The Monterey area may get a huge desalination plant

[Auggie]

San Francisco Chronicle / 11-15-22

With California butting up against 840 miles of ocean, desalination seems an obvious solution to the state’s water woes. However, the cost, energy demands and environmental impacts have made the technology largely unworkable.

Three years of drought may be changing the calculus.

The latest push for desalination is on the Monterey Peninsula, where a plan for a plant, which has faced more than a decade of hurdles, is poised to win approval this week from the California Coastal Commission.

The $300 million-plus proposal calls for pumping seawater from wells beneath Monterey Bay, near the city of Marina, and piping it ashore to the popular tourist region to help relieve a longtime water shortage, made worse by escalating drought and climate change.

LINK (paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/monterey-desalination-17584832.php

Highlights from the link:

• Project is proposed by investor-owned California American Water (aka Cal Am)

• Would provide up to 40% of the supply for the city of Monterey, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Pebble Beach and several other communities.

• Under the plan, water bills would rise by up to $50 a month.

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California American Water is a subsidiary of American Water, which is traded on the NYSE. American Water is headquartered in New Jersey, and according to Wikipedia, operates 14 divisions in the U.S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Water_Works

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California is the fifth (soon to be fourth) largest economy on Earth. Why are we allowing profiteers to expand into our water supply? We can afford to build our own.

Don't do this.