Bewildering Bureaucracy

While reading about the Central Coast Regional Water Project (CCRWP), I came across a list that DeepWater Desal prepared of the various regulatory approvals, permissions, etc. that it has to get to build a desalination plant. The list is quite mind-boggling really. In addition to the obvious things like California Coastal Commission permission to build something on the coastline, and compliance with the Clean Water Act and air pollution control regulations, there are also things like getting a pass from the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife in case you accidentally scoop up some up some little fishies that are protected in the intake water, or permission from the U.S. Coast Guard, which apparently has the authority to nix any buildings near navigable waters. Seriously.

I thought it was an interesting list of the number and variety of federal, state, and local agencies that have their hands in a project like this, so I copied the entire list -- see my Regulatory page.  Full credit goes to DeepWater Desal LLC; I didn't put this together, they did.

I also learned, as I researched other public works projects, that it behooves one to consult with other groups, like farmers' organizations, Sierra Club, watchdog groups, etc. to get buy-in on your project before they all start suing. It's a lot of work really -- no wonder it takes so long to get anything done.

DeepWater Desal

DeepWater Desal, LLC has proposed an alternative desalination solution -- or maybe "additional" is more accurate -- that it calls the "Central Coast Regional Water Project" (CCRWP).

It's a well thought-out proposal, with lots of interesting ideas.

It's "additional" because DWD says it intends to go ahead with the project whatever happens with the Cal-Am proposal. In a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), DWD says it is aware of Cal-Am's proposal, but that it's own plant could be a backup in case the Cal-Am project is delayed or doesn't happen.  The MPWMD apparently agrees, as it has contributed $1million towards environmental review of the CCRWP.^* (Keeping up with all these acronyms?)

Anyway...

The DWD plant would be larger than the Cal-Am plant, and serve a larger region, not just the Monterey Peninsula. In Phase I, the plant would produce about 10MGD, scalable up to 25MGD by Phase III.  They're looking at a site next to the Moss Landing Power Plant. Back in the days when PG&E was running the plant it was used for fuel storage, and it still has an easement for a pipeline running out to the bay. DWD proposes to acquire the easement along with the property, and use it to replace with old pipeline with new intake and discharge lines.

Seawater would be drawn from a deep submarine canyon and would supposedly be colder and clearer with less marine life than more shallow locations.

The site would include a Data Center, though it's a bit unclear whether the data center is just for their own purposes, or something that would be leased to other companies and therefore revenue-generating. At any rate, the Data Center would have cooling needs, so the super-cold seawater from the canyon would be used somehow to cool the Data Center, in the process  warming the water before it goes to Desal, reducing the power needs for the desal process (they say).

Another interesting idea is that they have entered into an agreement with the City of Salinas to create a new power utility. This utility would purchase power from various sources, renewable and non-renewable, and resell it to Moss Landing businesses (besides the desal plant). They think this will reduce the overall cost of power, as well as securing a flexible source of power for the plant that is not dependent on the existing power grid.

Also on the plus side, the facilities would be publicly-owned, and operated by DWD. Construction funding would come from the issuance of municipal bonds.

In contrast, the Cal-Am plan calls for a surcharge, starting at 30% and rising to 60% of water bills, to cover construction costs. The surcharge would end once the plant is operational. (But, of course, Cal-Am has added a provision that it can extend the surcharge to cover additional unanticipated costs...what is the likelihood that that will happen?) So it seems the Cal-Am plan would extract a lot of money from ratepayers now, whereas costs for the DWD plan would be spread over the 30-year life of the bonds. Which is cheaper in the long run?  That would require a lot more analysis.

On the down side, the proposal does not include any provision for delivery of the water. That is, the desalination plant would convey the finished water as far as a "transfer point" on its site.  Any agency that wants that water would need to construct its own pipeline up to the transfer point. Not that's necessarily bad, but if this plan goes through, we would be paying not just to repay the bonds (via the rates) but some sort of  separate charge to construct a pipeline up to Moss Landing.

If, for example, Cal-Am remains the water utility but does not build its own desal plant, it would need to construct a pipeline to bring the water from Moss Landing down to the peninsula, for which it would, of course, charge us. (In fact, Cal-Am already received permission from the CPUC to do exactly that, in a separate filing.) If the public ownership ballot initiative passes, then I suppose the MPWMD would get this responsibility. Either way, we'd have to pay for it somehow.

It's complicated.

For more information about the CCRWP (and comparison to the Cal-Am WSP), please see the DeepWater Desal tab or the DeepWater Desal web site.

^* As usual, there's a problem. Water Plus has filed suit to stop the deal, contending that MPWMD has already endorsed the Cal-Am project and can't back two projects at once. See Legal Actions.

The Proposals

Today I added information about the reasons a new water source is needed (the "Why" tab) and a synopsis of the most prominent proposal: the Water Supply Project. I also tried to summarize the various comments (for and against) that have been made, culled from various websites, testimony given at public forums, media interviews, etc. Most of the objections center around Cal-Am's ownership of the plant instead of ownership by the ratepayers who are paying for it. Not to defend Cal-Am, but playing devil's advocate for the moment I suppose it tried a public-private venture with the Regional Desalinization Project and it failed, which might be why it's now proposing to own the plant itself (not that I know what Cal-Am is thinking). On the other hand, the argument goes, since public-private didn't work, we could go the other way and have it totally public-owned by buying out Cal-Am. There's a general distrust of Cal-Am out there; I've attempted to summarize those arguments as well. I'm learning about the other proposals now and will add that information soon.

What Are We Gonna Do About the Water?

When I first moved to Monterey two years ago, I was vaguely aware that there were concerns about long-term water supply and that some sort of desalinization plant had been proposed. With the drought of winter 2013-14 declared an emergency, I started thinking about the water supply and set out to learn more about the desalinization plan. The more I researched, the more information was piling up in my head. I started making notes, and soon found myself organizing them in an online notebook (I can't help myself sometimes.) This blog is the result.

It is not my intent to advocate for any particular position in the controversy. I merely wanted to know what the issues are, and have attempted to document them here as neutrally as possible. I'm not an expert on water, desalinization, or anything like that. Just a consumer (and ratepayer!) on the peninsula who is trying to understand the various proposals in my own way. Eventually I'll probably form an opinion one way or another, but for now I am just gathering the facts.

I'm just getting started....lots more information is still to be added. It's my intent to continue to add information as I find it, as well as update with new developments. So please check back if you don't find everything you wanted to know on the first go.