FINAL REPORT Evaluation of Seawater Desalination Projects ...

EVALUATION OF SEAWATER DESALINATION PROJECTS
PROPOSED FOR THE MONTEREY PENINSULA
1 Introduction
GEI Consultants, Inc., Bookman-Edmonston Division, along with sub-consultants Malcolm
Pirnie, Inc. and Separation Processes, Inc., (collectively, the B-E team) is providing
engineering support to the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District (MPWMD) to
review and evaluate four seawater desalination projects that have been proposed for the
Monterey Peninsula. The four projects, their respective sponsors, and proposed locations are
as follows:
1. California American Water (CAW) – Coastal Water Project (CWP) – the proposed
project includes a 10 million gallon per day (mgd) desalination plant located at the
Moss Landing Power Plant (MLPP) in Moss Landing. This project includes an
aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) component in the Seaside Groundwater Basin.
2. Pajaro/Sunny Mesa Community Services District (P/SMCSD) in cooperation with
Poseidon Resources Corporation (Poseidon) – Monterey Bay Regional Seawater
Desalination Project (MBRSDP) – proposed 20 mgd plant located at the former
National Refractories and Minerals Corporation (National Refractories) plant site in
Moss Landing.
3. MPWMD – 7.5 mgd Sand City Desalination Project (SCDP) – proposed plant
location is one of three sites in Sand City.
4. Water Standard Company (WSC) – Seawater Desalination Vessel (SDV) is proposed
to be anchored five miles from shore. The desalination plant capacity is proposed to
range from 10 to 20 mgd.
The B-E team has been retained by MPWMD to provide an independent, unbiased, thirdparty
assessment of four proposed desalination projects and to make recommendations on
each project’s technical merit, completeness, and readiness to proceed. This assessment can
be used in support of the MPWMD Board’s possible determination of the best project or
projects to support.
The MPWMD is responsible for integrated management of the water resources on the
Monterey Peninsula, Seaside Basin, and Carmel River drainage. CAW is an investor-owned
public utility responsible for providing water service to a majority of the residents within the
MPWMD. A substantial portion of CAW’s water supply is pumped from wells along the
Carmel River. In 1995, the SWRCB, in its Order No. 95-10, determined that water in the
Carmel Valley alluvial aquifer is considered to be a subterranean stream flowing in a known
and definite channel rather than percolating groundwater, and that CAW had been diverting
an average of 10,730 ac-ft per year from the Carmel River system in excess of its valid right
of 3,376 ac-ft per year. The SWRCB directed that CAW obtain a supplemental or alternative
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District 1-1