Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project fully funded after Newsom signature
By Christian Balderas
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PAJARO, California (KSBW) — After decades of inaction, a long overdue levee project to prevent flooding in the Pajaro and Watsonville area has secured the funding it needs to start construction.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 489 authored by Senator John Laird, which will advance state funds to the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project.
“So instead of paying for parts of the project and then seeking reimbursement, we get those payments in advance, which is a big, big deal for us because we don’t have a lot of cash sitting in the bank to advance the project,” Dr. Mark Strudely, the flood control manager for Santa Cruz County, said.
The state will fund 35% of the $400 million project. The rest will come from President Joe Biden’s $1.2 Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.
A series of floods have devastated the Watsonville and Pajaro communities, namely a flood in 1955 that broke the levee system that caused $95 million in damages and killed two people.
In 1963, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported that the levee system, is inadequate and only provides five to eight-year protection. The standard protection guarantee is 100 years.
“The Army Corps ranks projects by a benefit-cost ratio,” Strudely said. “They calculate the cost ratio for every project. And the high benefit-cost ratio projects are able to secure design and construction funds and move forward. Our project does not have a very high benefit-cost ratio because of the economically disadvantaged communities that sit right beside the river. And that economic calculation that they do factors in property values. And because the property values are low, we end up having a low benefit-cost ratio.”
The project is at the beginning of the design phase. Construction with the Army Corps is scheduled to start as early as 2024.
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