SACRAMENTO — AN ATTORNEY for the State Water Resources Control Board accused California American Water Company Thursday of illegally diverting water from the Carmel River for years and doing little to find a replacement water project.

The attorney, Reed Sato, also accused Cal Am of trying to “bootstrap” a 13-year-old water cutback order into a permit to continue illegal pumping.

But during an all-day hearing at the California Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters near the state capitol to determine whether Cal Am should be ordered to drastically reduce pumping from the river, an attorney for the water company mounted a spirited defense, questioning why the SWRCB suddenly decided to crack down and maintaining the state agency had sent them letters for years telling them everything was OK.

The attorney, Jon Rubin, asked dozens of pointed questions of SWRCB employees, many of them referring to the agency’s own documents, that seemed to establish that the SWRCB had acquiesced in Cal Am’s pumping from the Carmel River as long as it did not pump more than 11,285 acre-feet a year.

In 1995, the SWRCB determined Cal Am did not have valid permits for most of the water it was supplying to its customers in the Monterey Peninsula. Although the 1995 order purported to eliminate about 70 percent of the Peninsula’s water supply, the state water board delayed enforcement, giving Cal Am the opportunity to develop an alternative water supply.

So when a “cease and desist” order was proposed in January, it caught Cal Am officials by surprise. SWRCB representatives have not said why the water agency issued the order when it did, only that it was prompted by Cal Am’s violation of the 1995 order.

Representatives from the Sierra Club and the Carmel River Steelhead Association, both of which oppose Cal Am’s overpumping of the river, also testified at the hearing, which drew about 50 people.

Without a new water supply for the Monterey Peninsula, the cease and desist order, if finalized, would mean drastic water conservation measures for Peninsula residents.

And Cal Am’s community relations manager, Catherine Bowie, said even a 15 percent reduction in pumping of the Carmel River might be a hardship.

“What’s at issue at this hearing is the right of our customers to have an adequate water supply for their families, their jobs and their lifestyles,” Bowie said during a break in the hearing.

Cal Am for years has been working on developing the Coastal Water Project, which would provide a drought-free water supply to the Monterey Peninsula.

But the project has met tough resistance from environmentalists who oppose the use of open ocean intakes, which kill marine organisms.

The SWRCB board is expected to announce at a later date whether the cease and desist order will be imposed.