MPWMD Information

MPWMD is the lead agency to process a permit application by Cal-Am to expand its water distribution system by constructing the CRDRP. Cal-Ams application was accepted by MPWMD as complete in March 1997. This project would be a 24,000-af dam and reservoir on the Carmel River, located about 0.5 mile downstream of the existing Los Padres Dam, which is also owned and operated by Cal-Am. The CRDRP is physically identical to MPWMDs earlier NLP project proposal. The CRDRP has been characterized by Cal-Am as a "no growth" project because it would be operated in a way that does not allocate approximately 3,400 af to be used for development (i.e., new connections to the water supply system and remodels) that would have been accommodated by the NLP project. Instead, the water would remain in the Carmel River system to improve drought protection and provide increased environmental enhancement. Extensive environmental documentation and alternatives evaluations, presented in a 10-volume EIR/IS and two EIR addenda, were prepared by MPWMD over the 1988-1995 period for the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWMD 1994a-d, 1995a-c). Based on this information, the MPWMD Board of Directors determined in August 1995 that the NLP project was the most feasible, least environmentally damaging project that met MPWMDs project purposes. The board set an election date of November 1995 to seek voter approval for MPWMD financing of the NLP project (Measure "C") as required by MPWMD law. Measure "C" was not approved by the voters, however. Since then, MPWMD has focused on non-dam-related water supply alternatives while maintaining the state water rights permit and federal Section 404 permit that were obtained for the NLP project in 1995. In November 1996, Cal-Am announced its proposal to construct the CRDRP. That announcement was in response to SWRCB Order WR 95-10, Cal-Ams assessment of various alternatives, and the results of a commissioned survey of nearly 16,000 voters conducted after the November 1995 election on the NLP ...