Gov. Brown approves $10M for county interlake tunnel.

A tunnel that would connect two South County reservoirs, Lake Nacimiento and Lake San Antonio, took an important step forward this week.

On Sep. 13, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 831, a bill that allocates $10 million for the county's interlake tunnel project. It had support from all four of Monterey County's local lawmakers—assemblymen Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, and Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, and state senators Bill Monning, D-Carmel and Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres.

The possibility of the tunnel has been talked about since at least 1978, and its proponents see it as a critical way to maximize the county's water supply. 

The idea was born out of the fact that Lake Nacimiento fills far faster than Lake San Antonio, and in very wet years, the county must release water from Lake Nacimiento for flood control purposes.

With the tunnel, the county could instead pump water over to Lake San Antonio. 

Yet major hurdles remain. The total project cost is currently estimated to be $78.2 million, the bulk of which will have to be paid for by Salinas Valley residents.

And ultimately, those residents will decide whether they think the tunnel is worth the cost in a Proposition 218 election that Rob Johnson, the deputy general manager of the Monterey County Resources Agency, estimates will happen in the second half of 2017, likely around October.

He adds that the county is still working out when the state funds will be made available—presently, the county is not sure if it will be able to use the money for design work before the Prop. 218 vote, or if it will have to be used after the vote.