ABSTRACT: To supplement recent news articles, namely
Clint Eastwood, Cal Am in talks on water rights Actor would loan utility right of 85 acre-feet a year (The Monterey County Herald),
ENVIRONMENT NEWS Big Sur Land Trust Restoration Project Hitches on Clint Eastwood Water Rights (MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY) and
Eastwood donation, BSLT plan promise flood and water shortage relief (The Carmel Pine Cone), information from Phillip Crader, Manager, Permitting and Licensing Section, Division of Water Rights, State Water Resources Control Board is presented. The State Water Board’s License for Diversion and Use of Water to the Clint Eastwood and Margaret Eastwood Trust, Dated NOV 01 2012, as referenced in the MCW article (“…
Eastwood, envisioning a park, donated 49 acres and
accompanying water rights to Big Sur Land Trust, with plans to eventually
donate the rest. That left Eastwood with about 81 acres, some of which he’s
using for pasture. Last November, the State Water Board granted him license to
divert about 132 acre-feet for irrigation.”), is embedded. The second phase involving the Eastwood Trust filing change petitions requesting that its water right license be split; part for use on existing lots of record in the portion of the Cal-Am service area in the Carmel Valley, as referenced in The Monterey County Herald article ("
Williams said the plan is to finalize a deal with Cal Am and submit a petition to the state water board as soon as next week requesting permission to transfer the water right from the Odello parcel for use in Carmel and Carmel Valley"), and part for permanent dedication to instream flows, as referenced in The Carmel Pine Cone article (
"60 will stay on the property so the BSLT can keep some of the land either in farming or grazing. Another 45 acre-feet will be no longer be pumped, so it can stay in the river. And the rest — about 85 acre-feet — will be contracted to Cal Am"), has not yet occurred due to the Eastwood Trust not yet having filed change petitions with the Division of Water Rights.
“The State Water Board, Division of Water Rights worked with
the Eastwood Trust and Big Sur Land Trust on the permanent transfer of a
portion of the Eastwood Trust water right to the Big Sur Land Trust. This
was done to provide the Big Sur Land Trust with water for its operations.
The approval process for this portion of the project is complete,” according to
Phillip Crader, Manager, Permitting and Licensing Section, Division of Water
Rights, State Water Resources Control Board.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
CALIFORNIA
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD
DIVISION OF WATER RIGHTS
APPLICATION 30497B PERMIT 20905B LICENSE 13868
Clint Eastwood and Margaret Eastwood Trust
Dated: NOV 01 2012
“…the second phase of the project, the Eastwood Trust will
permanently donate land to the Big Sur Land Trust. The donation of land
does not require State Water Board approval. The Eastwood Trust will also
file change petitions requesting that its water right license be split; part
for use on existing lots of record in the portion of the Cal-Am service area in
the Carmel Valley, and part for permanent
dedication to instream flows. This action will require State Water Board
approval. The change petitions requesting authorization of the next phase
of the project have not yet been filed with the Division of Water Rights,” according
to Phillip Crader, Manager, Permitting and Licensing Section, Division of Water
Rights, State Water Resources Control Board.
REFERENCES:
Actor would loan utility right of 85 acre-feet a year
By JIM JOHNSON Herald Staff Writer, 06/12/2013
Excerpt Highlights:
Clint Eastwood is working on a deal to alleviate the Monterey Peninsula's immediate water shortage and
provide more water for Carmel-area development in the future.
Eastwood representative Alan Williams confirmed Wednesday
that negotiations are underway with California American Water on an agreement
to loan the utility a water right of 85 acre-feet per year for use on the Peninsula until a proposed new water supply project is
online. The water right is from an 80-acre parcel near the Carmel River
designated for a floodplain restoration project.
Williams said the plan is to finalize a deal with Cal Am and
submit a petition to the state water board as soon as next week requesting
permission to transfer the water right from the Odello parcel for use in Carmel and Carmel
Valley.
When, and if, the state water board approves the water
transfer proposal, Eastwood could finalize the Odello property donation to the
Big Sur Land Trust for the floodplain restoration project. The project includes
removing a levee, widening the floodplain and restoring the riparian and
wetland habitat, and adding a second causeway, or outlet, under the Highway 1
bridge into the lagoon.
Posted: Thursday, June 6, 2013 12:00 am |Updated:
1:17 pm, Thu Jun 6, 2013.
Kera Abraham MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY
Excerpt Highlights:
The artichoke-farming Odello family sold the 130-acre parcel
to Eastwood in the late 1990s. It was zoned for subdivision, Carmel Development
Company President Alan Williams says. But Eastwood, envisioning a park, donated
49 acres and accompanying water rights to Big Sur Land Trust, with plans to
eventually donate the rest.
That left Eastwood with about 81 acres, some of which he’s
using for pasture. Last November, the State Water Board granted him license to
divert about 132 acre-feet for irrigation.
Eastwood aims to loan about 85 acre-feet to California
American Water for use in Carmel and Carmel Valley
– at least until the proposed desalination plant is online, says Williams,
representing the Eastwood Trust. The donation “could be enough to keep the Monterey Peninsula from going into rationing,” he
adds.
Eastwood hopes to eventually sell the 85 acre-feet and
retire the rest, Williams says. The application to split the water license, he
adds, is all that’s standing between BSLT and its restoration project. “Once I
get the water use, I can make a gift of the property,” he says. “I don’t think
it’s anything that can’t be fixed.”
By PAUL MILLER Published: June 7, 2013
Excerpt Highlights:
More than 190 acre-feet of water has been used every year on
the land for grazing and row crops, he added. Of that, 60 will stay on the
property so the BSLT can keep some of the land either in farming or grazing.
Another 45 acre-feet will be no longer be pumped, so it can stay in the river.
And the rest — about 85 acre-feet — will be contracted to Cal Am to supplement
the Monterey Peninsula’s legal supply during the looming crunch, and then made
available to private property owners who need it for additions to homes, infill
development and business expansions.
Posted: Thursday, January 29, 1998 12:00
am | Updated: 3:46 am, Sat May 18, 2013.
By Richard Pitnick | MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY
ADDENDUM:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
STATE WATER RESOURCES
CONTROL BOARD
ORDER WR 2009-0060
In the Matter of the
Unauthorized Diversion and Use of Water
by the California
American Water Company
14.2 Efforts by Cal-Am to Comply with Condition 2 of Order
95-10
Cal-Am has gone forward on several projects, including: (1)
gathering information for seeking approval of Cal-Am’s water right Application
30215A, an application to appropriate up to 2,964 afa from the Carmel River;
(2) negotiations seeking to obtain a temporary water supply from (a) the
Margaret Eastwood Trust and Clint Eastwood from the Odello well fields and (b)
water rights associated with the Rancho Cañada Golf Course; (3) a negotiated
agreement to temporarily obtain water surplus to the needs of Sand City from
the desalinization plant being built by the city; and (4) implementation of
Phase I of the Aquifer Storage and Recovery project (ASR). (CAW-029, p. 3, 17-
p. 4, 5; p. 4, 24 - p. 5,17.) Cal-Am’s failure to complete negotiations to
obtain a temporary water supply from the Eastwood Trust, Odello well fields and
from the Rancho Cañada Golf Course is not explained.
16.7 Small Projects
Cal-Am introduced evidence that it had entered into
negotiations to obtain a temporary supply of water from the Margaret Eastwood
Trust and Clint Eastwood from the Odello well fields and from the Rancho Canada
Golf Course. Cal-Am’s failure to complete negotiations was not explained. (See
section 14.2, ¶ 5, supra.) Other small projects that could provide a temporary
supply of water may also be available. The addition of temporary small water
supply projects would reduce Cal-Am’s need to illegally divert water from the
river. We conclude that Cal-Am should be required to develop small projects to
provide a temporary supply of water for its customers and to reduce the illegal
diversions from the river.
