2007 Aquifer Storage and Recovery I

Between 1982 and 1995 the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District (MPWMD) first filed a permit application and then filed an amended permit application with the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) for a water permit for a New San Clemente Dam they were planning to build. Although the voters turned the dam down and it was never built, the SWRCB issued permit 20808 to MPWMD for 29,000 acre feet of water.

A new way to utilize permit 20808 was developed where MPWMD and Cal Am working  together would take “excess” water from the Carmel River in the winter and pump it to Seaside and store in the Seaside Ground Water Basin for future use; therefore, aquifer storage and recovery was planned.

In 2007 MPWMD asked the SWRCB to split the original permit for 29,000 acre feet of water into two permits: one for 2,426 acre feet to be used for what is known as Aquifer Storage and Recovery I (ASR I) and the remaining 26,574 acre feet to be held for future use.

CRSA filed a protest but, unfortunately, the protest letter was filed after the deadline and had no legal standing. Regardless, the SWRCB discussed the CRSA protest with the CRSA board of directors who at the time believed promises were made, however since none were implemented and because the original protest was late, CRSA had no legal remedy.