Desalination plant gets OK for Monterey
A desalination plant proposed for the drought-fatigued Monterey Peninsula was approved Thursday night by the California Coastal Commission.
The vote by the powerful regulatory agency comes amid increasing controversy over the role that desalination should play in addressing water shortages not only on the Central Coast, but across the state.
The project, which would draw seawater off the coast of the city of Marina (Monterey County), put a spotlight both on the marvel of creating freshwater from the boundless ocean as well as the many problems associated with the technology, which include environmental impacts, energy consumption and, most fundamentally, cost.
In the end, the Coastal Commission’s governing board decided that the benefit of a new water supply outweighed the proposal’s downsides. Concerns about environmental justice loomed large over the often passionate, 13-hour hearing in Salinas on Thursday, namely that the desalination plant would drive up water rates for people who can’t afford it, and that the seawater would be pumped from Marina, one of the region’s less-affluent communities and not a benefactor of the project.
“It’s clear: I think we’ve heard it over and over again (that) a drought-resistant water supply is necessary,” said commissioner Meagan Harmon, who was on the winning side of the board’s 8-2 vote.
Only a dozen desalination facilities currently operate along the California coast, and the majority are very small. The $300 million-plus project proposed by the privately owned California American Water would be bigger than most, providing up to 40% of the supply for the city of Monterey, the seaside communities of Carmel-by-the-Sea and Pebble Beach and a handful of other cities and towns.
The main sticking point with the proposal was the expense. While Cal Am declined to provide The Chronicle clarity on the plant’s price tag, the company said the investment would require raising customer bills about 50%, from an average $102 per household monthly to about $150.
The increase worried many in the region’s poorer communities, despite pledges by Cal Am to limit the rate hike for low-income residents. The Coastal Commission’s staff, in their review of the project, called the higher bills, alongside the project’s location in Marina, the biggest environmental justice concerns the agency had faced since implementing an environmental justice policy in 2019.
Many in Marina made clear that their community did not want an industrial facility that wouldn’t serve them on their coast. Several civic leaders in the region even argued that the plant, and its water, wasn’t necessary
The project “has the power to harm our cities for decades.” Kathy Biala, Marina mayor pro tem
for the Monterey Peninsula.
“Cal Am doesn’t seem to care that they’re impacting a disadvantaged community of color,” said Marina Mayor Pro Tempore Kathy Biala. “A decision here today has the power to harm our cities for decades.”
The project, however, was widely praised for its innovations. Instead of using pipes to collect seawater, which puts fish at risk of being sucked up, water would be drawn from wells beneath the floor of the Monterey Bay. Also, the residual brine produced in the desalination process would be treated before being released back into the ocean, preventing the potentially toxic material from harming marine life.
The Monterey area has long struggled to find a way to comfortably meet its water needs in light of demands by state water regulators to limit draws from the over-pumped Carmel River. Desalination, coupled with the expansion of a water recycling facility, is seen by Cal Am as the best path forward for its roughly 100,000-person service area.
The green light for the desalination plant follows the Coastal Commission’s approval of the similarly sized Doheny Ocean Desalination Project in Dana Point (Orange County) last month. In May, the commission denied a proposal for a much larger facility in nearby Huntington Beach, citing its environmental impact and high cost.
The Monterey Bay facility still needs a handful of local and state approvals before it can launch, but Thursday’s was the most significant.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been a proponent of desalination as a means of diversifying California’s water supply, backed the Cal Am proposal.
“Desalination is an important part of the state’s strategy to address the threats of extreme weather,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday night. “I support the Coastal Commission’s decision to allow this project to move forward, and I’ll continue supporting innovative solutions to bolster our state’s water resilience.”