The board of Monterey One Water recently voted not to certify a supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) for an expansion of Pure Water Monterey. While the expansion was a technical concept that might provide additional water for the Peninsula, the Board action injected some much-needed clear thinking and foresight into a critical topic for the Monterey Peninsula. It’s not about desal versus expansion or public versus private ownership. It’s about creating an adequate and reliable water supply for our future.
Initially, the expansion was described as a backup to the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project yet would provide substantially less water, still leaving the Peninsula with a constrained water supply.
The SEIR falls short. The city of Salinas and the County Water Resources Agency are adamantly opposed to the presumption of the project using their water, which they see as essential for their own needs for sustainable groundwater management and to slow saltwater intrusion. NOAA stated that the final SEIR failed to adequately address the discharge water concerns they had identified in the draft SEIR and thus would require a separate federal environmental impact analysis. The SEIR was based on a controversial district water demand forecast at odds with rulings from the CPUC and the state Supreme Court. The findings of the CPUC were further reinforced by a recent letter from the State Water Resources Control Board to the Coastal Commission.
The project definition was unclear. Was it a backup, a supplement, or a replacement for the desal portion of the Peninsula water supply project? The question matters because the EIR requirements differ. If the goal is adequate water for the future, then it is not a mere supplemental project, yet the EIR lacks analysis of future necessary steps, leaving the EIR as a piecemeal effort. We also note the Phase 1 Pure Water Monterey project is not yet fully operational and has lingering questions on its true capacity, delivery consistency and cost.
Funding the expansion project would require a water purchase agreement with Cal Am, which the CPUC is unlikely to approve. The source water is in contention, possibly even interruptible, making future output capacity and revenue uncertain. Obtaining a loan would be difficult if not impossible without the guarantee of a reliable water purchase agreement revenue stream.
In short, the project as proposed is based on contested and uncertain source water, provides limited potable water, undercuts collaborative efforts with Salinas Valley, and is financially untenable.
At the board meeting, some participants and board members noted the project would be environmentally friendly and opined that it would be sufficient to certify the SEIR. They viewed a shortage of source water as even better environmentally because there would be less impact. It’s a mind-bending perspective.
If the sole criterion is an environmentally benign project, plant a daisy. If you want a project that provides water, then analyze a project adequate for the job – ensure source water supply; provide an explicit pathway for meeting needs into the long-term future; meet the criteria for removing the moratorium on new connections; meet State Water Resources Control Board criteria for removing the Cease and Desist Order; provide sufficient water to allow residents and businesses to use available water when and where needed, without constraint by the Water Management District.
We have struggled with the water situation for over 40 years. There’s blame enough for all. Let’s not have another failure of heart and vision. We need and deserve a real long-term solution.
— Fred Meurer is a former Monterey city manager; Bill Kampe, a former Pacific Grove mayor; Norm Groot, Monterey County Farm Bureau executive director; Joe Gunter, Salinas mayor.
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May 13, 2020 at 10:32PM
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Guest Commentary: Pure Water Monterey expansion proposal falls short - Monterey Herald
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