In May 2018, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported, citing the Monterey Herald, that developer DeepWater Desal was seeking to overturn a Monterey County rule requiring desalination plants to be publicly owned. Its Monterey Bay Regional Water Project at Moss Landing was costed at $350 million and would draw seawater from the Monterey Submarine Canyon at about 40 metres, producing 25,000 acre-feet per year, roughly 84,000 m³/d. Buyers including the city of Salinas had already signed up.
The report showed a privately developed regional scheme competing for permits and a workable legal footing in the Monterey area alongside the California American Water project.