California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
The completion of a $50 million, 36-inch pipe that runs from General Jim Moore Boulevard in Seaside to just inside Pacific Grove’s boundary near David Avenue was cause for celebration last week. California American Water hosted a celebration event at the Eardley roundabout in Pacific Grove, the termination point of the new seven-mile Monterey Pipeline.
“This is a crucial milestone in the development of a new water supply for the Monterey Peninsula,” said California American Water President Richard Svindland. “We would like to thank everyone who has participated in the pipeline’s construction. It would not have been possible, and completed as it was – on budget and on time for ASR (Aquifer Storage Recovery) injection season — without the combined efforts of California American Water, local City staff and an engaged and supportive public.”
Various elected officials and key contributors attended the pipeline completion celebration. The new pipeline covers sections of the towns of Seaside, Monterey and Pacific Grove and will deliver new sources of water to the Monterey Peninsula. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project on September 13 which includes desalinated seawater and water from the advanced-treatment project, Pure Water Monterey, currently under development by Monterey One Water and the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. The new pipeline will carry water from these new sources to Cal Am customers in the region.
The pipeline may carry – as early as this year and depending on the weather — additional water from the existing Aquifer Storage Recovery (ASR) project. The ASR captures excess winter flows from the Carmel River for storage in the Seaside Groundwater Basin. PureWater Monterey is expected to deliver water in late 2019. The desalination project is scheduled to go online in 2021.
Pure Water Monterey is a recycled water project being developed by Monterey One Water and Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. Water is expected to start flowing through the pipeline in 2019 and PureWater Monterey will contribute 3,500 AFY to the area’s water demand of some 14,000 acre-feet per year. An expanded aquifer storage and recovery project is also expected to start operating in late 2019 and contribute a significant amount of water to the system.
