2 Goals Set For Cal Am Project
By Kevin Howe, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.
Jan. 24–California American Water’s Coastal Water Program should aim both to replace water the company is currently overdrawing from the Carmel River and Seaside Basin aquifers, and to provide for future demands, water officials said Tuesday.
A technical committee from the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District agreed that the Cal Am project should strive to produce 12,500 acre-feet of water per year to replace the overdraft — and another 4,500 acre-feet for future needs.
District senior hydrologist Darby Fuerst said silt buildup at the Los Padres Reservoir has reduced the water company’s storage capacity, which could eventually result in the state decreeing that Cal Am has rights to pump even less water than the state Water Resources Control Board found when it ordered a limit on aquifer pumping in 1995.
That year, the state water board advised Cal Am that it was taking 14,106 acre-feet per year from the Carmel River aquifer, 10,730 acre-feet more than the state allows. The water company has rights to only 3,376 acre-feet of water from that aquifer, but the state has allowed Cal Am to continue drawing water over that amount to meet public needs until it can find a new source.
The Water Resources board ordered Cal Am to develop another water source and until then to reduce pumping by 20 percent of the 1995 average. In 1998, the state Legislature required the state Public Utilities Commission to develop a long-term water supply contingency plan to meet the needs of Peninsula residents.
Since 1995, excess pumping from the river aquifer has dropped to 8,498 acre-feet per year, Fuerst said, apparently because of conservation efforts by customers and new water-saving technologies.
Last year, Sand City, Seaside, Cal Am and other users of the Seaside Basin aquifer were ordered by a judge to reduce their drawdowns by 2,489 acre-feet and reduce pumping from the Laguna Seca subarea by 762 acre-feet.
In addition, Fuerst said, Cal Am estimates it has lost 762 acre-feet of storage capacity in its Los Padres Reservoir since 1995 because of silt buildup behind the dam. The state could revise the company’s water pumping rights further downward to compensate for that loss, she said.
In total, Cal Am needs to replace 12,215 acre-feet of water with its new system, Fuerst said, and another 99 acre-feet must be found to meet the needs of adjoining water systems.
Based on the permitted number of projects under construction and expected future development, Cal Am customers will likely need another 4,500 acre-feet per year, said district water demand manager Stephanie Pintar.
Steve Leonard, Cal Am vice president and Monterey division manager, advised the committee that the coastal water project before the Public Utilities Commission proposes only replacement of water for the Carmel River aquifer based on the 1995 state order, with another 1,000 acre-feet for the Seaside Basin aquifer.
The Coastal Water Project, he said, calls for developing a regional seawater desalination plant in Moss Landing, along with a distribution and storage system that could provide up to an additional 20,000 acre-feet of water a year.
Projected future water needs are in the company’s environmental impact report on the project, Leonard said, but are not included in the current proposal before the PUC.
All committee members except Sand City representative Steve Matarazzo concurred that they should go back to their respective agencies and recommend a 17,000 acre-foot-per-year project. Matarazzo said the factors of the current “extreme conservation” efforts by Cal Am customers and future pent-up demand should be taken into account in making the recommendation.
Committee members include representatives from Carmel, Monterey County, Del Rey Oaks, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Sand City and the Monterey Peninsula Airport District.
The Water Management District board is scheduled to meet 7 p.m. Thursday at its offices in Monterey to hear a report from General Manager David Berger on Cal Am’s compliance with the state water board order and the Seaside adjudication decision.
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If you go –What: Monterey Peninsula Water Management District board meeting –Where: District conference room, 5 Harris Court, Building G, Monterey –When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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