiered solution that includes not only a state-of-the-art desalination plant but also an expansion of our aquifer storage and recovery system and a partnership with the Pure Water Monterey recycled water project. This integrated approach ensures we are not placing all our eggs in one basket.
Instead of relying on unpredictable rainfall, desalination provides a consistent, reliable supply of clean drinking water, regardless of drought conditions. This is the foundation of true water security for our region.
Critics of the project often raise concerns about cost and the need for new water, citing declining demand and other alternatives. The costs of inaction are far greater. Neither Aquifer Storage and Recovery nor the Pure Water Monterey project can meet all of our needs, rather they are vital components of our portfolio, designed to work in concert with the desalination plant to create a robust and resilient water supply.
The CPUC spent six years developing its Environmental Impact Report. It determined desalination is needed, that the current location is the best possible location and the slant-well technology will mitigate environmental impacts. This week, the CPUC will review projected water supplies and demand over the next 25 years, both with and without desalination, and will hopefully decide consistent with the California Coastal Commission’s determination that desalination is needed.
Moving forward with this project means moving toward a future of stability. It means lifting the building moratorium, creating new job opportunities, and ensuring that our children and grandchildren will have access to a secure water supply. It’s time to stop litigating our future and start building it. The Cal Am desalination project is not an option; it is a necessity for the health of our environment and the prosperity of our communities.
Cal Am, as the Monterey Peninsula’s water provider, cannot plan for our water future with if/then scenarios. We must make the investment required to secure our water future. Hope is not a strategy and to hope that we get enough rainfall to provide for our communities would be nothing short of irresponsible. Desalination is needed now.
Adam Pinterits is the government and community affairs director for the Monterey County Association of Realtors.
CPUC hands Cal Am major victory in desal dispute
A POWERFUL state agency this week agreed with California American Water’s long-term water supply estimates for the Monterey Peninsula, moving the utility a step closer to realizing its “drought-proof” desalination plant. Cal Am expects to break ground on the project by the end of this year.
On Thursday afternoon, the California Public Utilities Commission unanimously OK’d a recommendation by its staff to approve a projected 2050 water demand for the Peninsula of 13,732 acre-feet per year — a threshold Cal Am says only desal can meet. While the utility still must meet other conditions set by the California Coastal Commission before it can start building the plant, the CPUC decision is a big win for the company.
‘Water security’
“Today’s decision confirms the Monterey Peninsula needs additional water supply to meet customer demands today, tomorrow and well into the future to provide water security,” Cal Am President Kevin Tilden said shortly after the vote.
The CPUC concluded that the Peninsula faces a water supply deficit of approximately 815 million gallons per year by 2050.
The decision resolves a longstanding disagreement between Cal Am - which maintains that its proposed desalination plant is the only project that will provide enough water for its customers for the next 25 years - and those opposed to the plan, including the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, which contends that an expansion of its recycled water project, Pure Water Monterey, will produce more than enough for the Peninsula for new fixtures, housing, lots of record and other uses, and that desal is unneeded.
No green light
Water district general manager Dave Stoldt was critical of the CPUC vote.
"Of course, we believe the CPUC adopted demand numbers that defy reality," Stoldt said. But he said construction of the desal plant can't move forward right away.
"The decision in no way is a green light to build a desalination plant - there are many hurdles left in that process," Stoldt said.
Following nearly two hours of public comment, commissioners deliberated briefly before casting their votes.
"We certainly don't want utilities to spend ratepayer dollars to build projects that are not necessary," commissioner John Reynolds said. "But I do believe that the supply and demand estimates adopted here reasonably forecast The Monterey Peninsula's needs through 2050."
Commissioner Darcie Houck said she believes the figures present a "reasonable basis for overall demand projections set out in the decision before us."
Roughly 40 speakers addressed the commission, most of them opposed to Cal Am's desal plant, saying the $400 million project is unnecessary and would make rates skyrocket.
Desai proponents said that source water cannot be relied upon to supply the Pure Water Monterey reclamation project and that only Cal Am's desal plant would supply a sufficient amount.
'Mixed agendas'
"Let's be clear about one thing. There is no water scarcity on the Monterey Peninsula," Monterey city manager Hans Uslar told the commission. "Cal Am's claims of severe restrictions are simply not true. Our needs are being met right now by Pure Water Monterey, and its expansion will cover our future needs."
Peninsula realtor Jeff Davi disagreed, arguing that Cal Am's desal plant and other components are the "only permanent solution" to the longstanding water crisis.
"I commend the CPUC staff for resisting pressures from those with mixed agendas who think we do not need this project by artificially lowering demand projections," Davi said. "This is not about demand, it's about supply."
CPUC administrative law judges Robert Haga and Jack Chang on May 9 concurred with Cal Am's projected 2050 water demand figure, while LandWatch Monterey County argued the estimates were "factually wrong." The City of Marina, which has its own water supply, is also opposed to Cal Am's desal plant and has spoken against the plan.
"When the CPUC considered this decision, it was the result of extensive review and analysis of our water supply and demand projections, building on its prior decision and more than six years of work on the project's environmental impact report," Tilden said.
Responsible water management requires planning for an uncertain future
Responsible water management is complex and relies on planning for potential worst-case scenarios to ensure there is enough supply to meet any and all future demand.
Reputable, data-centered water forecasting must look at trends and changes in current customer behavior, new government regulations, growth and new development, changes in commercial activity and climate conditions. To make sure that sufficient water is available in both drought years and wet years, California American Water forecasts demand by looking at state and regional growth projections, commercial and industrial supply and anticipated demand, as well as commercial and residential remodels.
There is no way to oversimplify water demand modeling. There are no shortcuts or workarounds. And Cal Am’s data certainly can’t be arbitrarily underestimated. As the director of our engineering team for Cal Am, when we say that the Monterey Peninsula will likely need 14,480 acre-feet per year of water in 2050, I assure you it’s based on sound data and thoughtful modeling.
Our planning uses realistic inputs based on regional housing needs, changing climate conditions and long-term projections for sustainable water supplies and availability. Doing otherwise would be irresponsible — putting the entire region’s economic growth and sustainability at risk.
To ensure the Monterey Peninsula’s current and future water supply needs are met, Cal Am is advancing a three-pronged approach to increasing water supply with a new desalination plant as its keystone. Desalination will provide a drought-proof source of water — producing 5,377 acre-feet of treated water per year in the plant’s first phase, enough to serve about 18,300 households.
The other two prongs of increasing water supply include expanding the aquifer storage and recovery program (ASR) in conjunction with the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District to capture excess winter flows from the Carmel River for use during the dry summer months and expansion of Pure Water Monterey’s groundwater replenishment project.
These three sources of water, along with Cal Am’s current water supplies, are expected to provide up to 15,650 acre-feet per year in normal water years and up to 14,910 acre-feet per year in drought years, after full build-out of the desal plant (Phase 2).
Developing this portfolio of reliable water sources is what’s necessary to lift the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Cease and Desist Order that required Cal Am to significantly reduce pumping from the Carmel River and to develop a new water supply to replace nearly 75% of the Peninsula’s historic water supplies. The Order continues to prohibit Cal Am from providing water to new service connections until a long-term sustainable water supply is brought online.
Cal Am’s multifaceted approach is better than a single-source solution. Adding desalination to ASR and PWM Expansion supplies — which are highly vulnerable to drought — will bring a reliable, drought-proof water source to the Peninsula. It will also build redundancy into the system to continue providing water if one component becomes temporarily unavailable.
We are planning for a future where the SWRCB Cease-and-Desist order is lifted, new water hookups are made possible, regional tourism and businesses can grow, the area’s backlog of development projects can begin moving again, and more affordable housing is built.
In order to plan for maximum demand, Cal Am must ensure that all portions of the demand estimates are accounted for. If left unaccounted, Cal Am may experience a supply shortfall which would be irresponsible water planning.
Simply put, to avoid a water supply shortfall, we need all available water solutions, including drought-proof desalination. Diversifying our water sources will reduce the risk of a supply shortage during the next inevitable drought. Doing anything less would be irresponsible and hinder our future sustainable growth.
Lacy Carothers is the Director of Engineering at California American Water, overseeing the engineering department throughout the state, including management of capital and reoccurring projects, system assessment and regulatory compliance.
Guest Commentary: Despite other projects, we still need desal
I have served on the Monterey 1 Water Board of Directors and Board of Supervisors for the past eight years, while both Pure Water Monterey and Pure Water Monterey expansion were approved.
I supported both Pure Water and reluctantly, Pure Water Monterey expansion as possible additional sources of water to supply the Monterey Peninsula; but not as a replacement for desal and the water supply project that the Monterey Peninsula so desperately needs.
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The reason Pure Water Monterey cannot be the sole water solution is simple; there is just not enough reliable source water, which is primarily reclaimed agricultural drain and industrial wastewater from the Salinas Valley, available.
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When the M1W agency embarked on the Pure Water Monterey project, we all knew and it was never intended that recycled water could meet all the water needs of the Monterey Peninsula. We always anticipated that desal would also be needed to meet even the current Peninsula water needs.
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The expansion project was not initiated by our board but was proposed by the Monterey Peninsula Water Management agency and they paid for the EIR costs. Initially, our board was so concerned about inadequacy of source water that we took unprecedented steps and voted not to certify the EIR. Later, we reluctantly moved forward on the expansion project, concluding that it would at least provide some water for the Monterey Peninsula.
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Unfortunately, these two projects, Pure Water Monterey and Expansion, have now been calculatedly used by some to try to undermine and derail the proposed desal project, claiming these recycled water projects will meet all the water needs of the Monterey Peninsula. That just isn’t so. Even if these two projects worked perfectly and can produce the projected amounts of water (5750 AF) these sources cannot meet the water needs of the Monterey Peninsula. That is not just my opinion but is supported by every water study and testimony before the CPUC.
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Pure Water Monterey may produce enough water to offset the pumping from the Carmel River ordered by the state of California 25 years ago but it will not produce enough water to allow the lifting of the moratorium on new or increased water connections according to the State Water Resources Control Board.
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While the Pure Water Monterey project has been successful and our M1W board is quite proud of it, it has not been without its challenges. Additional extraction wells were needed, the cost of the water has almost doubled throughout the project and some source water we relied on didn’t materialize, we have been unable to effectively treat the Ag wash water due to its intense chemical content. But we have been successfully producing 3,500 acre-feet of water a year.
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Expansion is entirely another matter. Now that we have had the opportunity to observe the operation of Pure Water Monterey during the recent drought years and its impact on the Salinas Valley Basin, many of us are quite concerned about adequacy of source water for expansion, the possible negative impact it may have on Castroville Salt Water Instruction Project and saltwater intrusion in the Salinas Basin.
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These concerns about the expansion project have led to the Monterey County Water Resource Agency sending a six-page letter to both the CPUC and the Coastal Commission, expressing their concern. Those letters are available online. Two quotes, however, stand out.
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“Based on the operational experiences of the past two years with the PWM projects online, MCWRA’s concerns regarding the availability of sufficient source waters for both the PWM and the PWMx projects are heightened, especially in dry/drought conditions. MCWRA estimates there is only 1,688 AFY of water available for the PWMx, mostly during the winter months”
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“MCWRA is concerned that M1W might be prioritizing wastewater use for PWM when it should be utilized for CSIP, and that this situation could worsen considerably with the PWMx project, especially if the drought continues”
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I fully support this desal project, not just for the residents and businesses on the Monterey Peninsula, but also for all the residents from my district who work on the Peninsula.
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And I support this desal project for a more selfish reason; the town of Castroville, where my office sits, is by all accounts a disadvantaged community that sits in the center of the area impacted by saltwater intrusion. The water table is dropping and our wells are becoming saltier by the month. Desal is the only solution for Castroville’s survival. This desal project has committed to supplying sufficient water to Castroville to meet its current water needs and allow it to thrive.
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John M. Phillips is a Monterey County Supervisor (District 2) and a member of the Monterey 1 Water Board of Directors