Nacimiento Lake pipeline update
Monday February 18th, 2008 - 12:21:57 pm
Dan Reddell Email

Monday, Feb 18, 2008
Posted on Mon, Feb. 18, 2008
Plan to manage 2 North County reservoirs is set in motion
Leah Etling
As two projects that will use water from Nacimiento Lake move forward, so does a plan to coordinate the management of the reservoir and its sister, Lake San Antonio.
Nacimiento Lake is in the northern corner of San Luis Obispo County, while Lake San Antonio is in Monterey County. Both are operated by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, but San Luis Obispo County is entitled to 17,500 acre-feet from Nacimiento each year.
Increasing stresses on water resources — including growing population, development and drought — mean San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties have turned to the lakes as an alternate source of water.
San Luis Obispo County’s Nacimiento Water Project cost $176 million. It features a 45-mile-long pipeline that will transfer water from Nacimiento Lake to Paso Robles, Templeton, Atascadero, Cayucos and San Luis Obispo.
Construction has begun on several portions of the project, which includes five contractors. The pipeline is being laid in southeast Atascadero, project manager John R. Hollenbeck said, and work has also begun on the intake construction at the lake.
Anticipated completion of the project is late 2010, Hollenbeck said. San Luis Obispo County will receive 15,750 acre-feet from the lake each year.
Local agencies say the water is needed to supplement current supplies. The groundwater basin beneath the North County continues to move toward overdraft conditions, according to a recent study update.
“There are portions of the basin that are definitely in overdraft,” said James Caruso, San Luis Obispo County senior planner.
Overdraft means that more water is being taken from the basin each year than is being put back by precipitation or seepage. In recent years, some property owners in parts of the North County have had to dig deeper to reach water for their wells.
Looking north, Monterey County’s Salinas Valley Water Project aims to stop seawater intrusion and help replenish the Salinas Valley groundwater basin, which is also in overdraft.
The project broke ground late last month.Work includes modifying the Nacimiento Dam spillway, which will allow the lake to store a higher water level in the winter and spring. The extra water would later be released into the Salinas River to recharge the basin.
A diversion facility is being constructed outside of Salinas to collect the water and blend it with pumped groundwater.
The Salinas project would use between 12,000 and 25,000 acre-feet from the river each year. It will cost $15 million to $20 million and is expected to be completed by September 2009.
The capacity of Nacimiento Lake, which was constructed by building the Nacimiento Dam in 1957, is 377,900 acre-feet. The lake is at 54 percent of capacity.
Meanwhile, the draft watershed management plan for both lakes is still in progress. The planning effort, which has been ongoing for two years, is slated for completion in the fall.
A public hearing on the plan was held Saturday at Heritage Ranch. Three more community meetings are scheduled before it is due to the Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Community participation has included residents from Heritage Ranch, Lockwood and other ranchers and property owners. Representatives from Fort Hunter Liggett and Camp Roberts have also been involved.
The plan will include issues such as water and air quality, roads, residential and commercial development, farmland and grazing, recreation and the local economy.
“What comes out of this process should really reflect what the community wants to protect now and into the future by having the most complete and accurate watershed information possible,” said Duane Wolgamott, the plan’s steering committee co-chair.

© 2008 San Luis Obispo Tribune and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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