Development of the Regional Desalination Project

The water supply challenges facing CAW and the Monterey Peninsula are long-term, significant, and well documented in a number of venues including by the SWRCB, the Monterey County Superior Court, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and the California Legislature. During CAW’s previous attempt to be allowed to construct a dam and storage reservoir on the Carmel River (the Carmel River Dam and Reservoir Project), the legislature passed Assembly Bill 1182 that mandated that the CPUC conduct a study to review water supply alternatives for the Monterey Peninsula. This study, completed in 2002, became known as “Plan B.” Plan B provided the technical foundation and point of departure for what became known as the Coastal Water Project (CWP) and eventually led to the development of the Regional Desalination Project. The current preferred alternative was arrived at through extensive collaboration between regional stakeholders such as county water managers, water agencies, agricultural interests, representatives of local businesses and environmental organizations, interest groups, the general public, and other parties.

In 2003, the CPUC issued a decision that dismissed CAW’s Carmel River Dam and Reservoir Project application without prejudice, ordered CAW to file a new application for the CWP, and determined that the CPUC should be the Lead Agency for the CWP EIR. CAW responded to the CPUC’s decision by filing an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (A.04-09-019 CPCN) and proposing the CWP. 

CAW’s proposed CWP was a water supply project comprised of a desalination facility located adjacent to the Moss Landing Power Plant, distribution system, and an ASR project in the Seaside Groundwater Basin.  The CPUC began preparing an EIR for the CWP in 2006.  However, due to concerns over environmental impacts of the Moss Landing project (open ocean intake and once-through cooling), and due to the need to eventually provide additional water for Fort Ord redevelopment and other areas, stakeholders in the County began developing a regional solution to be included in the CWP EIR as an alternative to the CWP. Specifically, Marina Coast Water District took the lead in developing the Regional Desalination Project in collaboration with regional stakeholders such as county water managers, water agencies, agricultural interests, and representatives of local businesses and environmental organizations.

These efforts were facilitated by the CPUC Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) and the University of California at Santa Cruz, Center for Integrated Water Research (CIWR) and included an extensive array of meetings and workshops attended by a wide range of agencies, the general public, interest groups, and other parties.  The meetings provided a forum for identifying program components, confirming decision criteria, evaluating alternatives, assembling various programs, and establishing a preferred local regional water supply alternative that addresses both the regulatory replacement needs (Order 95-10, the Cease and Desist Order, and the Seaside Basin Adjudication) and the identified needs for the former Fort Ord. The resulting Monterey Bay Regional Water Supply Project (or Regional Desalination Project), as referred to in the CWP EIR, was developed and evaluated in the CWP EIR.

The CPUC prepared the Draft EIR for the CWP pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and released it for public review in January 2009. The CPUC certified the Final EIR for the CWP in December 2009 and issued its decision approving the Regional Desalination Project, granting a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), for California-American Water Facilities on December 3, 2010.

The RDP is being implemented through a Water Purchase Agreement, a 3-way partnership of the Marina Coast Water District (MCWD), the Monterey County Water Resources Agency (MCWRA), and the California-America Water Company (CAW). The overall purpose of each agency is:

• MCWD provides water service to the City of Marina and the former Fort Ord. MCWD acts on behalf of persons served to furnish water for beneficial use, to protect the groundwater underlying MCWD, and to conserve the water supply for future as well as present use.
• MCWRA’s boundaries are coexistent with Monterey County’s boundaries and MCWRA is responsible under the Agency Act to control groundwater extractions to prevent the loss of usable groundwater through intrusion of seawater, to replace groundwater through the development and distribution of a substitute surface supply, and to prohibit groundwater exportation from the Salinas Basin.
• CAW provides water service in various areas within California, including a service area in Monterey County, adjacent to MCWD Service Area and within the boundaries of MCWRA.

MCWD, MCWRA and CAW, individually and collectively, have determined that the Regional Desalination Project is the least costly of any proposed alternative projects, is the most feasible of those projects, and is in the best interests of the customers served by each of MCWD and CAW. The Parties have also determined that the Regional Desalination Project best conserves and protects public trust assets and resources.