(Contributed photo)
WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency on Tuesday hosted two public forums about a project at College Lake that could boost water supplies in South County.
The College Lake Integrated Resources Management Project would include building a treatment center at the lake and 5.5 miles of pipeline to bring the water to PV Water’s Clearwater Lane facility.
PV Water officials see the project as essential to help reverse the valley’s groundwater overdraft.
But the project would mean that the lake water is no longer pumped into the Monterey Bay in the summer to allow for seasonal crops on the land.
The forums were a way for PV Water to garner public input from residents concerned about the project’s impact.
“We’re hoping to receive input from the community about their concerns or support,” PV Water General Manager Brian Lockwood said. “This project is an important component of our drive to achieve sustainable groundwater.”
The project will net an estimated 2,400 acre-feet per year. One acre-foot is just over 325,000 gallons.
But the project will also slightly increase the size of the lake, which would mean that residents with property adjacent to the water could be affected.
Charles Banovac, who owns Braycovich Ranch with his wife Janet Braycovich Banovac, was wondering how the College Lake project would affect riparian water rights for the 14 landowners.
PV Water, he said, has applied for water rights.
“Nobody is trying to stop the project,” he said. “It’s an issue of water rights.”
Lockwood said that riparian water rights — the ability of landowners to use water from lakes, rivers and streams adjacent to their property — are different from appropriative rights, which PV Water is seeking.
Appropriative rights allow an agency to divert and control a water source.
It is still not clear, Lockwood said, how the agency would purchase or acquire its rights to the College Lake water.
Attendees also expressed concern about how keeping the lake inundated year-round will affect the frequent flooding issues at Pajaro Dunes and on Paulsen Road.
Summit Road resident John Diffenbaugh, who owns property on that road, said that he has been “frustrated” by the project so far.
“There has been no back-and-forth dialogue,” he said. “My hope is that at some point there is reciprocal dialogue.”
Lockwood said those issues are precisely why PV Water was hosting the forums, and why the agency still hopes to hear from the public.
“We don’t want anyone to feel like we’re steamrolling anyone,” he said. “We want people to be involved. We want them to come to our board meetings.”
Construction is expected to begin in 2023 and be completed by 2025.
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The Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency meetings are held at the Watsonville City Council Chambers at 275 Main St. For a list of meetings, visit pvwater.org.
To see the College Lake Integrated Resources Management Project, visit tinyurl.com/ycw4lovb.
Written comments must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2018. Name, address, email address, and telephone number should be included.
Comments can be submitted to Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency ATTN: Brian Lockwood, General Manager, 36 Brennan Street, Watsonville, CA 95076
They can also be submitted via email to [email protected].
