Local Water Resource Management
Local Water Resource Management
Monterey County Water Resources Agency – MCWRA
Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project
California American Water – Peninsula Water Supply Project (desalination and groundwater recharge):
Approved by the CPUC in September 2018, Farm Bureau actively monitors this project and the on-going process towards construction; additional details can be found here.
Monterey Peninsula Water Management District
The Monterey Peninsula Water Management District’s mission is to promote or provide for a long-term sustainable water supply, and to manage and protect water resources for the benefit of the community and the environment.
IRWMP – Integrated Regional Water Management Plan
This process is on-going and approved projects for the integrated plan are being implemented.
New requests for project funding will be under consideration utilizing IRWMP funding earmarked within Proposition 1 Bond funding in the next round of funding.
Many were quick to declare in early 2022, aftrer a dry January and February, that another drought was coming back for most of California, after significant less rain storm events throughout the state in these months of the rainy season. The snowpack in the Sierras was considerably lower than normal averages, but all around the state reservoirs are filled to below-average capacity. View current reservoir capacities around the state here.
Salinas Valley farming is dependent on groundwater resources primarily, and reservoir releases for groundwater recharge were curtailed in mid-July 2022 as reservoir levels drop to low levels. As our basin will be impacted by less water flowing into the Salinas River, and ultimately not reaching the diversion facility for the Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project, water supplies for irrigation are expected to be closely monitored by Monterey County Water Resources Agency and Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
Proposition 1 Bond funds, passed by the voters some years back, are still not committed to any large surface water storage facilities. Studies are underway, as they have been for nearly a decade now, but we are no closer to additonal storage capacity than when the prior drought started in 2012. In fact, several of the proposed projects were all deemed as unacceptable because they lack sufficient public benefit. … what could be more beneficial than building more water storage?
California needs to manage its water resources in a more comprenhensive manner and move forward with the additional storage projects that will allow the low points of drought to be managed with more supply.
