www.montereycountynow.com MAY 21-27, 2026 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 15 Sarah Leeper, president of California American Water, has been out in public recently arguing that its proposed desalination plant ought to be a precondition for lifting the state’s cease-and-desist order on the Carmel River. Her argument is that the Monterey Peninsula’s water supply isn’t secure enough to allow new connections, and the only real solution is desalination. She’s hoping that state regulators will buy this story. The problem is she’s wrong—and she has every financial reason to be. Fifteen years ago, water demand ran around 12,000 acrefeet annually. Today it’s under 9,000, a 25-percent reduction through conservation. Using the California Public Utilities Commission’s findings, available supply will exceed demand for at least the next 11 years, through 2036—and until at least 2046 with storage, which existing infrastructure already supports. This reality is what prompted the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District to petition the State Water Resources Control Board six months ago to ask regulators to modify the cease-and-desist order, issued in 1995 to protect the Carmel River from overpumping. A combination of conservation and smart engineering (the Pure Water Monterey recycled water project) have solved the issue. MPWMD General Manager Dave Stoldt reported there are 8,682 acre-feet of stored water on hand, nearly a full year of customer demand. The district’s application to the State Water Board states, “The proposed desalination plant is NOT a necessary condition to modify the [order] now.” In her objections, Leeper cites a state projection of a shortfall of 815 million gallons annually, by 2050. What she doesn’t mention is that this figure is bitterly disputed. MPWMD, Marina Coast Water District, the City of Marina, and the state’s own Public Advocates Office all presented expert testimony that the 2050 demand figure will be between 10,600 and 11,200 acre-feet, below the 13,700-plus Cal Am forecasts. This project was first proposed in 2012. Cal Am has since spent over $100 million on engineering, design, slant tests and environmental review—all of which ratepayers will be responsible for in future water bills if the plant comes online. In 2018, Cal Am testified that the plant—with construction costs then estimated at $329 million—would produce water at $3,711 per acre-foot, a figure MPWMD showed is understated. If the desal plant is built and then operates below its designed capacity (a likely scenario, given actual demand), the real cost could reach as high as $15,442 per acre-foot. Under California utility regulation, investor-owned utilities earn a guaranteed rate of return—historically 8 to 9 percent—on their invested capital. The more they spend on infrastructure, the larger their guaranteed profit, paid for by you and me. A $300 million desalination plant generates an estimated $20 million or more in annual guaranteed profit for American Water’s shareholders. We pay to build it, they own it and then they charge us for the water we use. This is not just a local phenomenon. A 2022 peer-reviewed study by researchers at Cornell University and the University of Pittsburgh, published in the journal Water Policy, examined the 500 largest community water systems in the U.S. and found that private ownership is the single most significant factor driving up water bills— more than aging infrastructure, drought or population growth. Meanwhile, the community has spoken. The Monterey County Water Resources Agency and cities of Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, Seaside, Sand City and Del Rey Oaks all submitted letters of support of MPWMD’s application to the State Water Board. Desalination should be taken off the table, and hopefully a court ruling is coming soon in favor of the public buyout effort underway. Not because public ownership automatically means lower costs—that’s a hopeful and probably false promise—but because water is a public resource that should be managed by people who live here, not by a corporation aiming to deliver dividends to its investors. With publicly traded American Water now in the throes of merging with Essential Utilities, a desal project will artificially inflate Cal Am’s value, on our dime. Bradley Zeve is Founder & CEO of Monterey County Weekly/Monterey County Now. Reach him at bradley@montereycountynow.com. Water Works Cal Am proves yet again it is driven by investor benefit, not public interest. By Bradley Zeve BERRY EXPENSIVE…Due to evolutionary features influencing Squid’s diet, Squid prefers the bounty of Monterey Bay (as in the actual bay) to the exquisite produce grown in the Salinas Valley, but even cephalopods enjoy a perfectly ripe strawberry now and again. Plus Squid is into supporting local growers, fruit is healthy and moderately priced. Still, when Squid pays for strawberries, Squid always counts Squid’s change. That is not how it went for Salinas berry grower/distributor Ichiban Companies, which in 2024 bought strawberries from Watsonville grower Fenella’s. How much Ichiban owed Fenella’s for said berries led to a dispute, then eventually an agreement. Ichiban would pay $8,000 to Fenella’s in September 2025. Only Ichiban accidentally wired over $80,000—those pesky zeroes! At least that’s according to a lawsuit filed on May 15 in Monterey County Superior Court by Ichiban against Fenella’s, in which the company is seeking $72,000 plus damages three times what it paid, $240,000. Attorney Dan DeVries, representing Fenella’s in its lawsuit against Ichiban, says not so fast—the $80,000 was roughly half of what the company owed. “They claim it’s a mistake but it’s not even enough,” DeVries claims. Whoever ends up paying however much to whom, it’s all a pretty expensive mistake. CROWING COCKS…Squid is generally a morning cephalopod, but still doesn’t like to be awakened earlier than Squid prefers by any loud noises except for Squid’s own alarm, which is why Squid wasn’t totally surprised that the Monterey City Council considered banning the ownership of roosters in Monterey on May 19. (Their deliberations and vote took place after Squid’s deadline.) However, Squid was unaware that rooster ownership was rampant in Monterey, nor had Squid ever heard a cock crowing anywhere within the city limits. A report to council states that the city received 10 complaints about raucous cocks between 2020 and 2026, or less than two a year. The complaints prompted city staff to propose amendments to city code, which has two chapters covering chickens. Chapter 6 asserts that all chickens in the city shall be kept in an enclosure and not “allowed to run at large within the city.” Chapter 38, meanwhile, limits the number of chickens a property owner can keep and outlines how far away from a building the fowl needs to be. The proposed edits would change the word “chicken” to “hen” and ban the ownership of roosters altogether, starting Aug. 1. Squid isn’t sure if the cock ban is completely necessary or just a waste of time, but it’s not a dunghill that any chicken—err, hen—or Squid is willing to die on. THE LOCAL SPIN SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “The proposed desalination plant is NOT necessary.” SEND SQUID A TIP: squid@montereycountynow.com
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