MONTEREY PENINSULA WATER SUPPLY PROJECT

The Monterey Peninsula historically received the majority of its water from the Carmel River. To protect the threatened species that live in the river, the California State Water Resources Control Board reduced the amount of water that California American Water (Cal-Am) can produce from the river. Our only other current source of water – the Seaside Groundwater Basin – is also under a court-ordered reduction schedule to protect the basin from overuse and prevent seawater intrusion.

Currently, the water use for residents of the Monterey Peninsula is among the lowest in the state and we use about half the water we used in the 1980s. The ordered cutbacks to our existing water supplies had to be met with various replacement sources of water. In April 2012, Cal-Am submitted an application to the California Public Utilities Commission for the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project. Project Components include:

• Desalination
• Aquifer Storage and Recovery
• Pure Water Monterey: A groundwater replenishment project

Desalination: The proposed Desalination Project consists of sub-surface slant intake wells, a desalination plant, and related facilities including source water pipelines, product water pipelines and brine disposal facilities. Cal-Am’s Monterey Peninsula Desalination Desal Project was conditionally approved by the California Coastal Commission in November of 2022. Approval involves complying with 20 stringent conditions before Cal-Am can acquire their building permit, including a requirement for approval from the City of Marina.

Aquifer Storage and Recovery: California American Water will expand its current ASR project – a partnership with the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District – which captures excess winter flows from the Carmel River for storage in the Seaside Aquifer and withdrawal during the dry, summer months. Winter flows are considered excess only when they exceed what is needed to protect the river’s threatened population of steelhead.

Pure Water Monterey: The Pure Water Monterey project, a partnership between Monterey One Water and the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, recycles wastewater through an advanced treatment process. The resulting highly purified drinking water is being injected into the Seaside groundwater basin and currently provides one-third of the Peninsula’s water. When completed in 2025, the Pure Water Expansion will provide over half of the water required by the Peninsula.

For more information on this project, please visit: watersupplyproject.org