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A new state grant will help Paso Robles build a recycled water distribution system

Randol White - KCBX News

The State of California has awarded the City of Paso Robles a grant of over $9.7 million dollars to construct a recycled water distribution system. It's meant to complement the city's water supply as the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin continues to decline.

Matt Thompson runs the recycled water program for the City of Paso Robles. He said the grant will fund one of the largest infrastructure projects in the city’s history.

“It includes a very large water pumping station at the city's wastewater treatment plant near the Salinas River. It includes over four and a half miles of large diameter purple pipe all the way across the north part of the city," he said.

Thompson said the recycled water will be used to irrigate parks, golf courses, vineyards, and new housing developments. This new source of irrigation water will help preserve the city’s declining groundwater supply.

"At the moment we are pumping much more groundwater out of the ground than is being recharged, [so] providing this alternate source of irrigation water will bring more balance," Thompson said.

A map of the groundwater sustainability agencies that oversee the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin.
San Luis Obispo County
A map of the groundwater sustainability agencies that oversee the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin.

Heavy rains from this year’s series of atmospheric river storms have filled local water reservoirs to their brim. But Thompson said that won't fix the problem, because it takes years for rain to restore groundwater.

"One wet winter is great, but it's not enough to restore balance to the groundwater basin. So we need to continue to be diligent about our use of groundwater.”

Residents in the rural residential and agricultural areas of Eastern Paso Robles depend on groundwater as their only water supply. Thompson said this is why it is so important for the city to invest in its recycled water infrastructure.

“Paso Robles is joining the ranks of many other communities in the Central Coast who are looking to recycle water to secure our water supplies for the future," he said.

Thompson said the city aims to start construction next year with hopes of completion by 2026.

The grant funding the project comes from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

KCBX Reporter Amanda Wernik graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Journalism. Amanda is currently a fellow with the USC Center for Health Journalism, completing a data fellowship that will result in a news feature series to air on KCBX in the winter of 2024.
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