By Jon Chown
The Soquel Creek Water District Board of Directors reviewed a proposal at their Oct. 6 meeting to sell up to 550 acre-feet of water a year to the City of Santa Cruz.
Protecting district customers and the groundwater basin would remain a priority, according to a staff report from General Manager Melanie Mow Schumacher, but the proposed agreement would give Santa Cruz another water source and generate revenue for the district at the same time. Final prices, the length of the agreement and other terms are still being considered.
“The main thing we see is that the project was always shown to raise groundwater levels quite a bit,” said Cameron Tana, principal engineer of Montgomery & Associates. “It would raise it well above what is needed to prevent seawater intrusion.”
Tana, a hydrologist, has worked closely with Soquel Creek Water since 2006 and helped develop the district’s groundwater sustainability plan. He presented the plan to the board. A key, he said, is the project was originally designed to pump 3,900 acre-feet of water per year, but it’s using far less and future projections have fallen to 3,200 acre feet per year.
“The district doesn’t need 3,900-acre feet per...