Fate of Pure Water Monterey expansion now sits in hands of Cal Am.

With a unanimous vote that one board member called “unexpected,” Monterey One Water’s board of directors on April 26 paved the way for an expansion of its Pure Water Monterey recycled water project that many hail as a crucial piece to the Peninsula’s longstanding water puzzle.

The fate of the expansion now sits in the hands of California American Water, the region’s embattled investor-owned utility that has long opposed the project in favor of its own proposed solution—a desalination plant criticized as too expensive that now sits in bureaucratic limbo.

Cal Am owns the water distribution infrastructure necessary to get water produced by Pure Water Monterey to customers. The board for Monterey One Water, the region’s sewage treatment facility, said it does not have the money to finance the expansion on its own. In order for the expansion to be logistically and financially feasible, Cal Am has to agree to purchase the recycled water from a rival project.

Catherine Stedman, a spokesperson for Cal Am, says the utility would reach out after the April 26 vote to open discussions about buying the water; however, she says the utility maintains its doubts that Pure Water Monterey’s sewage-turned-drinking-water system could be a reliable, long-term water source. Although the proposed desalination plant has run into bureaucratic issues, Cal Am still believes it is the more sustainable solution to the region’s water shortage.

The unanimous Monterey One Water board of directors’ vote was to certify a supplemental environmental impact report on the expansion. A year earlier, the same board, which is made up of elected officials across the county, narrowly declined to certify the same report, stymieing the proposed expansion; however, November 2020’s election saw a rise in candidates who supported the project. A new appointment to the board, Del Rey Oaks City Councilmember Scott Donaldson, helped tilt the scales in Pure Water Monterey’s favor. 

Still, the unanimous vote surprised Monterey City Councilmember Tyller Williamson, a Monterey One Water board appointee who is vocally pro-expansion. Williamson called the board’s unanimous support “not at all expected” and said the pressure is now on Cal Am to work out a deal to buy the water.

Among the surprise yay votes was John Phillips, a Monterey County Supervisor from North County who has long opposed the expansion in favor of Cal Am’s desalination plant. Phillips has consistently echoed Cal Am’s concerns whether Pure Water Monterey could provide a viable long-term solution.

“This is not going to be sufficient for the long-term needs of the Peninsula,” Phillips said. “But it’s going to help and our agency is the only one to come up with a solution so far.”

Environmental attorney Barbara Schussman with San Francisco-based firm Perkins Coie, brought in by the board to advise on California Environmental Quality Act guidelines, said the expansion was meant to be “additive” and not the Peninsula’s sole source of water but that it would be able to accommodate growth—something long stalled due to the extended water shortage.