Debt Facts and Figures Cal Am currently charges ratepayers 6.63% on debt, 9.9% on equity, and 8.41% on debt plus equity. A public utility owner would today (2013) likely charge ratepayers no more than 3.5% on debt and nothing on equity or debt plus equity (called the "rate base"). In this calculation, equity is determined by the CPUC and has nothing to do with fair-market value, which is equal to debt plus actual equity. This (fair-market) value for Cal Am was appraised to be $94 million in late 2011. Cal Am's current debt is $59,113,028. Its equity as determined by the CPUC is equal to 53 times its debt divided by 47, or $66,659,372, so that its debt plus equity (rate base) is equal to $125,772,400. Use this information, together with the above mortgage calculator, to compare Cal Am and public-ownership costs for removing the San Clemente Dam ($49 million debt) and building a new desalination plant ($210 million debt for the plant plus $110 million debt for the pipe to Seaside), excluding annual operation-and-maintenance costs (assumed equal for public or private ownership). Use a 20-year loan for the dam and a 30-year loan for the desalination plant. You can also use this calculator to estimate the net cost to ratepayers of a purchase of Cal Am by a public agency. This would be a low-ball estimate because it does not take into account income and property taxes (not paid by a public agency) or the cost of interaction with the CPUC (required only for a private company). Enjoy! Water News
from Ron Weitzman
Special updates by the President of WATERPLUS MONTEREY. Click here to read the March 2013 issue online or download a pdf. Read the January isssue here. Read the December isssue here. Read the November isssue here. Point and Counterpoint September 29, 2011:
 "More Hogwash from Carmel"
Op-Ed in the Monterey Herald rebutting the Sept. 23 editorial in the Carmel Pine Cone October 1 , 2011:
Ron Weitzman's reply to the Carmel Pine Cone editorial
July 9, 2011:
Questions posed by Bob Brower on 14 April 2011 and answered within hours on the same day by Ron Weitzman
June 16, 2011:
Ron Weitzman's detailed counterpoint to the June 10 article in the Carmel Pine Cone February, 2011:
We also reprint here once again Ron's point-by-point response and rebuttal to an earlier Pine Cone article
News Archive JULY 2011 PROPOSAL Clicking the link below will download the update of the April 6 proposal to the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. The additions are printed in red. They take into account questions raised by District Directors at the July 18, 2011 proposal workshop that took place at the District's regular meeting that evening.
Download the pdf document by clicking here. (The free Adobe Reader software is required to read our pdf documents. Download Adobe Reader here.)
Monterey Herald, Feb. 17, 2011 Water district receives OK to form new agency. Leaders want to put
measure on November ballot By Jim Johnson, Herald writer "A bid to dissolve or reorganize the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District and form a new agency as part of an effort to purchase California American Water's local system can proceed under the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). " Read more...
Monterey Herald, Feb. 10, 2011 Water buyout bid draws crowd.
Groups push for public ownership.
By Jim Johnson, Herald writer "More than 100 people listened to a three-person panel speak Wednesday for a bid to back the public purchase of California American Water's Monterey district system." Read more... Monterey County Herald Front Page,
Jan. 23, 2011 "RESIDENTS GATHER ALLIES
TO BUY CAL-AM" Group says public ownership will bring down cost" "Making its pitch for a public purchase of California American Water, a group of community leaders is making the rounds of local governments and public agencies on the Peninsula in search of backing for its proposal." Read more...
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 Commentary Monterey Herald, August 18, 2012
Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman "Ways Peninsula can save on cost of water"
Monterey Herald, June 22, 2012
Letter to the Editor by Dick Rotter "Groups don't oppose removal of dam"
Monterey Herald, June 22, 2012
Letter to the Editor by Ron Weitzman "Shareholders should pay for dam removal"
Monterey Herald, June 17, 2012
Letter to the Editor by Skip Keyzers "Cal Am water plan not best for all"
Monterey Herald, June 14, 2012
Letter to the Editor by Claude B. Hutchison Jr. "Needs transparency in agency leadership"
Monterey Herald, Jan. 5, 2012
Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman "Local water costs continue to increase"
Monterey Herald, Oct. 26, 2011
Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman "Keep Cal Am out of water process."
Monterey Herald, Sept. 17, 2011
Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman "Cal Am pulls strings in water board vote."
Monterey Herald, August 17, 2011
Letter to the Editor by Claude B. Hutchison Jr. "Cal Am as an octopus"
Monterey Herald, August 18, 2011:
Response to recent media coverage of water issues.
Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman Read the full commentary here.
Carmel Valley Association Newsletter
Are you willing to pay Cal-Am
3400% more for desal water?
By Ron Weitzman
"Contrary to some recently published scare rhetoric, a public agency buying Cal-Am would not delay the desal project."
Read more...
Monterey County Herald Editorial Dec. 9, 2010
"TIME IS RIGHT TO LOOK AT CAL-AM TAKEOVER"
"It may not seem like it, but if there ever was a right time for residents of the Peninsula to take a serious look at a public takeover of the local California American Water operation, this is it." Read more...
Monterey County Herald Op Ed Jan. 20, 2011
"PUBLIC CONTROL OF WATER A WIN FOR ALL"
Guest commentary by D. Michael Langford, national president of Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, which represents 50,000 employees in utility and related industries across the United States.) Read more...
 | The Desal Corner THE WATERPLUS
MISSION STATEMENT Since the collapse of the regional desalination project, in which WaterPlus advocated for community control by promoting the municipalization of Cal Am, WaterPlus has expanded its mission as follows: To advocate in behalf of local Cal Am ratepayers for an adequate and affordable water supply by all reasonable means, including (its original mission) the persuasion or creation of a public agency to purchase Cal Am. IMPLEMENTATION To implement this new mission, WaterPlus is promoting the development of a desalination plant that will be sufficiently large to constitute a drought-proof water supply for the Monterey Peninsula, at the least possible cost to local ratepayers. 
Desal News, Letters,
and Commentaries
Sewer water commentary not the whole story. Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman in the Monterey Herald, November. 24, 2012 More to the water story
Monterey Herald Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman July 19, 2012 Cal Am taking us under
Monterey Herald Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman June 14, 2012 Protest by WaterPlus
of the application of California-American Water Company for Approval of the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project and Authorization to Recover All Present and Future Costs in Rates. (This is a multi-page pdf.) May 25, 2012 Cal Am plan outrageous
Letter to Monterey Herald
by Ron Weitzman May 14, 2012 Storage and recovery a bad idea
Letter to Monterey Herald
by Ron Weitzman April 17, 2012 Outlook still grim for new water authority
Monterey Herald Guest Commentary
by Ron Weitzman April 1, 2012
Peninsula must quickly act on water
Monterey Herald Guest Commentary
by Ron Weitzman March 3, 2012 Desal EIR dealt blow: review failed to consider water rights, judge rules
By Jim Johnson, Monterey Herald Staff Writer February 3, 2012 Making Water Go Public
Monterey Herald Guest Commentary
by Ron Weitzman January 22, 2012 Cal Am quits desal project
By Jim Johnson, Monterey Herald Staff Writer January 18, 2012 Local water costs continue to increase
Monterey Herald Guest Commentary by Ron Weitzman January 5, 2012 It's all about water profits
Letter to Monterey Herald by Ron Weitzman December 21, 2011 Now we're talking billions
Letter to Monterey Herald by Ron Weitzman November 17, 2011
Core Game Plan for
Cal-Am Exposed Cal-Am’s plan to crush opposition and raise prices was recently unintentionally exposed in an internationally distributed article entitled Ten Companies to Invest in Over the Next Decade. Cal-Am is owned lock, stock and barrel by the American Water Works Company, a huge New Jersey corporation. (View American Water's corporate revenue data here.) AWK (as the company is listed on the New York stock exchange) in turn is heavily owned by European share holders, of whom the key ownership is German. Read more...
WaterPlus
Steering Committee | Harvey Billig
(Vice President) Claude Hutchison Skip Keyzers Dan Matterson Dan Presser | Dick Rotter
(Secretary-Treasurer) Richard Stillwell Ron Weitzman
(President) Anna Yateman | Read more about the
Steering Committee Members
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