San Luis Obispo will add groundwater to its water portfolio thanks to a state grant worth $6.6 million.
The California State Water Resources Control Board approved a grant to clean up groundwater contamination in San Luis Obispo. It's a region that historically had ceased groundwater use in part due to the presence of PCE — a toxin produced by industrial activities that are no longer in use.
“The state was looking for areas where they could clean up some of the groundwater contamination issues that existed in the state," Nick Teague, the water resources program manager for San Luis Obispo, said. "They approached us and said, 'We think SLO would be a good place for this project.'”
Unlike many other parts of the county where surface-level water sources and groundwater are used, the city has only been using Whale Rock, Salinas and Lake Nacimiento reservoirs as its water sources.
“This helps us diversify," Teague said.
“They want to make sure that that that fourth leg of that stool of their water supply portfolio is healthy,” director of groundwater sustainability for San Luis Obispo County, Blaine Reely, said.
The San Luis Obispo Valley Groundwater Basin, where the project will be implemented, is roughly 20 square miles. A project like this falls in line with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014 which helps protect groundwater resources over the long term.
“It required the groundwater basins be managed and set a priority on those basins and how they're managed,” Reely explained.
The project means less maintenance cost as well. Right now, the surface level water requires treatment at the San Luis Obispo water treatment facility whereas groundwater is sustainably treated at the source — saving money in the process.
"We don't pay for the energy to move the water from the reservoirs to the water treatment plant and then the high cost of treating that water through the water treatment plant," said Teague.
The clean-up project is expected to be fully operational in 2026 with the creation of two wells located just east of Highway 101 and south of the water resource reclamation facility off Prado Road.
