A bill authored by Assemblyman Simon Salinas (D-Salinas)
expanding the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency’s power to use
eminent domain to obtain land for a pipeline that will bring water
from the San Luis Reservoir to the Pajaro Valley has become
law.
Hollister – A bill authored by Assemblyman Simon Salinas (D-Salinas) expanding the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency’s power to use eminent domain to obtain land for a pipeline that will bring water from the San Luis Reservoir to the Pajaro Valley has become law.
Salinas’ bill, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sign July 1, empowers the PVWMA to use eminent domain to obtain about a 10-mile stretch of land on the pipeline’s route that falls outside of the PVWMA’s jurisdiction.
Eminent domain is the legal process by which governmental agencies obtain private land for various purposes.
“This bill will play an important role in helping to expedite the pipeline’s construction,” Salinas said.
The 23-mile pipeline will connect with a preexisting line in Santa Clara County and follow the Pajaro River west, ending in the Pajaro Valley near Highway 101, according to Charles McNiesh, PVWMA executive director.
McNiesh said he anticipates that the PVWMA will be able to negotiate with land owners and obtain easements for the pipeline.
“We want to use eminent domain as a last resort,” he said.
The PVWMA has had preliminary discussions with landowners along the pipeline route, but no easements have yet been obtained, according to McNiesh.
Though expanded by the bill, the PVWMA can only use eminent domain to obtain property outside of its jurisdiction if it is specifically for the pipeline project, and then only with the approval of supervisors in affected counties.
Plans for the $87 million project are about 85 percent complete, McNiesh said. But construction on the pipeline won’t begin for a year or two. McNiesh projected that the pipeline would be finished sometime between 2008 and 2010.
Groundwater overdraft – pumping water out of the ground faster than it is naturally replenished – has left the Pajaro Valley’s aquifer vulnerable to seawater incursion, which affects wells in the area. The pipeline will augment the valley’s water supply and prevent seawater incursion, McNiesh said.
The PVWMA serves the agricultural communities of the Pajaro Valley, not municipal water districts.
“The wells get salty,” McNiesh said, adding that the strawberries, the valley’s main crop, are very sensitive to salt.
Luke Roney covers politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
