Acronyms

Whenever you're dealing with the government, you're going to be inundated with a blizzard of acronyms. Here's my attempt to sort them out.

ASR	Aquifer Storage and Recovery	In-development project to store excess water from Carmel River during periods of heavy rainfall and store it in an aquifer for use during dry periods.
CAW	California American Water	aka Cal-Am
CCC	California Coastal Commission	A quasi-judicial, independent state agency that regulates the use of land and water in the coastal zone. Activities such as construction of buildings, division of land, any sort of development that changes the intensity of use of land or affects public access to coastal waters must obtain a permit from the California Coastal Commission. The CCC derives its authority form the California Coastal Act of 1976. Since any desalination plant drawing ocean water would likely be built within the coastal zone, and would certainly have pipelines running through it, a CCC permit would be required.
CDWR	California Department of Water Resources	Created by the legislature in 1956 to plan, design, construct, and oversee the building of the nation's largest state-built water development and conveyance system. Today, DWR protects, conserves, develops, and manages much of California's water supply including the State Water Project (SWP) which provides water for 25 million residents, farms, and businesses. It also works to monitor dam safety and manage floodwaters.There's a lot of crossover with the SWRCB, but its the SWRCB that issues permits to divert water from rivers and streams. The DWR's main deal is the SWP, through which 29 water contracting agencies throughout the state purchase SWP water for urban and agricultural use. As far as I can tell, if you, for example, wanted to build a dam, SWRCB would give you permission to divert the water, and DWR would make sure your dam is safe.
CEQA	California Environmental Quality Act	California statute that requires state and local agencies to identify the significant environmental impacts of their actions and to avoid or mitigate those impacts, if feasible. A public agency must comply with CEQA when it considers for approval/permit a project for that may cause either a direct physical change in the environment or a reasonably foreseeable indirect change in the environment. That's a pretty broad requirement, so most proposals for physical development in California are subject to the provisions of CEQA, as are "conceptual" projects such as creation of a "community development plan." It is a provision within CEQA that requires an environmental impact report (EIR) to be prepared for most projects.
CRRDR	Carmel River Reroute and Dam Removal	This is the official name of the San Clemente Dam removal project. The project involves tearing down an unsafe dam and redistributing the sediment that has built up in the reservoir. See Other Projects for more information.
DRA	Division of Ratepayer Advocates	Now called Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA)
EIR	Environmental Impact Report	As a requirement of CEQA, an EIR must be prepared if there is substantial evidence that a project might have a significant impact on the environment, or there is serious public controversy about the impact of a project.
GWP (or GWR)	Groundwater Replenishment Project	MRWPCA plan to apply additional treatment to wastewater from the RTP, convey it to Seaside Basin, and inject it into the aquifer, where it would filter through and be available for use by Cal-Am.
MCWD	Marina Coast Water District	Supplies water and maintains the sewer system for the City of Marina and Fort Ord. (At one time, it also operated a treatment plant, but it has since made an agreement with MRWPCA to treat its wastewater at the regional plant. ) MCWD operated a desalination plant in the late 90s until power costs made it economically unfeasible to continue.
MCWRA	Monterey County Water Resources Agency	Flood control and water conservation agency for Monterey County. Created by Monterey County Water Resources Agency Act.  This agency seems to have a lot of crossover with other agencies, but it seems mostly concerned with floodplain management and drainage systems. It does things like mapping, flood prevention measures, flood preparedness, etc. required by the National Flood Insurance Program to ensure that MP property owners can purchase federally-backed flood insurance when required. (Apparently if your community doesn't have a flood management/risk reduction program in place, NFIP program insurance isn't available.)
MPRWA	Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority	A Joint Powers Authority (JPA) comprising the six peninsula cities -- Monterey, Seaside, Sand City, Del Rey Oaks, Carmel, and Pacific Grove -- established with the goal of finding a solution to the water supply shortage. The mayors of each city serve as the Board of Directors. The MPWRA website has information about its positions and meetings, with an awesome summation of the history and current situation by Mayor Della Sala. The MPRWA is informally referred to as "the mayors' group."
MPWMD	Monterey Peninsula Water Management District	Public water agency mandated by state statute to provide integrated management of all water resources for the Monterey Peninsula. The MPWMD (aka "The District") manages the production of water from two sources: surface water from the Carmel River and ground water pumped from municipal and private wells in Carmel Valley and Seaside Coastal Area.
MPWRS	Monterey Peninsula Water Resource System	Collectively refers to all water produced from sources within the district including surface water from the Carmel River and groundwater from the Carmel Valley Alluvial Aquifer and Seaside Groundwater Basin.
MPWSP	Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project	Cal-Am's proposed plan to build a desalinization facility with GWR and ASR.
MRWPCA	Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency	Amongst other things, it's responsible for wastewater treatment for the region (i.e., the sewage plant).
NOAA	National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration	Federal agency concerned with the condition of the oceans and the atmosphere. One aspect of its mission is to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.
ORA	Office of Ratepayer Advocates	State-mandated independent consumer advocate within the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that advocates on behalf of investor owned utility ratepayers.
PUC	Public Utilities Commission	A state commission or other entity engaged in economic regulation of public utilities.
RDP	Regional Desalination Project	Failed desalination proposal; approved by the CPUC in 2010 but fell apart and was withdrawn in January 2012. Also sometimes referred to as the Coastal Water Project.
RTP	Regional Treatment Plant	Refers to MRWPCA wastewater treatment facility
SWRCB	State Water Resources Control Board	State agency charged with protecting water quality and allocating water rights throughout the state.Anyone wanting to divert water from a stream or river not adjacent to their property must obtain a water right permit from the SWRCB. SWRCB was created by the legislature in 1967. As part of the system, nine regional boards implement state policy and regulations, develop long-range plans for their areas, issue waste discharge permits, and take enforcement actions against violators. More information here and here. It was SWRCB that issued the ruling ordering Cal-Am to reduce its withdrawals from the Carmel River by 70%.