News & Notices : Marina Coast Water District

Press

Marina Coast Water District and Partners Win National Award for Recycled Water, October 3, 2024. View as PDF or Web page
Important Water System Improvement Project Underway on California Avenue & Imjin Parkway, August 15, 2024. View as PDF or Web page
New Online Payment Portal Now Available — Choose from Many Ways to Pay Your Bill , July 18, 2024. View as PDF or Web page
Public Invited to April 17 Workshop On Proposed New Water, Sewer, and Recycled Water, April 12, 2024. View as PDF or Web page
It's Groundwater Awareness Week: Learn How the District Collaborates with Local Partners, March 14, 2024. View as PDF or Web page
Public Invited to Mar 12 Rate Study to Review Rate Scenarios, March 5, 2024. View as PDF or Web page
District Earns Two APWA Awards for Project of the Year, February 22, 2024. View as PDF
Enroll Soon in the Low-Income Water & Sewer Assistance Program, February 20, 2024. View as PDF
Public Invited to Feb 22 Board Rate Study Workshop, February 16, 2023. View as PDF
Marina Coast Water District is Preparing to Update its Rates, December 12, 2023. View as PDF
District Purchases Electric Vehicles Keeping Renewable Energy Promise, December 5, 2023. View as PDF
District Awarded for Excellence in Financial Reporting, November 3, 2023. View as PDF
District Recognized for Using 100% Renewable Energy, September 13, 2023. View as PDF
It's Groundwater Week. Here Is Why It Matters. March 7, 2023. View as PDF or Web page
Four Agencies Jointly Seek Reversal of CCC Cal-Am Approval of Desal Project, January 9, 2023. View as PDF
Recycled Water to Start Flowing from MCWD to Seaside, September 6, 2022. View as PDF or Web page
MCWD Switching to 100% Renewable Energy, June 30, 2022. View as PDF or Web page
MCWD Recipient of California Water and Wastewater Arrearages Payment Program. View as PDF

Another California desalination plant approved — the most contentious one yet

The Carlsbad desalination plant is one of four desalination plants providing drinking water in California. Photo by Earnie Grafton, Reuters

In summary

The California Coastal Commission voted 8-to-2 despite the ecological risks to the Monterey Bay coast, high costs of the water and a divide between affluent and lower-income communities.

Lea este artículo en español.

The California Coastal Commission tonight approved another desalination plant, despite citing its high costs, risks to Monterey Bay's environment and "the most significant environmental justice issues" the commission has faced in recent years.

The commission's divided, 8-to-2 vote came after 13 hours of debate at a Salinas public hearing packed with several hundred people, plus more crammed into overflow space. Many of the 375 who signed up to speak opposed the project — some in tears.

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Previous Announcements

MCWD Files Lawsuit Against the County of Monterey and Cal Am (August 2019)

Keith Van Der Maaten, General Manager
Marina Coast Water District
831 883-5938

On August 15, 2019, the Marina Coast Water District (MCWD) filed a lawsuit against the County of Monterey and Cal Am in Monterey Superior Court seeking a writ of mandate and injunctive relief to restrain the construction of Cal Am's desal plant until the County complies with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the Water Code, and State Planning and Zoning law. The lawsuit was filed in response to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors' July 15, 2019 approval of a use permit for the desal plant before the County completed the required environmental review and before Cal-Am demonstrated it had water rights or permits for the slant wells that are the only proposed water source for desal plant.

"We have filed this suit to ensure the project doesn't move forward until all impacts, water rights, mitigations, and alternatives can be evaluated using the most current information," explained Keith Van Der Maaten, General Manager of MCWD. "We need to find the best solution for the entire region."

On July 15, after hearing appeals by MCWD and Public Water Now from the Planning Commission's narrow 6-4 vote to approve Cal-Am's desal plant, the Board of Supervisors approved Cal Am's desal plant by a narrow 3-to-2 margin, allowing Cal Am to proceed with construction of the desal plant.

MCWD's appeal provided detailed comments from recognized experts explaining that the Board must perform supplemental environmental review to evaluate new information that shows the groundwater impacts from Cal Am's desal project would be substantially more severe than those analyzed in the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that was previously certified by the CPUC. MCWD also explained that State law required the County to consider viable alternatives to Cal Am's desal project that were not evaluated in the EIR, including the expansion of the Pure Water Monterey (PWM) project. The PWM expansion alternative could provide water in time to meet the CDO deadline and a surplus for future growth for the Monterey Peninsula at a much lower cost to Cal-Am's ratepayers. It also avoids the significant environmental impacts caused by Cal Am's desal project.

"It is noteworthy that Supervisors Adams and Parker voted against the approval of the permit requested by Cal Am. These two supervisors represent the Peninsula and Marina/Ord Communities that will be directly impacted by this desal plant. Unfortunately, Salinas Valley Supervisors Alejo, Lopez and Phillips appeared to be more interested in rushing to a decision and disregarding information that CEQA requires them to consider." commented Dr. Tom Moore, President of the Board at Marina Coast.

MCWD has long contested the project over concerns that the project threatens the groundwater supply for residents in Marina and the Ord communities. The Cal Am Desal Project plans to draw 16,000 acre-feet a year from the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin, which has already been designated as critically over-drafted by the State Department of Water Resources. Cal Am has no water rights to this water.

"This project's slant wells will not pump seawater from the ocean. They will pump groundwater directly from the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin", said Keith Van Der Maaten. "It will pump from an aquifer that we know contains groundwater that is recharging the basin for drinking water purposes and acting as a barrier to prevent further seawater intrusion. The project would remove the groundwater we depend on and replace it with seawater, which would be a disaster for Marina."

"Public Water Now strongly supports MCWD in this suit," said PWN Director Melodie Chrislock. "The Peninsula can't afford and does not need Cal Am's desal. The Pure Water Monterey expansion gives us the water we need for growth at a fraction of the cost. Economically and environmentally the PWM expansion is the better project. Over the next 30 years, this desal project would cost Peninsula ratepayers $1.2 billion, whereas the Pure Water Monterey Expansion would cost $175 million. Cal Am's desal is a billion-dollar rip off of Peninsula ratepayers. It's just about profit for Cal Am."