A proposed 2.5-mile pipeline could connect Los Osos to the State Water Project.
This $8 million project recently made it through Congress and Senate approval and could be a new source of water for the town with a long history of water issues.
The pipeline project has been in the works for the past four years.
“We’ve done preliminary design. We’ve done the environmental work called CEQA. My board has certified mitigated negative declaration on the environmental impacts, so we’ve made some progress and I believe that’s why we have got our foot in the door for this funding because it’s not starting from scratch,” said Ron Munds, Los Osos Community Services District (CSD) General Manager.
San Luis Obispo County holds the state water contract with subcontractors like the City of Morro Bay.
Munds says the CSD will need to negotiate with the county for an allocation of their state water from the project.
“It’s a two-type parallel track project. One is to build the pipeline to get water here. The other is to get water to build into the pipeline,” Munds said.
Munds adds they will only bring in a small amount of state water and will never be dependent on it.
“We’re just bringing in enough to sustain our community and hopefully get our groundwater back into the basin. It’s not like we are trying to buy into something we’re going to be reliant on,” Munds said.
“I think it’s a great idea since we live here in a drought in California,” said Todd Rose, Los Osos resident.
Living in Los Osos for 20 years, Rose is familiar with water issues in his town.
“Any extra source of water is going to be extremely valuable,” Rose said.
Although $8 million was passed by Congress and the Senate for the project, other approvals are still needed.
“That’s for it to be on the funding list. The government needs to fund the appropriation or the actual dollars coming to them. There’s a process between now and March where the Army Corps of Engineers will be going through an analysis and making a recommendation back for the appropriation of the funds,” Munds said.
Munds says it’s too soon to tell whether the usage of state water could have an impact on water bills.
