The Salinas Valley Integrated Regional Water Management Functionally Equivalent Plan (FEP) was adopted in May 2006, and revised in October 2008 as the Salinas Valley IRWM Plan, under the Proposition 50 IRWM Grant Program. The Salinas Valley IRWM Plan was developed by the Salinas Valley Water Management Group, which consisted of three agencies: Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District, and the Castroville Water District.
Three projects in the Salinas Valley IRWM FEP were funded through the Proposition 50 Round 1 IRWM Implementation Grant Program. The Salinas Valley Water Management Group was awarded $12,500,000 to fund the following projects:
Salinas Valley Water Project: The Monterey County Water Resources Agency received $5.6 million to implement the Salinas Valley Water Project (SVWP), a water supply infrastructure project designed to address the problem of seawater intrusion. The SVWP transfers water from Monterey County Water Resources Agency’s reservoirs in the southern part of the Salinas Valley to the northern portion of the Salinas Valley groundwater basin. The SVWP was completed in April 2010. The project consists of two main components, the first being the modification of the spillway at Nacimiento Reservoir, and the second being re-operation of the reservoirs and the construction of an inflatable dam diversion structure with associated fish screening and pumping facilities to allow the diversion of Salinas River water into the existing Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project (CSIP) distribution system. An average of 9,700 AFY of Salinas River is diverted and delivered to the CSIP system, reducing groundwater pumping by the same amount. The SVWP also increases groundwater recharge via the Salinas River.
Soledad Water Recycling/Reclamation Project: The City of Soledad received approximately $4.4 million to begin Phase I construction of a water recycling/reclamation plant for the city. The 5.5 million-gallon/day (MGD) Water Reclamation Facility was substantially completed in February 2010 through Prop 50 funds.
Marina Coast Water District Well 33 Pump Station and Reservoir Project: The Marina Coast Water District received approximately $2.5 million to complete the initial phases of the “Well 33” project. The completed project (with about $4 million in additional funds) consisted of the following: installation of a test well (Well 33); replacement of a non-functioning (Well 32) with a new well (Well 34); installation of an additional new well (Watkins Gate Well); and installation of about 2.5-miles of 24-inch ductile iron pipe connecting Watkins Gate Well and Well 34 to the rest of the raw water transmission network.
Water Quality and Fish Habitat Monitoring Program: In addition to the above awards, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency received $997,000 in Proposition 50 IRWM Supplemental Funding to implement a Water Quality and Fish Habitat Monitoring Program (a result of the SVWP) for two years.