The city of Santa Maria announced on Oct. 17 that there would be a series of road closures due to construction on a supplemental water pipeline that will eventually carry much-needed water to Nipomo.
The first closure was anticipated to start on Oct. 20 from the intersection of Darbeton Avenue on Pacific Place to Hidden Pines Way on North Blosser Road. The city is providing a vehicle detour, and sidewalk and levee access will remain open for pedestrians and bicycles throughout the project.
Eventually, the pipeline will have the capacity to carry up to 3,000 acre-feet of water per year from Santa Maria to Nipomo. Construction of the $17.5-million pipeline project is still in its first phase of three. This first phase, which should be completed by July 2015, will be able to carry between 650 to 800 acre-feet of water per year, said Michael LeBrun, the Nipomo Community Services District general manager.
This project is a result of a water war of sorts, which ended with a state judgment for water rights in the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin in the mid-1990s.
“The groundwater court ordered that we bring in 2,500 acre-feet of water,” LeBrun said.
A press release from the Nipomo Community Services District said that crews are working on both sides of the river levee to tunnel underneath and install the pipeline.
Once work under the levee is completed, pipeline installation will continue south down Blosser Road to a connection point near Taylor Road, which will hook the pipeline into Santa Maria’s water supply.
Nipomo will be paying an estimated $1,600 an acre foot for the water, which will be made up of a combination of state water and water from the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin.
“It’ll be the same water that any other customer of the city is getting,” LeBrun said.
In years like this one—a drought year—the city uses a high percentage of groundwater. In years where state water supplies are flush, the mix will lean the other way.
The city of Santa Maria expects the current road closures to continue until mid-November, when there will be various lane closures on North Blosser Road that will continue until the end of 2015.
This article appears in Oct 23-30, 2014.
