Opinion: This is a big week for water in Monterey County.
[On Thursday, Nov. 17 at 9am the Public Utilities Commission] will consider whether to grant a permit to Cal Am to build a 4.8 million-gallons per day (mgd) desalination project that would draw its source water through subsurface slant wells from under the beach in Marina, on property owned by Cemex, whose sand mine on the property has now been shut down. One elephant in the room, which is completely omitted from the Coastal Commission’s staff report—which recommends that the commission approve the project, with conditions—is that it doesn’t address who would pay for the unused capacity of the desal plant. Right now, if Pure Water Monterey expansion is approved, there is no projected demand for more water for at least 20 years.
-Written by David Schmalz, Monterey County Weekly columnist.