MARINA — A Pure Water Monterey expansion proposal has narrowly survived another attempt to shelve it indefinitely even as the main recycled water project struggles with operational and cost issues that have further postponed its water delivery date and hampered its capacity.
For the second time in a month, the Monterey One Water board rejected a bid to formally deny certification of the expansion proposal’s supplemental environmental impact report and postpone further work on the proposal until “feasibility” is proved. Again it was Boronda representative Linda Grier casting the deciding vote.
By an 11-10 weighted vote, a split board on Tuesday night denied a proposed resolution finding the expansion SEIR fell short on some of what it called environmental issues and resolving to discontinue work on the project until those issues are addressed and the main recycled water project is properly operating, source water agreements are secured, and the wastewater agency is fiscally solvent.
The resolution was considered during a nearly four-hour special board meeting set at last week’s regular board meeting where the main recycled water project’s deep well injection issues and the need for an additional multi-million-dollar well to meet the promised 3,500-acre-foot annual water supply were discussed, along with the agency’s fiscal status as it faces a looming deficit.
The Monterey One Water board previously declined to certify the Pure Water Monterey expansion SEIR, leaving the project in limbo, but technically alive.
The $126 million main project has been delayed for months, resulting in more than one breach of a water purchase agreement with California American Water. It has seen its overall water cost mount past the original limits set in the agreement with additional cost increases imminent. And agency officials now expect the project to be ready to provide water to the Monterey Peninsula by Aug. 10 – more than seven months later than originally promised.
Supervisor John Phillips, the Monterey County representative who voted for the resolution largely mirroring one submitted by Del Rey Oaks representative John Gagliotti, said it was necessary for the agency to focus on more immediate concerns. He argued the agency has been harmed by being thrust into a political battle over the future of the Peninsula water supply, something he said he was assured wouldn’t occur when he backed the expansion proposal SEIR more than a year ago.
Phillips said he had no idea what the agency’s next move would be about the expansion proposal.
Seaside representative Jason Campbell and Monterey representative Tyller Williamson, and other opponents of the resolution who voted against it, said it represented an attempt by Cal Am backers to kill the less costly and more environmentally friendly recycled water expansion proposal in favor of the company’s Peninsula desalination project, and the agency board had no legitimate reason to deny certification of the SEIR.
They were joined by more than 80 public speakers testifying remotely during the online meeting. About 70 expressed opposition to the resolution and support for the expansion proposal – many of them Marina residents who would not receive water from the project. It was an unusually large turnout that was apparently organized as part of a “filibuster” backed by the activist group Public Water Now. About a dozen speakers testified in support, most of them with Peninsula business ties.
On Tuesday, Grier seemed to express support for the proposed resolution except for certain language in the document. She ultimately voted against it while calling for the resolution to be revised and presented to the board again at a later date.
Last month, Grier cast the deciding vote when the board narrowly declined to certify the expansion SEIR by the same 11-10 vote, then cast another deciding vote when the board rejected a proposal to formally deny certification of the environmental review document and discontinue further while suggesting she would support continuing to pursue the proposal.
The unresolved environmental issues outlined in the resolution included: source water availability; long-term water supply and demand conclusions, potential impacts on Castroville and the Salinas Valley groundwater basin as a result of using additional wastewater for the expansion; evaluation of impacts as a combined or alternative project with desal; the project description; and the impact of a continued Peninsula moratorium on new water service connections due to an inadequate water supply under recycled water rather than desal.
The expansion project issue has sparked an internecine battle between the agencies originally backing it with the Peninsula water district sending a letter last month calling for Monterey One Water to revise if needed, and reconsider the SEIR and withholding its share of funding – nearly $700,000 – for the document until its partner agency acts within 30 days, and a Monterey One Water response letter demanding the water district pay its share of the document costs and arguing it has no legal obligation to certify the SEIR.
At the same time, Marina Coast Water District continues calling for wastewater agency officials to immediately grant the district an additional weighted vote on the agency board and challenging the validity of all board votes since the demand was made earlier this year. The district’s legal firm sent a letter to the agency on Tuesday demanding arbitration over the issue, claiming Tuesday’s special meeting and any board votes were invalid and arguing that approval of the proposed resolution would have represented a breach of fiduciary obligation.
And in response to the main recycled water struggles, Cal Am officials have repeatedly demanded that agency officials provide adequate information on the main project status and cost under the water purchase agreement, though agency officials said they have done so. Cal Am has also argued the main project’s issues reflect poorly on the expansion proposal, which company officials have long claimed would fall short of providing an adequate water supply for the Peninsula anyway.
Marina Coast has also recently released two independent analyses backing the water management district water supply and demand analysis.
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Pure Water Monterey expansion remains afloat - Monterey Herald
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