Cal Am Estimates Well Drilling To Cost $2m

By Kevin Howe, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Jan. 29–If California American Water is required to draw seawater from wells rather than Moss Landing’s once-through water cooling system for a pilot desalination plant, the cost will be about $2 million, the company has told the state Public Utilities Commission.

The PUC’s environmental review staff asked the water company to give them information on how much a subsurface water source would cost for the pilot desal plant and an eventual regional plant, said Cal Am spokeswoman Catherine Bowie.

"The EIR team of the Public Utilities Commission asked us to supply information on what it would take to drill test wells in north Marina," she said, "so we’ve done that. Now the team will come back to us and tell us whether they have approved that scope of work and want us to go forward with it."

The purpose of the diagonally drilled test wells, Bowie said, would be to see if they could draw enough water to support a full-scale desalination plant, a process that would involve water quality testing and may include experimental desalination.

The company’s estimate for all of that work, including some pilot water treatment, is $2 million, she said, "and they may not ask us to do all of that."

Subsurface intakes are diagonally-drilled wells that extend below sea level toward the ocean floor. They are the favored desalination technology of many environmental groups that object to the open ocean-water intakes employed at Moss Landing and other coastal power plants, because they can trap plankton, larvae and other small organisms.

Subsurface intakes collect water after it has passed through layers of sand, soil and gravel, thereby avoiding impacts to marine life and reducing the need for pre-treatment before the water goes through the desalination process.

In Marina, a subsurface test well would draw water from the seawater-intruded, 180-foot aquifer. Engineers have posed the theory that drawing water at this location could actually help prevent the advancement of seawater intrusion.

Mark Lucca, general manager of the Marina Coast Water District, said district officials and Cal Am representatives have been talking in general terms about possible test wells and sites, "but I’ve not heard about an ‘X’ on the map."

No decision has been made to drill test wells, Bowie said.

If the PUC requests additional subsurface research, Bowie said, installation of the test well could begin as early as July. The company would need appropriate permits from the Coastal Commission and other agencies for the well.

Bowie noted that in June 2005, when the company filed its application with CPUC for its Coastal Water Project — which includes a desalination plant in Moss Landing — it included in its environmental assessment an analysis of subsurface intakes as a possible alternative supply of source water.

Cal Am received a coastal permit from the county in July and a coastal development permit from the state Coastal Commission last month for operation of a desalination pilot plant at Moss Landing, Bowie said, adding that installation of that pilot plant is scheduled to begin early next month and be operational in May.

The pilot plant would operate out of a 6,500-square-foot facility and use a fraction of the water taken daily from Monterey Bay for operation.

Critics of the desalination proposal have argued that using once-through systems that draw seawater to cool power plants harms marine organisms sucked into them and causes environmental damage from the discharged water.

As currently proposed, the Cal Am pilot plant would divert seawater from the Moss Landing plant’s once-through cooling system. It would then discharge the remaining brine from the desalination process into the power plant’s system to be returned to the bay.

The state Lands Commission early last year adopted a resolution to phase out once-through cooling systems for coastal power plants.

Using the diagonal wells would eliminate the environmental objections of once-through cooling systems and avoid making desalination plants dependent on them.

California American Water has been required by the state Water Resources Control Board to find a replacement supply for the majority of its water diversions from the Carmel River, the Monterey Peninsula’s primary water source.

Desalination, combined with aquifer storage and recovery, Bowie said, has been identified by the Public Utilities Commission as the most viable and environmentally sensitive supply project for the area.

If the PUC approves further exploration of subsurface intakes, she said, it could ask Cal Am to drill a test well in Marina to see if it would produce the needed water. Drilling the well, she added, should not delay the company’s water supply project.

"The project at Moss Landing is our preferred project," said Cal Am general manager Steve Leonard.

He added that the company will provide the Public Utilities Commission whatever information it needs to complete its environmental analysis, and, as lead agency, the PUC may determine that something other than the proposed project is better.

"California American Water just wants a reliable replacement water supply for the Monterey Peninsula," he said, "and we are keeping an open mind about the outcome."

Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

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