Expansion of Pure Water Monterey Recycled Water Program

The Monterey One Water (M1W) regional wastewater and water recycling agency obtained all necessary permits by October 2025 to divert, treat, convey, and inject wastewater into the Seaside Groundwater Basin under the expansion phase of the Pure Water Monterey program. Construction for additional injection wells (Phase 4) near Eucalyptus Road was substantially completed in August 2025, and construction for Advanced Water Purification Facility upgrades at the central treatment plant in Marina was substantially completed in October 2025. As recycled water production began under the expansion phase, M1W injected more than 600 acre-feet into the Seaside Groundwater Basin in December 2025 and in January 2026. These are record amounts of monthly water storage through Pure Water Monterey.

Application Delayed for Permit to Modify Outfall for Desalination Plant

The Monterey One Water (M1W) Board of Directors and Recycled Water Committee continue to discuss readiness of a M1W application to the California Coastal Commission for a permit to allow modifications to the pipeline (outfall) that conveys treated wastewater to the ocean. These modifications are necessary to accommodate brine from the planned Cal Am desalination plant. Marina Coast Water District and/or the City of Marina have insinuated that may take legal action to block the permit based on inadequate review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), although no action has been formally approved.

Cal Am and M1W entered into an agreement in 2023 for Cal Am reimbursement of expenses related to the outfall modification project. (Even without the desalination plant, the outfall needed improvements.) M1W has already submitted an application to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board for changes to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to incorporate the outfall modifications.

Obtaining outfall permits are among the 20 conditions required under the 2022 California Coastal Commission permit before Cal Am can start building the desalination plant. Cal Am argues that the application to the Coastal Commission for the outfall modification permit must be submitted now to allow desalination plant construction to begin in fall 2026 and avoid restricted construction times that protect the Western Snowy Plover, a protected shoreline bird. 

Transportation Agency of Monterey County (TAMC) and Taylor Farms Are Discussing an Intriguing Real Estate Transaction — Details Unknown

The Transportation Agency of Monterey County (TAMC) has been seeking to move its offices in South Salinas to a new location that better suits their present needs. One past proposed idea has been for TAMC to build a joint-use headquarters building on its narrow strip of land in the City of Marina between Highway 1 and two other narrow parcels: the Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) 5th Street Station under construction for the SURF! Bus Rapid Transit project and the line of Fort Ord warehouses owned by the City of Marina and recently rehabilitated by Marina Community Partners/Shea Homes for potential future use as a Arts Village. TAMC coordinated demolition of a parallel warehouse on its parcel in 2021. All of these Fort Ord parcels were conveyed from the U.S. Army to local government agencies—as is, where is.

However, TAMC has also considered potential new locations in Downtown Salinas, which has been visibly revitalized under the Salinas Downtown Vibrancy Plan. There’s now a cryptic item on the March 4, 2026 TAMC Executive Committee meeting agenda for real estate negotiations between TAMC and Taylor Farms concerning 150 South Main Street in Salinas (the Taylor Farms headquarters building) and parcels #031221014 and #031282057 (comprising the narrow Fort Ord parcels in Marina owned by TAMC). The details are confidential, but perhaps an exciting real estate deal is in the works. Your Chamber will monitor developments.

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