Water Update 2025
Cal Am’s WRAM Surcharges Discontinued
In 2020, the CPUC voted to discontinue WRAM surcharges. Collectively, we’ve paid close to 100 million dollars in WRAM surcharges for the water we didn’t use over the last 15 years. Cal Am lobbied hard in its current General Rate Case to have these surcharges reinstated, claiming that WRAM promotes conservation. WRAM does not promote conservation, it penalizes conservation. I personally met with four of the CPUC commissioners to argue against these WRAM surcharges. On December 5, 2024, the CPUC again voted against WRAM surcharges on our Cal Am bills. Cal Am can only collect the backlog for another 12 to 18 months.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Public Advocates Office (PAO) fighting on your behalf, the CPUC voted against WRAM for the second time in four years despite pressure from the CA Legislature and the utilities. The PAO was also responsible for lowering the three years of rate increases that Cal Am asked for. Rate increases of $55,771,300 (18.71% in 2024), $19,565,300 (5.50% in 2025), and $19,892,400 (5.30% in 2026) were lowered to $19.96 million (6.40%) in 2024, $15.51 million (4.65%) in 2025, and $15.44 million (4.42%) in 2026.
Cal Am Buyout
On December 15, 2023, MPWMD filed its eminent domain case against Cal Am in Monterey Superior Court. Cal Am spent the last year trying to stop the case from moving forward but failed. Judge Vallarta has ruled the case may go forward, and discovery can begin now. In an eminent domain case, discovery is the process of gathering evidence through depositions, documents, and investigation. Evidence that would otherwise not be available.
This first phase is the bench trial in which Judge Vallarta will decide if the buyout is a public necessity and if MPWMD has the right to buy Cal Am. MPWMD has a strong and detailed case to support the public necessity of the buyout. You can read their findings here. The second phase would be a jury trial to determine the price for Cal Am’s local system.
CPUC Water Supply and Demand Decision Delayed
We await a decision in the CPUC Phase 2 proceeding to determine the current water supply and future demand on the Monterey Peninsula. The fate of Cal Am’s desal hangs on this CPUC decision.
In the Phase 2 proceeding, 2050 demand forecasts were submitted by the Public Advocates Office, the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, the Marina Coast Water District, the City of Marina, and Cal Am. The four public agency forecasts done by experts were all within a few hundred acre-feet (AF) of each other. Their estimates showed that an average of 11,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) would be needed by 2050. Cal Am’s inflated forecast was thousands of acre-feet higher.
Next year, with the Pure Water Monterey Expansion, we will have over 12,000 AF of annual supply. This year, the Peninsula used 8,972 AF. Our water use per person is one of the lowest in the state.
On top of the 12,000 AF of annual supply, we also have a surplus of 5,866 AF stored for drought in the Seaside Basin. And that storage will continue to increase with the addition of the Pure Water Monterey Expansion.
No matter what the CPUC decides, by next year we will have plenty of water. After the first of the year, the Water Management District will be asking the State Water Board to lift the CDO. Decades of water shortage on the Peninsula are over.
Cal Am’s Desal is Not Needed
Will Cal Am’s desal plant lower the cost of water and increase demand? No. Cal Am’s desal would raise water bills by 50% to 70% and lower demand further. The Peninsula clearly has no need of the 5,300 to 6,200 AFY that Cal Am’s desal would produce.
The chart below reflects what we all know. When the cost of water goes up, demand goes down. Cal Am continues to ignore this reality in its pursuit of desal.
Melodie Chrislock
Managing Director, Public Water Now
click on chart to enlarge