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…