Integrated Coastal Groundwater Monitoring Program and Plan

California American Water Company (CalAm) is working to increase sustainability of their water supply portfolio to meet the long-term needs of customers in their service area on the Monterey Peninsula. Accordingly, CalAm has proposed the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWSP). The MPWSP includes a desalination plant, distribution pipelines, aquifer storage and recovery and in-lieu use of desalinated water. Feedwater for the desalination plant would be from a seawater intake system consisting of slant wells constructed into the shallow aquifers at the coastal margin of the Salinas Valley Groundwater Basin (SVGB). The objective of the MPWSP is to meet CalAm’s long-term water demands and comply with state imposed regulatory requirements1. A MPWSP Test Slant Wells Study (HWG, 2017) was conducted to evaluate project effects and support preparation of a draft and Final Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIR/EIS) (ESA, 2017). CalAm has received a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity CPCN) for the MPWSP from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)2. The EIR/EIS supported the CPUC decision. This document presents a proposed Coastal Monitoring Plan (Monitoring Plan) to continue observing the MPWSP effects, if any, on the SVGB.