Cal Am told to limit pumping from Carmel River

The Monterey Peninsula's water purveyor was ordered Tuesday to cut back pumping from the Carmel River to meet state regulations imposed in 1995.

[NIMBY]

The blame for this situation lies solely with the Water Board. They were established years and years ago to find alternate sources of water. Instead, they found a way of getting around their mission thru retrofitting, which allowed them to create thousands upon thousands of new hookups. Thus, we have no solution to our water problem and the out of control growth we were trying to avoid. In the upcoming election I strongly urge you not to reelect anyone to this board. Everyone on it, past and present, has proven that they are unable to do the job we elected them to. Do not reward their failure!

[Bob Loblaw]

I think we should all comply by not flushing the toilet. We should all use porta-potties and have the waste shipped to Sacramento and delivered to the Capitol steps.

[Gordon Hopper]

What I don't like is Cal Am aggresive approach to charge residents who have lived here for years exorbitant rates for water like ($400.00 to $500.00per mo) When they allow large out of town corp to build resorts. and developments like Pasadera. knowing at the time we had a water shortage. CAL AM IS OUT OF CONTROL WITH THEIR CHARGES TO RESIDENTS.

[local worker]

You get what you pay for. The voters turned down the new Carmel river dam a few years ago, partially to limit development and the development groups developed anyway by claiming credits for water conservation efforts. Citizens of the Penisula wake up you don't have enough water storage

[Bob Loblaw]

Gordon Hopper wrote:

What I don't like is Cal Am aggresive approach to charge residents who have lived here for years exorbitant rates for water like ($400.00 to $500.00per mo) When they allow large out of town corp to build resorts. and developments like Pasadera. knowing at the time we had a water shortage. CAL AM IS OUT OF CONTROL WITH THEIR CHARGES TO RESIDENTS.

My water bill isn't close to that. I think my water bills are reasonable. I just have a problem with them saying I have to cut back, when I've already conserved about as much as I can without resorting to not flushing or bathing as much. It's ridiculous to expect people to live like that when there are big hotels and golf courses, etc. that use tons of water. I do applaud Pebble Beach Co. for using reclaimed water on the golf courses. Leave it to a PRIVATE COMPANY to come up with a REAL SOLUTION. Not some pinheads in Sacramento.

There is no water shortage. There is a shortage of BRAINS.

[Susie Q]

Gordon Hopper wrote:

What I don't like is Cal Am aggresive approach to charge residents who have lived here for years exorbitant rates for water like ($400.00 to $500.00per mo) When they allow large out of town corp to build resorts. and developments like Pasadera. knowing at the time we had a water shortage. CAL AM IS OUT OF CONTROL WITH THEIR CHARGES TO RESIDENTS.

Do you really think that it is Cal Am that controls development? if you do you need to do some research! Cal Am provides water, yes, and they are responsible for the infrastructure. MPWMD plays the largest part in allowing growth. If you want to gripe about someone, choose them!

[Frank]

Depsite the gloom and doom of some vocal opponents to the cease and desist the average reduction of CalAm ratepayers is only 3 gallons per day. CalAm loss from leaking pipes due to delayed maintenence is 12%. The need to cut back can be achieved simply by reducing the leakage. The vast majority of CalAm ratepayers, which is Monterey Peninsula excluding Salinas, will see no change. The most wasteful users are mostly absent landowners with large vacation home that overwater all year long.

[Fcityhall]

BUILD THE F*%@ING DAM!!!!!!!! All the rain run off goes out to the ocean and we could be storing and using that water. What a waste!!!! All the tree huggers need to get over the fact that they have theres and screw everyone else.

[Tommy Gardiner]

I'm shaking my head... EXEMPTION, EXEMPTION, Water Entitlement !
TO QOUTE THE MONTEREY HERALD ARTICLE...
"The most significant change was an exemption to the moratorium for the Pebble Beach Co."
"Mark Stilwell, executive vice president of the Pebble Beach Co., said about 330 acre-feet of water would have been lost for its properties."
" "We are pleased they recognized the water entitlement we have had for the last 14 years," he said. "
'O, forgot Pebble Beach Co. is on another planet, in a galaxy, far, far away?
The Star 'Water' Wars Exemption... ENTITLEMENT: Itz in the fine print.
MAY THE FORCE B WITH US..,.

[Freedom]

as with most issues..i believe there is a balance between the environment and our needs,however, people the biggest expense to us are the city and county govt workers and their bloated benefit packages...so, wake up people and vote NO on all measures/bonds and any tax related issues. Salinas voters will end up paying about 600 dollars if they pass their K measure

[Out with the Board]

The Water Board is a joke. I'd love to have a job where I get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to do nothing but make excuses.
It needs to be disbanded, post haste, and the money saved used to actually SOLVE the water problem on the Peninsula!

[Bob Loblaw]

Tommy Gardiner wrote:

I'm shaking my head... EXEMPTION, EXEMPTION, Water Entitlement !
TO QOUTE THE MONTEREY HERALD ARTICLE...
"The most significant change was an exemption to the moratorium for the Pebble Beach Co."
"Mark Stilwell, executive vice president of the Pebble Beach Co., said about 330 acre-feet of water would have been lost for its properties."
" "We are pleased they recognized the water entitlement we have had for the last 14 years," he said. "
'O, forgot Pebble Beach Co. is on another planet, in a galaxy, far, far away?
The Star 'Water' Wars Exemption... ENTITLEMENT: Itz in the fine print.
MAY THE FORCE B WITH US..,.

The Pebble Beach Company has spent millions building an infrastructure to reclaim water and use it for irrigation. NO taxpayer money was used. This type of innovation and REAL SOLUTION deserves recognition. If you punish them by taking away the water, say goodbye to anyone else taking any initiative in solving the problem. Water "entitlement" is a legal term, not welfare. Envy is such an ugly emotion.

[Bev Kreps]

It is pretty amazing that we are still discussing the supervisors' approval of new housing developments with the water problems we haven't solved after so many years. Why can't the developers see we must first solve water problems in the environment ? It doesn't appear that they are coming up with any solutions to find water for all the clueless families who would buy those houses. Who wants a house without water?

[Robert Carothers]

Fcityhall wrote:

BUILD THE F*%@ING DAM!!!!!!!! All the rain run off goes out to the ocean and we could be storing and using that water. What a waste!!!! All the tree huggers need to get over the fact that they have theres and screw everyone else.

This is so true.Everyone that is complaining about water, are the same people that vote down the dam projects.Have Auto.sprinklers over watering there property.on and on and on.You people know who I'm talking about.Most of you have never seen where the dam would be.Nor, would you even know it was there when it was finished.You get thirsty enough,you might start thinking for your self.

[RLS]

The dam was voted down in 1995 and finally declared dead by Cal-Am in 2003. Get over it. It would only have impounded only 24,000 acre feet of water - not enough to prevent rationing in the kind of multi-year droughts we've had twice in the past 40 years. If we're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for more water, we might as well get a genuinely sustainable and drought proof supply. The dam died because it was a bad idea that would have cost an insane amount of money and still not solved our water problems.

[Tommy Gardiner]

What about dredging both dams, restoring the dam's original storage depth and building higher dam walls to increase greater surface storage with the reclainmed silt?

With years of Los Padres Wilderness & Ventana Cone fires producing silt laden runoff, settling and filling the dams bottoms that has displaced the surface storage water capacity, dredging the dams bottoms could be a 'green' solution combined with continued conservation, as an interim solution.

This was done in Brooktrails Township in Willits CA where I own a R-4 Lot since 1979. The State of CA Water Board stepped in and took over when in the summer of 2003 Brooktrails Township ran out of water, resulting in a 'serious' moratorium. Check out how this is being handled and get a clue of what can happen if squabbling prevails... That's why Government is called 'Big Brother'

Developers will continue to present development plans as long as the Supervisor's policies R to encourage growth. What's the axiom:'Water seeps itz own level?' Developers go where water flows. Until that spigot has water restrictors installed by the voters, itz busines as usual; 'Go with the flow', or as I "cents"; 'follow the money'...