San Lucas’ water has been unsafe to drink for years. Is a solution near?

Maybe you’ve received a boil-water notice after an emergency, like a flood. The water may not be safe to drink for a few hours or days – health officials recommend using bottled water.

Now imagine that notice lasts for 10 years, or longer.

Yes, this is the 21st century and yes, this is in the United States. But residents of the South County town of San Lucas, population 324, have been under do-not-drink orders for over a decade, ever since testing by Monterey County’s Environmental Health Bureau revealed that nitrates in the water supply exceeded levels deemed safe for human consumption.

“We are requiring the use of bottled water or water from an approved source for drinking or cooking,” a July 7, 2011 notice from the Health Department read. “Research is being done to find another water source.”

That research is still ongoing, with a glimmer of possibility that a solution is in sight.

There have been a few failed efforts along the way (a new well was drilled in 2014, for example, but it also became contaminated). Now there are reams of analysis conducted by the California State Water Resources Control Board evaluating longer-term, more reliable options for a replacement water supply.

The solution now on the table dates back a decade, too. In 2015, according to a County update, “after a four-month review process involving a large number of meetings and consultations with staffs [of four different agencies],” the San Lucas County Water District selected a path forward: That San Lucas tie its system to King City’s, building a pipeline to purchase water from California Water Service. The State Water Board approved the concept and by the end of 2015, began work on a pipeline design.

Then in 2016, the state board did a 180; they determined the cost-benefit ratio was too high for what the agency’s guidelines allow, and decided instead the plan should be a renewed analysis of groundwater options, despite the aforementioned failed well.

Now it’s 2024, and it’s back to Plan A.

On Dec. 11 (after the Weekly went to print) the Monterey County Planning Commission was scheduled to hear an update on the project. (“The lack of safe, affordable drinking water for the community has also caused a nearly 20-year delay of a severely needed affordable housing project in San Lucas,” a report to the commissioners noted.)

A draft technical report prepared for the State Water Board in July presents three possible paths forward. Alternative 2 and 3 are for wellhead treatments, using manganese dioxide filtration with ion exchange, or reverse osmosis, respectively. Alternative 1 is to build an 8.2-mile pipeline to King City.

If that feels like deja vu, you are not alone.

Monterey County Supervisor Chris Lopez says he hears from constituents in San Lucas who are enthusiastic about progress finally being made, and also those who are skeptical. “The community is excited, but there is a faction that sees this as, ‘OK we’ve been this close before.’”

“A lot has happened since 2016, and also not a lot,” he adds, referring to improved partnerships with state and federal officials, all applying leverage toward progress, and a newly organized residents’ group called Misión San Lucas. “I think we’re much closer to a solution today than we have ever been.”

In September, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors wrote to the State Water Board recommending Alternative 1, the pipeline tie-in.

It’s an imperfect solution, Lopez notes; there are concerns about potential stagnation, damage from earthquakes and more.

Then there’s the cost. Projected monthly water bills would run a jaw-dropping $250-$500. Misión members wrote to the water board asking for more information about cost: “Will residents have any idea of what the long-term rates will be before the project option is chosen?”

California voters passed Prop. 4, a bond related to climate change impacts, in November, declaring, “Every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable drinking water.” It sets aside $3.8 billion for safe drinking water and related initiatives, 40 percent for vulnerable communities just like San Lucas. That is a good reason to be cautiously optimistic.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com.