Seawater Intrusion Threatens Salinas Valley: Crisis Inaction | Opinion

The Armstrong Ranch property, which occupies both sides of Highway 1, sits atop aquifers that are impacted by seawater intrusion. Nic Coury

David Schmalz here, wrestling with a conundrum: Seawater intrusion is advancing in the northern Salinas Valley—heading toward Salinas from the coast—which has forced growers to drill deeper wells, but that’s only made the problem worse. 

Why does that matter? The drinking water supplies of more than 150,000 people, and the viability of highly productive ag land, hang in the balance. 

Last Wednesday, Dec. 4, county staff presented the Board of Supervisors a report about the state of the groundwater situation in the Salinas Valley Basin. The report is not new—it was published in 2023, but it was started in 2015. 

None of its findings are surprising to anyone paying attention: Groundwater levels continue to fall, though the lettuce, strawberries and artichokes are still getting all the water they need to thrive.

But seawater intrusion is a slow-moving, potential train wreck that could impact the water supplies of tens of thousands of county residents, both in the Salinas Valley and Marina.

Groundwater is a finite resource. As long as overpumping remains profitable, and possible—even though it might have disastrous impacts—it will persist.

Armstrong Ranch—north of Marina—for example, was pasture land for decades, but after Valle Del Sol Properties LLC bought the ranch’s 1,784 acres for $81.5 million in November 2017, it has since been turned into ag fields irrigated by water from the Deep Aquifer, which is around 900-feet underground and is not replenishing. The county subsequently approved the new wells into the Deep Aquifer on that land—the permits were ministerial, there was no environmental review. 

And this problem has all played out in plain sight, if in slow motion. 

The Supervisors took no notable action when hearing the information—they didn’t have the option to—but the discussion had the vibe of, “more of the same,” which is kicking the can down the road. 

The study was undertaken due to litigation from the Salinas Valley Water Coalition, Landwatch Monterey County and the Open Monterey Project initiated regarding the county’s 2010 general plan—producing the study was part of the settlement. The general plan, as approved, requires all discretionary projects to have a sustainable water supply. 

And if seawater intrusion continues to advance, as it has since it began several decades ago, the supervisors are empowered to do something about it. 

Michael DeLapa, Landwatch’s executive director, sent a letter to the board in advance of the meeting, arguing that implementing pumping allocations in the 180-foot and 400-foot aquifers is the best course of action, so as to better understand what the demands are going forward. 

I caught up with Piret Harmon, the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency’s general manager, about the state of play. In her view, the 2023 study is already outdated, and she says […]

Full article: www.montereycountynow.com