… Having reported on water on the Monterey Peninsula for the better part of the last decade, it’s remarkable to reflect on what has transpired in that time: A political movement for public water, a political movement to stop Cal Am’s desal project in Marina, an innovative recycled water project and its expansion, and a conditional approval for Cal Am’s desal project, which is still being litigated on multiple fronts. … How much supply there is, and how much demand there will be by 2050, are among the things still being debated regarding Cal Am’s desal project (per a condition of approval from the California Coastal Commission). It was finally scheduled to be voted upon by the California Public Utilities Commission at a meeting in Sacramento tomorrow, June 12. Late yesterday, Commissioner Darcie Houck, who’s presiding over the proceeding, pulled it from tomorrow’s meeting and rescheduled it for June 26. … The whole purpose behind these efforts has been to lift the state’s cease-and-desist order that prohibits Cal Am from setting new water meters. But it’s the State Water Control Board that decides that.
–Written by Monterey County Now columnist David Schmalz.