WATER SUPPLY PLANNING COMMITTEE

ITEM:		DISCUSSION ITEMS
2.	UPDATE ON POTENTIAL FOR SEAWATER DESALINATION WITHIN DISTRICT BOUNDARIES
Meeting Date:			January 28, 2011	Budgeted:	N/A
From:			Darby Fuerst,	Program/	N/A
			General Manager	Line Item No.:
Prepared By:			Andrew Bell	Cost Estimate:	N/A
General Counsel Review: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: N/A

U.S. Navy Site

District Engineer Andrew Bell sent to Steven Quimby of the Naval Postgraduate School planning staff a letter following up on a September 17, 2010 meeting regarding the potential for a seawater desalination project at the former Monterey wastewater treatment plant site. Along with the letter, he transmitted the following enclosures:

· a site map of the former Monterey treatment plant showing potential locations for facilities that would support a seawater desalination project with a treated water production capacity of 3 to 5 million gallons per day using subsea pipelines for sea water intake and brine discharge

· a summary of MPWMD investigations in 1990 of water supply potential on the Naval Postgraduate School campus (brackish water) and at the former Monterey treatment plant site (sea water)

In his letter, Mr. Bell requested a follow-up meeting with Mr. Quimby to address any questions he may have regarding the transmitted information and to discuss the process for pursuing a project at this site.

Moss Landing Water Project

At the November 15, 2010 Committee meeting, David Armanasco and representatives of Desal America, Calera, and Moss Landing Business Park gave a presentation on a proposed desalination project at the former National Refractories site in Moss Landing. Pursuant to the Committee’s direction, staff assembled questions regarding the proposal and sent the questions and the most recent version of the District’s matrix of water supply projects to Mr. Armanasco with a request that the project proponents provide responses to staff’s questions and provide information for the proposed project as listed in the matrix. To date the information requested has not been received.

District Engineer Andrew Bell attended an open house at the Moss Landing Water Project’s proposed plant site on January 7, 2010. He spoke with engineers from Desal America and Calera regarding the proposed project.

City of Sand City Coastal Sites

At the December 8, 2010 Committee meeting, the Committee directed staff to select the three most promising sites along the coast in Sand City, and to provide Committee members with information regarding potential locations of desalination project facilities, site access, potential yield for each site, and permitting needs. Committee members intend to use this information in discussions with the respective property owners. Staff is in the process of preparing this information and will provide it to the Committee members when it is completed.

At the December 8, 2010 meeting, the Committee also requested that staff speak with Martin Feeney, hydrogeology consultant on the City of Sand City’s desalination project, regarding the impacts of additional wells on the City’s project. District Engineer Andrew Bell contacted Mr. Feeney, who stated that additional wells in the vicinity of the City’s intake and discharge facilities would disrupt the location of the fresh water/sea water interface, causing a greater portion of seawater to be drawn into the intake wells. The vertical intake wells draw water from both the seawater and the fresh water sides of the interface. The project is designed so that the reject water, which is discharged via a horizontal “concentrate discharge well” located along the coast between the intake wells, is salinity neutral in comparison with the adjacent seawater. If the feedwater produced by the intake wells becomes more saline, the resulting higher salinity of the reject water causes a violation of the conditions of the City’s discharge permit for the project.

EXHIBITS

None

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