Water Supply for the City of Monterey

By Mike Dawson

Monterey needs enough water to build all its buildable lots and to get rid of, forever, the water waiting list, and all the restrictive rules about water credits that prevent a homeowner from adding a bathroom, or even an extra sink. The tiered water billing rate must be abolished.

• World-wide cost of desalinated water: $925
• High-end cost of desalinated water in California: $3,000
• Low-end cost of desalinated water in California: $2,000
• Cal-Am 3rd tier (of 5 tiers) cost of Carmel River water: $6,088
• Cal-Am estimated cost of desalinated water: $4,400

Monterey must take charge of its own destiny and participate in a publicly-owned and -operated desalination plant. A publicly-owned plant could be built for less due to the opportunity for lower interest rates charged a public entity (as opposed to a privately- owned company like Cal-Am). A publicly-owned plant could also qualify for government grant funds, which could drastically lower the final cost to the ratepayers. Given an inexpensive, drought-proof water supply, Monterey's quality of life would improve, and no one would be saying, "We could do that if we had the water".