MONTEREY >> Next week could spell the beginning of the end, at least in part, of a building moratorium that has plagued the Monterey Peninsula for the better part of 15 years.

On Monday the governing board of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District is set to approve an ordinance establishing how much water each jurisdiction in the district will receive when the Pure Water Monterey expansion project comes online late next year. Called a “first reading,” the ordinance process will be followed by a “second reading” on Jan. 27, and then 30 days after that the ordinance becomes effective.

The project is expected to deliver an additional 2,250 acre-feet of water to the Peninsula that would enable the construction of thousands of new houses and multifamily units. Once the expansion comes online, it will bring the Peninsula’s water supply up to 12,116 acre-feet from all sources.

On the other side of that equation, water demand has dropped from roughly 15,000 acre-feet in 2004 to just a little over 9,000 acre-feet today, primarily from conservation efforts, according to water district data.

The planned Pure Water Monterey Expansion project.(Courtesy of Monterey One Water)

The building moratorium was slapped on communities as part of a cease-and-desist order state water regulators imposed on California American Water Co. back in 2009 because of Cal Am’s excessive pumping from the Carmel River aquifer that was environmentally damaging, particularly to endangered steelhead.

For the past several weeks, Dave Stoldt, the water district general manager, has been making the rounds to city councils within the water district, the Monterey Airport District and the Monterey County Board of Supervisors apprising them of how much water they can expect in the near term.

The allocations range from 6 acre-feet for Del Rey Oaks to 144 acre-feet for Monterey. Stoldt estimated that 144 acre-feet annually would roughly be enough to build some 800 single-family dwellings or 1,200 multifamily units.

The allocations work much like a savings account. Each jurisdiction is provided with a certain amount that goes into their account – a credit. As building permits are issued with the corresponding water use, that amount is deducted from the account – a debit. There is a possibility of getting another “deposit” into a jurisdiction’s account if needed.

The allocations are not carved in granite. Every four years the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments releases growth projections for the region. If one jurisdiction is growing at a faster rate than originally anticipated, the water allocations will be adjusted accordingly.

But lifting the moratorium is not as simple as it sounds. Monterey Mayor Tyller Williamson has said some of the stakeholders have expressed concerns about the source water for the project. Cal Am, in documents filed with the California Public Utilities Commission, has suggested the source water might be unstable – in years of drought, for example.

However, Peninsula water officials have countered that Cal Am’s calculations are flawed, which Stoldt pointed out to County Supervisors on Dec. 4. Critics have said Cal Am has a vested interest in demonstrating less supply to justify its sought-after desalination project. The California Public Utilities Commission will decide which set of calculations is accurate when it releases its findings of a water supply and demand forecast, possibly by this summer.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Williamson said. “It’s up to the city council how to utilize the allocations, but it does provide the opportunity to get more housing built.”

Williamson noted that despite having the new water source coming online within a year, the cease-and-desist order is still in place. Until the order is modified, the city, or any other city in the district, won’t be able to add new water meters, effectively keeping a damper on any new housing.

The water district will be petitioning the state in phases asking it to modify the cease-and-desist order, beginning with the first letter to be sent to Sacramento next month, Stoldt said.

“Hopefully we could get the (cease-and-desist) order lifted temporarily for 10 or 15 years so we can get some housing built and the state can get the data it needs to lift it permanently,” Williamson said.

The allocations will be released in tranches, with roughly one-third being released next year, which will allow the district to evaluate any changes in the amount of water needed for any particular jurisdiction.

“We don’t want to put too much water in the hands of communities that aren’t growing,” Stoldt said.

In an email to the State Water Resources Control Board asking whether it had any concerns about source water for the expansion project, a representative issued the following statement:

“The expansion of Pure Water Monterey is anticipated to provide an additional 2,250 acre-feet of water each year to Cal Am’s Monterey Peninsula water system, which, if reliable, may be sufficient to lawfully meet a certain level of future growth in water demand. While there may be a future request once the Pure Water Expansion is up and running, at this time there is no pending request before the State Water Board to modify or lift the cease-and-desist order.”

Paul Sciuto, Monterey One Water’s executive officer said he is confident there will be plenty of source water to supply the expansion project.

“By utilizing all types of wastewaters, M1W remains committed to providing all contractual volumes of water to Monterey County Water Resource Agency, Marina Coast Water District, as well as Pure Water Monterey customers,” said Sciuto.

Both Pure Water Monterey projects use four treatment processes to purify wastewater, stormwater and agricultural runoff to state drinking-water quality standards. The processes include ozonation, where ozone gas is used to disinfect the water, micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation that removes any organic matter.

The water is then conveyed to the Seaside Basin where it is injected and stored for future urban use, including as a potable water supply.

Some parties have argued that the source waters are vulnerable to factors such as growers in the Salinas Valley deciding they want to keep the runoff from their fields, treat it to appropriate standards, and reuse it for their own needs.

But previous contractual obligations and the enormous cost of constructing multiple purification systems, make neither option politically or economically viable at this time.

CALIFORNIA WATER News