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.

[mitch96]

1. How is it powered???

"Why are we allowing profiteers to expand into our water supply? "
B/C somebody in the gov't got a huge kickback and donations to his/her campaign...
A thought...
m

[Auggie]

3. I had the same thought. I also had another ...

the CCC is only one step. This being California I expect there are more hoops in which to jump through. And, of course, the expected lawsuits.

[hunter]

8. It will be powered by natural gas, which is insane because fossil fuels...

... are the root cause of this long term drought.

We'll pretend this desalinization plant is powered by renewable energy by some unlikely percentage but that's not the reality. California is building more gas plants to meet the increasing demand for electricity.

California's electric mix, day in and day out, is rather like those "Kona Blend" coffees with the small print on the label saying "10% minimum Kona beans. Most of our electricity comes from gas fired power plants.

This particular problem started with the Carmel River, which was overdrawn. New development was killing the river, which is home to several endangered species, so withdraws from the river were limited by the state and federal government. This created water shortages that restricted new development... Everyone knows how that goes.

Even if withdraws hadn't been restricted development would have continued, eventually drying up the river entirely and desalinization would still be a necessity.

This region of California is not hooked into the California State Water Project, which has also been limited by drought.

Eventually California will be forced to quit growing water intensive crops to feed cows and build nuclear powered desalinization plants to keep the water flowing, especially as drought conditions get worse, but most people haven't yet accepted that reality.

Even if we kill all our rivers and capture every last drop of water flowing into the sea we still end up in the same place. Farmers and developers will take all the water they can get. There's no end to it.

[TheRealNorth]

2. Only thing with desalination....

Is that unless energy is also cheap, water is going to be expensive. But I suppose that is better than having none. Sad that CA will likely have to shoulder this burden while the other western states will do nothing and just slurp up the water that would have gone to CA.

They should at least be forced to build some nuclear plants in Utah, Nevada, and Arizone to provide the energy for the desalination plants. That way, CA won't have to rely on energy from fossil fuels or risk building nuclear plants in earthquake-prone areas.

[mitch96]

4. ?Off shore wind power? nt

[questionseverything]

5. Nuclear plants need tons of water for the constant cooling needed

[TheRealNorth]

6. Western Republicans can drink that water :)

Didn't think of that - that's a good point.

Wind power can help, but you got to have a back-up if there isn't much wind.

If they could figure out a way to harness ocean currents - that would be a more reliable source.

[hunter]

9. High temperature nuclear reactors can be air cooled.

They can also make synthetic carbon neutral fuels.

We ought to aggressively pursue that technology.

[TeamProg]

7. CalAm is one of the most corrupt corporations in the U.S..

I lived in Carmel for 15 years and experienced CalAms’ fake water bills that were four times higher than average. I had to fight them at water board meetings, sure I got my bills back to normal but a lot of elderly retirees just pay and pay and don’t put up a fight. CalAm wins most of the time.

[hunter]

10. Those bills are a fraction of what residents of Catalina Island pay.

Most of Catalina's water comes from a desalinization plant powered by fuel oil and propane.

I'm pretty sure interior water use isn't an affordability issue for a new resident of Carmel who has just bought a two million dollar cottage. They won't cringe every time they flush the toilet, thinking about their water bill.

It is an affordability issue for long time residents who just want to keep their gardens as green as they've always been.