Mission city will still get federal money, plus $2 million from
district upon completion of water project
After more than a year of arguments and stalemates, the San
Benito Water District has pulled out of federal grant deal it had
in partnership with the city of San Juan Bautista.
Mission city will still get federal money, plus $2 million from district upon completion of water project
After more than a year of arguments and stalemates, the San Benito Water District has pulled out of federal grant deal it had in partnership with the city of San Juan Bautista.
San Juan officials couldn’t be happier.
“They’ve signed off. They’re out of the picture,” said SJB City Manager Jan McClintock, speaking of the water district.
For more than a decade, San Juan officials worked hard to obtain a federal Economic Development Administration grant worth $6 million in order to upgrade its archaic and city’s inadequate water system that services the town of 1,700 people. When the city finally landed the grant in early 2005, the EDA made the San Benito Water District a co-recipient of the funds along with the city. The water district was to provide a matching grant of $2 million, and loan the city another $1 million for the project.
That’s when the problems began – mostly over control of the money and future construction of the ambitious project, which would have furnished the town with a new water treatment plant, new water and sewer lines, better drainage, better pressure and better water quality. San Juan water has been, at times, high in nitrates and the new system would blend the city’s best water with “blue valve” water piped in from the San Felipe Reservoir.
All that is still expected to happen, but now the water district is no longer to be involved in the project’s construction. The EDA grant money, according to San Juan officials, will be eked out as the project progresses. When the project is finished and the state Department of Health approves of it, the water district says it will provide the city with the $2 million in matching funds, McClintock said.
The San Benito Water District has maintained a policy of silence on the San Juan water project issue since late last year. Before the tight-lipped new stance, water district chief John Gregg had said in numerous interviews that the agency’s concerns were valid because of San Juan’s checkered history regarding town finances. In the late 1980s, the town went bankrupt. Furthermore, the water district maintained, San Juan officials new little about putting together a major water project, something in which the district is experienced.
But town leaders are confident that they have the expertise to handle the water deal autonomously. McClintock and SJB water project manager Mark Davis expect construction to begin in eight months. But for the past 14 months, Davis has been grappling with the county water district over control of the project and its funding. Now that the district has formally informed the EDA that they are no longer involved, Davis and city leaders are relieved.
Davis is looking forward to the ground-breaking ceremony in the spring of 2007.
“That’s assuming all the bureaucrats march together to the same tune,” Davis said. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel, and more importantly, there’s a tunnel.”
The project, once complete, will also include upgrades to the city’s water treatment facility. Treated wastewater will be cleaner and more suitable for irrigation purposes.
“We’ll have better water, better service,” Davis said, “service not subject to the vagaries of a 75-year-old system. There will be less waterline breaks and a more reliable supply in case of fire.”
