The first phase of a multi-million dollar pipeline project will be delivering water to thirsty Nipomo residents by mid-summer.
Michael LeBrun, general manager of the Nipomo Community Services District, said the initial Nipomo Supplemental Water Project pipeline will be finished in June, and operational testing will begin later that month.
“Physically, it will be done by June,” LeBrun said. “We expect to be delivering water in July.”
Eventually, the pipeline will have the capacity to carry up to 3,000 acre-feet of water per year from Santa Maria to Nipomo. Full construction of the project, which started in 2013, will include two more phases. This first phase, which cost $17.5 million, will carry between 650 and 800 acre-feet of water per year to the Mesa.
Delivery of the supplemental water means the district will be switching the disinfectant in its water to match up with the water coming from Santa Maria—the chlorine, which Nipomo uses now, will be changed to chloramine.
Soon, LeBrun said, Nipomo won’t be solely reliant on the ever-depleting groundwater basin for its water supply. He said the drought is putting too much demand on the basin.
“It’s been threatened and over-pumped for a number of decades now,” LeBrun said. “We need to come up with another source of water.”
LeBrun said the basin is at its lowest level since record keeping began in 1975.
The district will hold public information sessions in June to discuss the delivery of new water and change in disinfectant. Those details will be announced in June. For more information on the project and the disinfection change, visit the district’s website, ncsc.ca.gov, or call the office at 929-1133.
This article appears in May 21-28, 2015.
