Urgent county water projects receive minimal acknowledgment from Sacramento’s wallet. | News
County officials saw the $12 billion state budget surplus as a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to secure financing for long-deferred and increasingly urgent water infrastructure projects. Sacramento has largely ignored the county’s water problems, since it’s outside of the State Water Project.
The county’s original ask, developed in February, was $312 million: $150 million for deferred critical maintenance at the Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio dams in South County; $150 million for a controversial interlake tunnel project that would connect the two reservoirs; and $12 million for the San Lucas Clean Drinking Water Project, which would have financed a roughly eight-mile pipeline from the South County community of San Lucas to King City’s water infrastructure. San Lucas, a community of about 400, has been on bottled water since 2016 after a “do not drink” order was issued because of nitrate contamination.
The county, thinking its request for less than 1/33 of the state surplus might be too much, canceled the $150 million ask for the interlake tunnel. As the legislative session came to an end Aug. 31, the county was notified how much money it received: $6 million out of the $150 million requested for dam maintenance, and $0 for San Lucas.
“Disappointment” has since been the refrain.
“I’m perplexed why we are not receiving funding,” King City’s Mike LeBarre says. “The San Lucas project seemed like a no-brainer. It’s physical infrastructure that would have connected a community in need of safe drinking water.”
Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, says it’s going to be up to the community to decide how to move forward. Groot says federal infrastructure funds may be available. The other option would be a Prop. 218 process in which Salinas Valley growers vote on a tax increase to finance the dam maintenance; however, Brent Buche, general manager of the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, says that option is politically unpopular.