Mr. Water here with a bit of good news for a change. Good news has been in short supply--the well is running very dry, but this week another faceless state bureaucracy did something right for a change. Here is a bit of the SF Comicle piece about the approval sans all the environment justice equity BS:
A desalination plant proposed for the drought-fatigued Monterey Peninsula was approved Thursday night by the California Coastal Commission. In the end, the Coastal Commission’s governing board decided that the benefit of a new water supply outweighed the proposal’s downsides.
With a Firm Grip on the Obvious, we read
“It’s clear: I think we’ve heard it over and over again (that) a drought-resistant water supply is necessary,” said commissioner Meagan Harmon, who was on the winning side of the board’s 8-2 vote.
Building on Old Ben Franklin's wisdom; “When the well is dry we know the value of water”
The main sticking point with the proposal was the expense. While Cal Am declined to provide The Chronicle clarity on the plant’s price tag, the company said the investment would require raising customer bills about 50%, from an average $102 per household monthly to about $150.
Of course, some (much?) of that cost may be because of environmental design parameters that will provide a good test case for even more desalinization plants in the future
Instead of using pipes to collect seawater, which puts fish at risk of being sucked up, water would be drawn from wells beneath the floor of the Monterey Bay. Also, the residual brine produced in the desalination process would be treated before being released back into the ocean, preventing the potentially toxic material from harming marine life.
Two smart things in one California week. Not sure I can stand much more of this!
The Biden administration on Monday announced preliminary approval to spend up to $1.1 billion to help keep California's last operating nuclear power plant running, even as officials turned down a request for financial aid to restart a closed nuclear plant in Michigan. The Energy Department said it was creating a path forward for the Diablo Canyon Power Plant on California's central coast to remain open, with final terms to be negotiated and finalized. The plant, which had been scheduled to close by 2025, was chosen in the first round of funding for the administration's new civil nuclear credit program, intended to bail out financially distressed owners or operators of nuclear power reactors.
PG&E is taking actions to seek re-licensing while also continuing to plan for the eventual decommissioning of the plant, Hosn said. The seaside plant located midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco produces 9% of the state’s electricity. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said continued operation of Diablo Canyon beyond 2025 is “critical to ensure statewide energy system reliability” as climate change stresses the energy system.
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article269044372.html#storylink=cpy
What the heck. It's ONLY 9% of the whole state's juice......
Posted by: Joe | November 22, 2022 at 03:52 PM
You have to wonder how often Kurtis Alexander can write essentially the same article over and over for the Chronicle before someone puts two and two together and calls for a stop to the development madness, especially the stupid RHNA housing "requirement"?
Despite this week’s blast of rain and snow, California water managers say reservoirs run by the state, including massive Lake Oroville, likely won’t provide much water for cities and farms next year as a fourth year of drought looms.
The California Department of Water Resources announced Thursday that it expects to meet just 5% of water requests from urban and agricultural contractors supplied by the State Water Project, many of which are in the Bay Area.
With last year’s deliveries from the state also only at 5% of what was requested, record conservation by residents on top of a greater reliance on local reservoirs and water purchases has kept the city (of Napa) from running dry.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-s-big-reservoirs-projected-to-meet-17625278.php
Posted by: Joe | December 03, 2022 at 02:39 PM
Or we can just stop drinking water.
Easy.
Posted by: Spurinna | December 04, 2022 at 04:59 PM
A woman for Brisbane gets it--today's Comicle letters to the editor:
Water for housing scarce
The newspaper is filled with unending stories about the drought and new housing. But I have yet to see an article on how we are going to supply water to all these new homes and residents.
If new housing was designed for the unhoused and low-income residents, that would be a good thing. But most new housing is designed to bring in new people from elsewhere primarily.
If we are worried about our water supply now, what happens with all the new housing? How about an article to connect the dots?
Sherry Goodwin, Brisbane
------------------
And this guy from Belmont is also connecting the dots even if he does buy into the "housing crisis" meme:
I am confused and irritated with the recent Daily Journal articles about the Metropolitan Transportation Commission considering additional penalties for driving on our already-funded freeways and the surrounding cities that are going about their merry ways encouraging and authorizing large commercial and residential developments.
Are there any overriding authorities to scrutinize the decisions made by individual municipalities to review the relevant environmental impact studies that seem to focus only on local plans? The MTC, of which I am not a fan, seems to be in a reactive mode and will just penalize those who have no choice but to use the roads.
Yet, cities including Millbrae, San Mateo, San Carlos and Redwood City proudly announce new massive developments with resulting high-tech workers but omit to consider adequate housing or feasible transportation for these workers. Is anyone in our bloated, distributed government structure connecting the dots?
Where is the Association of Bay Area Governments? Our critical housing shortage is caused by well-paid biotech and high-tech employees, thereby driving out folks in the service segment. The latter are conveniently brandished as underrepresented and, if lucky, are mollified with promises of affordable housing. From my perspective as a 40-year plus San Mateo County resident, our respective and collective governance is either callous or totally ignorant. They waste their time on political diversion such as reach codes, sea-level rise, climate change and equity but are unable or unwilling to address the real issues and carefully avoid third-rail problems that face us.
Dirk van Ulden
Belmont
Posted by: Joe | December 07, 2022 at 08:46 PM
https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/12/15/editorial-californias-water-future-mirrors-housing-disaster/
They keep building housing and don’t worry about water availability.
When are the cities going to push back on this glut of housing which will lead to water shortages, pollution, traffic?
Posted by: Spurinna | December 16, 2022 at 08:02 AM