Cal Am gets five-year extension on cease-and-desist order.

For the near future, water rationing, and the economic calamity that goes with it, has been averted on the Monterey Peninsula.

After hearing nearly five hours of public testimony at a July 19 meeting in Sacramento, the State Water Resources Control Board voted 5-0 to grant California American Water a five-year extension to a cease-and-desist order that required the company to halt its illegal pumping of the Carmel River by December 31.

But it didn’t give Cal Am everything it wanted.

Even though SWRCB staff released a draft order July 15 that proposed allowing Cal Am a diversion limit of 8,310 acre-feet annually, Cal Am was hoping it would be allowed to have “carryover” credits, meaning that if they used less water than the limit, it could be credited for future years.

Cal Am President Rob MacLean laid out his logic: “You can’t beat the average every year, otherwise it wouldn’t be the average.”

The board disagreed. “An enforcement action is not meant to authorize an illegal diversion,” said board member Tam Doduc, who likened the request to a bank robber. “Just because you stole less money this year, you shouldn’t be able to steal more money next year.”

As approved, Cal Am must meet seven milestones over the next five years or face a reduction to the diversion limit of up to 1,000 acre-feet annually, per milestone. Only in the event that occurs would carryover credits be allowed.

The board did leave open the possibility of allowing new development that constitutes a change of use on a property.