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News Blog

Another Legal Blow to Defunct Desal Plant Plans

Not only did the wrong agency prepare the environmental analysis for the now-defunct desalination plant, but that analysis failed to account for major issues like water rights, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Lydia Villarreal said in a ruling issued Thursday.

That means even if California American Water and the Monterey County Water Resources Agency wanted to swap a new project partner for Marina Coast Water District, the new agency can't use a simple copy-and-paste approach for the plan, under this decision.

The ruling comes as a major win for Ag Land Trust, which for years has focused on the issue of extracting groundwater for desal plant operations. The group argued Marina Coast was obligated to thoroughly evaluate water rights because the plant would've relied on pumping brackish water, part seawater and part groundwater.

Ag Land Trust argued the plan relied on illegal taking of groundwater.

"For years, the public agencies tried to sweep the issue of water rights under the rug," Molly Erickson, an attorney representing Ag Land Trust, says by email. "Agencies should not make assumptions or guesses about something so important as a project's water supply."

Villarreal issued a proposed decision in December determining that the California Public Utilities Commission was the wrong entity to have prepared environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act. The amended decision issued Thursday elaborates on flaws in the environmental review, emphasizing water rights.

"This issue is particularly important because the Regional Project proposed to pump water from the overdrafted Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin," Erickson adds, referring to a longstanding problem with seawater intrusion.

Ag Land Trust wasn't alone in the contention that the plans violated water rights principles; in her decision, Villarreal also quotes from letters submitted by the Salinas Valley Water Coalition which represents ag interests, and the Pajaro/Sunny Mesa Community Services District which serves the Pajaro, Prunedale and Elkhorn area.

Besides water rights, Villarreal lays out six other issues that the environmental review failed to thoroughly address: contingency plan, assumed constant pumping, exportation of groundwater from the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin, the effect of brine outfall into the Bay, impacts to adjacent properties, and water quality.

Cal Am told the PUC last month it intends to file new plans within 90 days, and that desal will be part of the next generation of water supply plans.