Toilet water doesn’t seem like a big prize. But in a wonky, slow-motion battle of paperwork, two cities are jousting to control the wastewater from new Ord Community developments.
Since 1950, Seaside County Sanitation District (SCSD) has handled the sewer flow out of central Seaside, Sand City and Del Rey Oaks. Now SCSD is proposing to roughly double its territory to include Seaside developments on the former Fort Ord south of CSU Monterey Bay. The area SCSD wants to annex includes hundreds of acres slated for future development, plus existing homes, schools, retail and golf courses.
No agency is permanently in charge of sewer services in these newer developments. For now, Marina Coast Water District, which supplies water to the Ord Community, also provides sewer services under contract with Fort Ord Reuse Authority.
That’s where the tension comes in. Marina Coast has proposed to annex the same service areas SCSD wants.
Why battle over the dirty water that flows out of bathrooms and kitchens?
It could be a matter of empire building: A bigger territory means more bill payers and more revenue. Or perhaps officials are trying to grab wastewater for a future water recycling project. Seaside is counting on a number of Ord Community developments that can’t move forward without more water.
“There’s that other little wrinkle,” says Bill Kocher, the new interim general manager at Marina Coast. “There is value to reclaimed water.”
Politics play a role, too. Under the current configuration, some Seaside residents pay Marina Coast water and sewer bills, but they can’t vote or serve on the district’s board.
According to a SCSD report, annexation would increase district wastewater flows from 1.8 million gallons per day to 2.8 mgd, a volume projected to grow to 5.3 mgd with future development. Staff included the proposed Monterey Downs project in the calculation, although it’s not a part of the proposed annexation.
Seaside City Manager John Dunn rejects the notion that SCSD could feed recycled water to Monterey Downs. “That hasn’t been thought of or discussed,” he says. “It is not a part of this in any way, shape or form.”
The issue of service boundaries on the former Fort Ord has been dragging on for years, says Kate McKenna, executive director of the Local Agency Formation Commission. But neither SCSD nor Marina Coast has formally applied for an annexation.
“We have been encouraging the two districts to work cooperatively to resolve the question,” McKenna says. “They are both holding off, and that’s a good thing.”
On Jan. 26, Marina Coast’s board voted 4-1 to submit comments flagging alleged errors in Seaside’s proposal.
Marina Coast Board Director Tom Moore says the district may eventually try to annex all of the Ord Community, which is now split among Marina, Seaside, Del Rey Oaks and the unincorporated county. More customers, he says, would spread the costs of recycled water and desalination projects among a larger customer base.
Moves like these could ultimately determine whose projects – Seaside’s or Marina’s – get water.
“I think if you ask [the Marina Coast] board,” Kocher says, “they would say, ‘That’s precisely what we’re doing.’”