Cambria
| Photo of Santa Rosa Creek, a lagoon that meets the ocean at Moonstone Beach. |
Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) has been working
on bringing a desalination plant to its coast since 1996. Cambria
relies on one narrow aquifers for its local water supply and
presented to their board the need for a desal plant to meet water
demand in their future. The San Simeon aquifer is south of the city
and is now the only source of drinking water after the city had to
close the Santa Rosa Creek aquifer due to MTBE contamination
from years of gasoline leakages from Chevron Corp.
In 1996, the plant was permitted and the following year, designs
were created after an open bidding process. The plans were
deemed inadequate by its board, and the process did not begin
again until 2003 when permits were submitted again. An EIR was
drafted and can be found here. In 2007, CCSD signed an
agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers to begin seeking
funding for the project. Their PPA was approved for $3.5 million as
a credit language to be matched by CCSD. But this same year.
California Coastal Commission denied the intake location at San
Simeon state beach. After trying again for San Simeon, in 2008
they moved the project to Santa Rosa Creek. In January of this
year, the CCC Environmental Scientist, Tom Luster, has issued a
letter to the Army Corps warning of the well-testing proposal and
demanding more work into its impacts. This comes from
published documentation on file with the CCSD that reports
mercury contamination from local inactive mines that produced
runoff into the Curti Creek, which feeds into Santa Rosa Creek and
possibly into the ocean.
As of May 2010, the CCC says that approval will be given to the
Army Corps if two conditions are met in order to comply with the
California Coastal Management Program. Installation and removal
of wells on the beach near Shamel Park should be done during
September and October to minimize impacts on birds, fish and
other wildlife and subsurface water should be tested for more than
100 contaminants, including mercury, before its allowed to be
discharged. Shamel Park beach is between the estuarine waters
of the Santa Rosa Creek Natural Preserve and the Cambria State
Marine Conservation Area. The Army Corps maintains that this
area contains permeable gravel and sand deposits that may be
suitable for intake wells that can pull subsurface seawater without
disturbing marine life.
UPDATE: LandWatch in San Luis Obispo County has filed a suit to
issue an injunction to order CCSD and California Coastal
Commission to go through the coastal development permit
process instead of allowing construction of wells during the
Sept-Oct period with no proof of environmental affects.
Read article here.
UPDATE 8/16/10: An August 9th ruling by Judge Martin Tangeman
of the Superior Court of San Luis Obispo County found that public
agencies, such as CCSD, are allowed to file EIR documents when
they want to consider broad policy alternatives, such as desal in
this case, and not just for steps towards desal.
UPDATE 9/27/10: On September 23 & 24, the Army Corps of
Engineers began drilling of two holes in the beach near Shamel
Park. They have until October 21 to complete the testing, per CCC
ruling related to the protection of the bird habitat nearby. The test
wells will be left in place, buried under several feet of sand, so
more water can be drawn out for subsequent testing if such should
legally take place.
To read a full background on the Cambria desal project, please
check out this article by Lynne Harkins here.
Read the full report here.
To learn about CCC permitting from Tom Luster, please view his
powerpoint presentation here.
on bringing a desalination plant to its coast since 1996. Cambria
relies on one narrow aquifers for its local water supply and
presented to their board the need for a desal plant to meet water
demand in their future. The San Simeon aquifer is south of the city
and is now the only source of drinking water after the city had to
close the Santa Rosa Creek aquifer due to MTBE contamination
from years of gasoline leakages from Chevron Corp.
In 1996, the plant was permitted and the following year, designs
were created after an open bidding process. The plans were
deemed inadequate by its board, and the process did not begin
again until 2003 when permits were submitted again. An EIR was
drafted and can be found here. In 2007, CCSD signed an
agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers to begin seeking
funding for the project. Their PPA was approved for $3.5 million as
a credit language to be matched by CCSD. But this same year.
California Coastal Commission denied the intake location at San
Simeon state beach. After trying again for San Simeon, in 2008
they moved the project to Santa Rosa Creek. In January of this
year, the CCC Environmental Scientist, Tom Luster, has issued a
letter to the Army Corps warning of the well-testing proposal and
demanding more work into its impacts. This comes from
published documentation on file with the CCSD that reports
mercury contamination from local inactive mines that produced
runoff into the Curti Creek, which feeds into Santa Rosa Creek and
possibly into the ocean.
As of May 2010, the CCC says that approval will be given to the
Army Corps if two conditions are met in order to comply with the
California Coastal Management Program. Installation and removal
of wells on the beach near Shamel Park should be done during
September and October to minimize impacts on birds, fish and
other wildlife and subsurface water should be tested for more than
100 contaminants, including mercury, before its allowed to be
discharged. Shamel Park beach is between the estuarine waters
of the Santa Rosa Creek Natural Preserve and the Cambria State
Marine Conservation Area. The Army Corps maintains that this
area contains permeable gravel and sand deposits that may be
suitable for intake wells that can pull subsurface seawater without
disturbing marine life.
UPDATE: LandWatch in San Luis Obispo County has filed a suit to
issue an injunction to order CCSD and California Coastal
Commission to go through the coastal development permit
process instead of allowing construction of wells during the
Sept-Oct period with no proof of environmental affects.
Read article here.
UPDATE 8/16/10: An August 9th ruling by Judge Martin Tangeman
of the Superior Court of San Luis Obispo County found that public
agencies, such as CCSD, are allowed to file EIR documents when
they want to consider broad policy alternatives, such as desal in
this case, and not just for steps towards desal.
UPDATE 9/27/10: On September 23 & 24, the Army Corps of
Engineers began drilling of two holes in the beach near Shamel
Park. They have until October 21 to complete the testing, per CCC
ruling related to the protection of the bird habitat nearby. The test
wells will be left in place, buried under several feet of sand, so
more water can be drawn out for subsequent testing if such should
legally take place.
To read a full background on the Cambria desal project, please
check out this article by Lynne Harkins here.
Read the full report here.
To learn about CCC permitting from Tom Luster, please view his
powerpoint presentation here.
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