The History Of Water On The Monterey Peninsula
Summarized and updated by the Natural Resources Director, and based on “Water Over the Dam” by Keith Vandevere, 1998
The history of water supply and management on the Monterey Peninsula can be viewed in the context of a battle over public v private ownership of water.
In the late 1880's, the Pacific Improvement Company, the developer of the Del Monte Hotel, built the first dam downstream of the current San Clemente dam. Twenty-three miles of pipe were laid down Carmel Valley and around the Peninsula coastline to the Del Monte Hotel. The City of Monterey soon hooked up to the hotel’s water system. In 1905 the Company drilled six wells under the riverbed near the lower end of the Laureles Ranch and installed pumps with new pipes.
The Del Monte Properties Company, run by Samuel Morse, purchased the Pacific Improvement Company and built a new larger dam just upstream of the old dam. This is the San Clemente dam still in use. In 1930, Morse sold the company to Chester Loveland, who agreed to sell water to the Del Monte Properties at a preferred rate for the next 50 years. Loveland, in turn, transferred ownership to the Central California Water Company, an entity he owned.
A movement calling for a public takeover of the company was organized soon after the transfer, but the measure was defeated in 1935. Subsequently, Loveland transferred ownership of the system to California Water and Telephone Company (CW&T), another company he controlled.
By 1939 the water system was reaching its limits, and in 1947 CW&T proposed building the Los Padres Dam and making improvements to the water delivery system. The State Water Resources Control Board issued a permit to divert 6,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) of water from the Carmel River, with diversions limited to 6,000 AFY. The dam was completed in 1948 but leaked and had to be repaired.
In 1952 CW&T requested a 43% rate hike from the Public Utilities Commission
(PUC), who limited the hike to 25%, agreeing that the earlier deal with the
Del Monte Properties was unfair to rate payers who had been subsidizing water
to the Del Monte Properties for over 20 years.
Water for most of Seaside was also provided by a private company, the East
Monterey Water Service Company.
In 1956 another effort was made at a public takeover of the water system. A city-funded feasibility study, completed in 1958, concluded that a takeover was feasible. An initiative to form the Monterey Peninsula Water District and take over the CW&T and East Monterey Service water systems was approved by the voters in 1958. Since the water companies were unwilling sellers, the District pursued just compensation hearings before the PUC, which took years to determine the value of the companies. A bond issue to purchase CW&T failed in 1965; the voters later dissolved the District.
Meanwhile, because CW&T had failed to maintain the water system, water rationing was imposed on some customers. Both water companies had water supply problems in the summer of 1961, and CW&T was granted permission by the City of Seaside to pump water from the Seaside Aquifer but only enough for use by its customers in Seaside. East Monterey Water service continued to deteriorate, so the City of Seaside began steps to establish its own water system. CW&T was sold to American Water Works Company (Cal-Am) in 1965; East Monterey Water Company was ultimately consolidated with Cal-Am.
In 1970, Cal-Am announced a water supply plan that included a 240-foot high Cachagua dam yielding 25,000 AFY as Phase I and in the 1980s a 350-foot high dam yielding 42,000 AFY as Phase II. The effort was abandoned in 1971 in favor of a "Super San Clemente Dam." This project was put on hold while the Army Corps of Engineers studied various Carmel River dam alternatives. In 1973 the Corps proposed a multi-purpose dam, which included flood control. Cal-Am rejected the proposal in favor of a smaller version of the Super San Clemente Dam to be funded in conjunction with a public agency.
The 1970s resulted in moratoria and water rationing. Because Cal-Am had failed to increase the capacity of its transmission lines from Carmel Valley to the Peninsula, the PUC issued an order prohibiting Cal-Am from extending water mains to new development. The moratorium was extended in 1975. During the same period, the PUC ordered Cal-Am to implement a conservation program, to construct the transmission lines, and to move forward with plans for a dam. In 1977 inadequate water supplies due to the drought joined the lack of transmission capacity as a reason for rationing.
In 1976 the Monterey Peninsula Water Management Agency (MPWMA)—a joint powers agency comprised of Peninsula Mayors and two supervisors—was formed. This agency began working with the County to build a dam on the Arroyo Seco River. Other alternatives were considered as well, including a multi-purpose dam with the Corps, getting in line for San Felipe Water, desalination, and water reclamation.
Around the same period, the County designated the Monterey Peninsula and Carmel Valley as Zone II and set up an Advisory Committee, which included William Gianelli, former director of the California Department of Water Resources. Gianelli suggested forming a water district through state legislation.
Public acquisition of Cal-Am was again considered in large measure due to Cal-Am’s failure to build transmission lines. During discussion about forming a water district, Senator Mello (who authored the bill creating the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District) said that the people might want to acquire the Cal-Am water system and should have an agency in place capable of doing that.
The Mello bill was signed by the Governor in September 1977 and approved by the voters in June 1978. The first District Board included Gianelli, John Williams, Nancy McClintock, William Woodworth, Alfred Gawthrop, and one representative each from the cities and the County. None of those who were elected actively advocated the construction of a dam. Rather the focus was on continued conservation efforts and other alternatives. John Williams actively opposed construction of the dam. Because of various events that ensued, the District began to focus its efforts to build a dam on the Carmel River, resulting in two defeats at the polls. In the 1980s there was an advisory vote on a dam that failed, and in 1995 a ballot measure was defeated.
In 1995 the State Water Resources Control Board issued WR Order 95-10 in which it was determined that 69% of the community’s water supply was being taken without a valid right and that 10,730 acre-feet per year must be replaced. Since that time, a search for a water supply project has focused on developing a desalination project. During the intervening years, an advisory vote to abolish the District was supported by a majority of voters, but legislation addressing the governance issue stalled in the State Legislature. During this time frame, Cal-Am was purchased by a German-owned company, and a 2005 effort calling for a study of a public take-over of Cal-Am was defeated (Measure W).
