Basic Facts
This page is intended as a primer for press contacts and for citizens who have been unclear as to the nature of the drilling and desalination project currently underway at the behest of the Cambria Community Services District and the Army Corps of Engineers.
What are the "water issues of Cambria"?
The most urgent issue that is dominating any discussion of Cambria and its water is a proposed 602 (AFY) acre foot/year desalination plant, which includes two plus months of daily beach well drilling scheduled for September and October of 2010. The CCSD estimates that the plant will cost $20-25 million (in addition to a ‘build out reduction’ plan estimated to cost $38 million). Total cost for the desalination plan is $58 million and has never been voted on by Cambria ratepayers.
To date, there is no financing plan for desalination, no project proposal exists, no estimates of future water and sewer rate increases have been given, no environmental review has been done, and no baseline studies have been conducted in order to assess impacts to the environment. Further, less expensive and less damaging water alternatives to this costly proposal have been largely ignored or not included in discussions about water in Cambria in a public setting. See video clips from the "Water You Thinking" panel discussion from March 2010.
Who are the stakeholders in Cambria's water issues?
The most obvious people to have concerns about Cambria's water issues are of course Cambrians, but it is very likely that commercial development would increase along the coast in either direction from Cambria. Nearby coastal communities such as San Simeon, Harmony, Cayucos and Morro Bay will certainly be impacted by any desalination plant on the coast, and even inland cities such as Paso Robles may see some changes occur to their economy and environs if more water, development and commercial traffic migrates to Cambria and its surrounds.
Desalination plants are being proposed up and down the coast of California. Desalination uses the most energy of any water source. High energy use equals high water prices. Ratepayers can turn off their lights when electricity costs soar, but we don’t have a choice on whether or not to drink water. How much will you pay for water in the future if desalination becomes the main source of your drinking water? Californians need a comprehensive, state wide desalination policy in place, TODAY.
Despite passage of Measure P by Cambria voters which restricts the areas serviced by Cambria's Community Services District to include only a limited area in Cambria proper, San Simeon and the Hearst Corporation could be direct benefactors of any increased water production made available by a desalination plant in Cambria. Measure P limited the CCSD service area, but it did not limit direct sales of water outside the service district.
The Hearst Corp holdings at the San Simeon Cove could greatly benefit from Cambria's desalination water availability. Although residents mistakenly believe San Simeon Cove is protected from development, "a resort lodge of approximately 250 rooms, restaurant, cocktail lounge, convention & meeting facilities, tourist cottages, golf course, swimming pool, and tennis courts” is envisioned on land surrounding the San Simeon Cove. Changes have already been made to the County’s area plan to accommodate future development at San Simeon Cove. (See Landwatch news - scroll down to Appeal of San Simeon Cove Development)
Where is Cambria and where would the beach drilling and desalination plant be located?
Cambria is a town of just over 6,000 year round residents in approximately 4,000 residences on the northern coast of San Luis Obispo County on the Central Coast of California. The future plant would be located at the CCSD’s water treatment facility on Heath Lane, next to a residential area in town known as “Park Hill”.
The beach well drilling will be conducted on Moonstone Beach in front of Shamel County Park, Cambria, San Luis Obispo County. Santa Rosa Creek spills into the Pacific Ocean at this location and is one of the most scenic vistas from the southern end of Moonstone Beach Boardwalk. Sunset magazine readers recently rated Moonstone Beach one of the West’s Top Ten Beaches (see article). Access to the drilling site is thru poopular Shamel Park, Cambria’s only park with BBQ facilities, picnic tables, soccer fields, a children’s playground and swimming pool.
Included in this area is the Santa Rosa Creek Natural Preserve, a distinct area of outstanding natural significance that provides high quality habitat supporting numerous wildlife species. Protected species known to occur at or near the site include numerous marine birds and marine mammals, as well as several species listed as threatened or endangered, including the tidewater goby, the California Red-legged frog, and the Central Coast steelhead.
The site may also include concentrations of mercury that may have been carried downstream from upstream mining and naturally occurring surface and subsurface deposits in Santa Rosa Creek’s upper watershed. If the Army Corps of Engineers unearths mercury by drilling deep into the sand, the mercury could become airborne and transformed into methylmercury (see Hawley and Rigley on mercury). Both contaminants are highly toxic to organisms and both are classified as persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs).
Overhead view of popular of Shamel Park in Cambria CA
Why is this issue so important now?
On April 22nd, 2010, the CCSD declared the drilling project to be solely under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers. In so doing, the CCSD has given away citizen access to a project which could have devastating effects on our environment and which would be extremely costly. By making this declaration, the CCSD effectively evades laws enacted by our elected representatives intended to protect our environment and keep leaders accountable to their constituents.
Hundreds of pages of State and Federal agency and citizen letters contradicting the CCSD’s claim of ‘no environmental impact’ were received by the CCSD under the CEQA process. Rather than lose time responding to the serious environmental, public health and safety concerns, the Cambria Community Services District decided to speed things up by withdrawing their CEQA review and instead voted to turn the project over to the Army Corps of Engineers in late April 2010.
The Army Corps of Engineers granted themselves a ‘categorical exclusion’ of environmental review under NEPA. As a result of the CCSD withdrawing their CEQA review, those agency letters vanished from public review, letters of concern from Cambrians and the agencies were never answered, and the Coastal Commissioners never viewed the letters in their entirety before they made their 8-1 decision to approve the test well drilling on May 13, 2010.
Art Van Rhyn captured this tactic very well in his cartoon that appeared in the Cambrian, April 29 2010:
In which once again the Cambria Community Services
District Plots an End Run