LandWatch Submits Comments on Water Supply Project

In April of 2013, the State Water Resources Control Board issued a draft report on the pending California American Water’s Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWSP). This report was requested by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on water right issues associated with the MPWSP. The draft report and other information concerning this matter can be found at: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/
programs/hearings/caw_mpws/index.shtml

In a memo dated September 26, 2012, the CPUC requested assistance from the State Water Board in reviewing water right issues associated with a pending application from Cal-Am. As proposed, the Project would consist of a 9.6 million gallon per day desalination facility combined with planned groundwater replenishment or recharge and aquifer storage and recovery. Feedwater for the desalinization facility would be extracted from subsurface slant wells extending offshore beneath Monterey Bay that would extract groundwater from one of two different aquifers (Dune Sand or Salinas Valley Basin’s 180-Foot Aquifer). The Commission requested an assessment from the State Water Board on whether Cal-Am has the legal right to extract groundwater for the Project. Water from this Project is intended to replace the portion of Cal-Am’s water supply from the Carmel River that becomes unavailable in December 2016 under the State Water Board’s October 20, 2009 Cease and Desist Order (WR- 2009-0060) (797K PDF file).

In response to the request for review of the Project, the State Water Board completed and transmitted an initial draft report to the CPUC on December 21, 2012. In a memo dated February 14, 2013, the CPUC responded to the initial draft report and requested that the State Water Board prepare a final report that evaluates additional information and responds to additional questions. State Water Board staff reviewed the additional information and prepared a revised draft report.

This revised draft report is now available for public review and comment. Following public comment, the State Water Board will make any needed revisions to the report. That report will then be discussed at a State Water Board meeting to receive additional input from the public and Board members prior to finalization. The State Water Board is tentatively scheduled to hold a Board Meeting in Monterey this summer to consider the report. A public notice for the meeting will be released in the near future.

Download LandWatch’s Comments on the Draft Review of California American Water Company Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWSP) (155K PDF file).

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posted: 05.20.13