Our Water, Our Lives

Yesterday I spent the day being an activist. I boarded a bus and took the long journey to Sacramento to attend the California State Water Board Meeting.

Why you might ask......

Well if the CSWB had their way the Cal-Am water customers on the Monterey Peninsula would be limited to 50 gallons of water per day per person.

Let me put that into perspective for you.

The average person in Sacramento uses over 230 gallons of water per day!!!!!

The average Monterey Peninsula resident uses just 70 gallons of water per day!!!!

So why punish us for our good behavior. It is simple...Cal-Am has illegally been pumping more water from the Carmel River to supply Monterey Peninsula residence than allowed for over 15 years. They have tried but have been unable to find a solution. A new sources of water is harder to come by than you would think.

• First there was the new dam-but the voters said "NO".
  
• Then there was the de-sal plant at Moss Landing but many groups said "NO"

So why did we think that we could change this boards mind. Because we have found a new water source.

• A new de-sal plant in Marina. It seems as though most people agree this is our answer. This plant would not pump water directly from the ocean like the Moss Landing project. There will be diagonally drilled wells for the water intake. This is not as harmful to the environment. Another great thing about this project is that it will be powered by methane gas from the local landfill. Ahh....Sustainability.

I know by now you are asking what happened. You could say we all won for now.

The California State Water Board passed the following:

1. The immediate reduction of water goes into effect now. This is only about 3 gallons per person per day. With the major reduction going into effect October 1, 2011.
2. The cut off date for new water starts today October 21, 2009.
3. Pebble Beach will still be able to use their water entitlements until 2016 when a new water source should already be in place.

So I guess I will be on another but in October 2011 unless we have our new de-sal plant up and running.

Monterey Peninsula Residence Lets Keep our fingers crossed.

Remember it is Our Water & Our Lives!

Keep on Conserving.