Two new tanks have been installed at a Graham Hill Road water treatment facility, and a new 1 million gallon water tank is due this year. (City of Santa Cruz)

Unlike many areas of California, Santa Cruz County gets all of its water locally — from the San Lorenzo River watershed, a few North Coast creeks and three main groundwater basins. County residents are among the best in the state at conserving water and greater population has not increased water demand in the county since the late 1990s. 

Yet, the water system has become stressed in recent years by seawater intrusion, droughts and aging infrastructure. Two of the county’s primary groundwater basins have been deemed “critically overdrafted.” 

Authorities have responded with plans to replace pipelines and storage tanks, construct and upgrade water treatment plants, drill and renovate wells, and share resources between water districts.

Megan Goddard, board member of the nonprofit Coastal Watershed Council, expressed support for this “portfolio of projects for water resilience,” which she said would help “provide a more sustainable water source for everyone.” 

“If we end up getting several dry years in a row, this plan will ensure that we have enough water,” Goddard said.

She acknowledged that these projects can be expensive and that some of the cost is passed on to ratepayers. She said her mother frequently talks about increased water bills. However, supporters assert that these projects could save money in the long run.

Heidi Luckenbach, the City of Santa Cruz’s water director, said every project was being done with adaptability, sustainability and resiliency in mind. The current system was designed for a climate that no longer exists, she said.

“Climate change is definitely changing our patterns of precipitation,” Luckenbach said. “What’s in front of us is different from what’s behind us.”

Scotts Valley Intertie

Starting in March, a Scotts Valley Intertie project will install a 2-mile-long pipeline from Santa Cruz water storage tanks near Sims Road and La Madrona Drive to a planned pump station further up La Madrona Drive in Scotts Valley. 

Since the formation of Loch Lomond reservoir in the early 1960s, the Santa Cruz Water Department has not expanded its storage capacity much. It serves about 100,000 people inside and outside city boundaries. 

During dredging operations at Loch Lomond Reservoir, a barrier was installed to keep kicked-up silt from tainting the water supply. (City of Santa Cruz)

Following decades of discussions, city staff and elected leaders decided to address potential future water shortages by pursuing increased cooperation with neighboring water districts and increased water storage in aquifers. To that end, the Santa Cruz Water Department has entered into a partnership with the Scotts Valley Water District to connect their two systems. 

“It’s going to enable the two agencies to better coordinate [and] to share water when we have water shortages,” said Goddard, of the Coastal Watershed Council.

Construction costs are expected to be around $8.8 million. They will largely be covered by a $6.5 million state grant. The remaining costs are to be shared between Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley, said Taylor Kihoi, a senior professional engineer in the Santa Cruz Water Department. He said the details are still being finalized. It might be a 50-50 cost split, or, alternatively, Santa Cruz might cover the construction costs and be paid back by Scotts Valley in water, he said.  

Construction is expected from March 2025 to early 2026. In the meantime, trees are being felled and biologists are relocating woodrat nests along the pipeline route, Kihoi said. 

He said the pipeline’s initial capacity would be 0.7 million gallons of water per day, with plans to eventually increase to 1.5 million gallons per day. 

Fire hydrants will be installed along the pipeline route, Kihoi said, though he cautioned the hydrants would not be enough to douse intense wildland fires on par with those that recently swept through parts of Los Angeles County. “However, there’s a benefit to having some source of water in an area that currently doesn’t,” Kihoi said.

One goal of the project is to store surplus surface water in the bowl-shaped Santa Margarita Groundwater Basin, the primary source of water for Scotts Valley. “It’s an interesting and somewhat complicated effort to diversify [Santa Cruz’s] supply by storing water in an aquifer in the Scotts Valley area and then recalling it when it’s needed,” said Brent Haddad, a professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Cruz.

Since 2018, the Santa Cruz water system has likewise been connected by an intertie with the Soquel Creek Water District, though Kihoi said it hasn’t been utilized much.

Meanwhile, in 2016, the Scotts Valley Water District completed an intertie with the San Lorenzo Valley Water District. The two districts also contemplated a merger, but it was met with much opposition from ratepayers.

For its part, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District merged in 2016 with the Lompico Water District, and it has explored a merger with the Big Basin Water Co., with which it has an intertie connection.

“I think it’s powerful that these agencies are working together,” Goddard said.

The Scotts Valley Intertie project comes after a 2022 Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury report, which recommended additional cooperation among water districts, including a united approach to dealing with droughts, and more wastewater recycling.

Graham Hill treatment plant and pipeline upgrades

Loch Lomond water is purified at the Graham Hill Water Treatment Plant, and multiple projects to replace or repair aging infrastructure are taking place in and around it.

Two deteriorating, nearly 60-year-old concrete tanks at the facility were replaced over the last few years, and a third tank replacement is expected to be completed later this year. Construction of the new tanks, along with related equipment, piping and retaining walls, is projected to cost $28.3 million.

Workers labor on the initial stages of a now-completed concrete tank at the Graham Hill Water Treatment Plant. (City of Santa Cruz)

“These old tanks were at the end of their service life,” Goddard said. “It needed to be done.”

A separate project with construction estimated to cost $124 million is on tap to add seismic and wildfire-hardening upgrades to the facility, located at 715 Graham Hill Road. It will also include upgrades designed to treat more of the turbid water that comes rushing down the San Lorenzo River after storms. The project is slated to begin this year and finish by summer 2029.

The plant now generally shuts off its intake valves and lets the raging storm waters pass until things calm down, said Luckenbach, the Santa Cruz water director. “But we’re recognizing that we don’t have that luxury anymore because of changing precipitation patterns,” she said. “It’s all about the flexibility to be able to use the resources when they’re available.”

A third project takes aim at the aging, 9.5-mile Newell Creek Pipeline, which brings water from Loch Lomond Reservoir to the Graham Hill treatment plant. Corrosion and land movement have caused the pipeline to break more frequently, city staff said.

Two high-priority segments have been selected for initial replacement. The first, which runs through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, will be re-routed along Graham Hill Road with construction costs around $19.3 million. Construction, which is expected to cause traffic delays on Graham Hill Road, is anticipated to wrap up by fall 2026.

“This is the piece we really identified as adding to the reliability of our water system,”  Luckenbach said. She said Henry Cowell park’s geology was extremely dynamic and near-constant repairs of the pipeline were needed in that section. “The rest of [the Newell Creek Pipeline] isn’t quite as precariously placed,” she said. 

The Brackney section of the pipeline, named for a street in Ben Lomond, is likewise being replaced with construction costs around $10.3 million. Construction is expected to last from this April to April 2026. 

Beltz wells

Though Santa Cruz gets about 95% of its supply from surface water sources, it does draw some water from aquifers through wells in Live Oak. 

Two of those wells, named Beltz 8 and Beltz 12, are being converted so that they’re able to pump treated water into the aquifers — similar to the nearby Pure Water Soquel project, another initiative aimed at replenishing the county’s seawater-intruded groundwater — with construction costs of around $10 million. Beltz 12 will be converted first, followed by Beltz 8, with the entire project scheduled for completion by the end of 2027.

The city is also completing a project to remove naturally occurring ammonia and hydrogen sulfide at Beltz 12, and to replace a filter at the Beltz Water Treatment Plant.

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