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F E B R U A R Y 1 7 - F E B R U A R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 1 • V O L . 2 5 , N O . 2 9 • 5 6 P A G E S • F R E E • W W W . N E W T I M E S S L O . C O M

Sewer-poor cities hope to woo the Coastal Commission [8]

Spinningwheels

[17]

Shredder

Marijuana patients get law-enforcement calls [10]Open the moving truck, get a crazy surprise [18]A local author creates a track-star amputee [21]

FILMEagle fl ies better than expected [30]

Piped inThe Nacimiento Water Project—dozens of miles,

AND NEAL BRETON

BY ROBERT McDONALD

than $170 million—is pumping [28]

decades in the making, and costing more

CAYUCOSCayucos’ share is $600,000 and 25 acre-feet.

PASO ROBLESPaso Robles will eventually get the biggest portion of Nacimiento water—4,000 acre-feet—and is on the hook for a $60 million share of the construction costs. The city’s annual cost for water, including maintenance and debt servicing, will be $13 million a year. That’s double the original estimate. The city will have to build a water treatment plant to use the lake’s water, meaning residents will have to wait several years before they can begin consuming the water.

PIPE DREAM REALIZED After years of planning and construction, the Nacimiento Water Project is now pumping waterCOMPILED BY ROBERT A. McDONALD • ART BY NEAL BRETON

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TEMPLETONTempleton’s share is $7 million and 250 acre-feet.

JAKE GAINES

Timeline 1. IN 1961, the Nacimiento Dam was built on the Nacimiento River, creating Lake Nacimiento, which has a capacity of 377,900 acre-feet of water. Due to low rainfall, however, it rarely fills.

2. IN 1974, the Nacimiento Water Project was narrowly rejected by county voters. The then-$31.4 million project received 49.6 percent of the vote. Though the project went through many revisions, it went nowhere until approved by the county and participating cities in 2004.

3. IN 2004, Atascadero, Cayucos, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, and Templeton signed up for water.

4. DESIGNED IN 2005, the pipeline would stretch 45 miles and could supply 15,775 acre-feet of water a year—enough for 33,000 homes. The current participants have dibs on 9,655 acre-feet. One acre-foot can serve about two families for a year.

5. IN 2007, final construction bids came in at $176 million.

6. IN EARLY 2008, construction began at Lake Nacimiento and southeast Atascadero.

7. IN MARCH 2008, construction spread along the planned route. In contrast to traditional construction, the pipeline was built simultaneously in many sections.

8. IN OCTOBER 2008, Jake Gaines and Manuel Villagomez drowned while working in a 30-inch diameter section of pipe. Members of the Teichert

Construction team working in Paso Robles, the two were trapped when an excavator tore through an existing water line.

9. IN FEBRUARY 2009, the California division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded that a project construction team, Teichert Construction, committed a “serious” and “willful” violation that led to the deaths of Jake Gaines and Manuel Villagomez. The division fined the company $140,000.

10. IN AUGUST 2009, Tim A. Nelson, a 29-year-old worker for Teichert Construction, was killed when a dump truck backed over him while he was working on a section of the project in Camp Roberts.

11. IN OCTOBER 2009, one year after Jake Gaines and Manuel Villagomez died, SLO County officials paid another $228,694 for what Project Manager John Hollenbeck called his biggest mistake. The project had been rerouted to avoid a “water feature” located at Kennedy Club Fitness in Paso Robles. The original route would have taken the pipeline through the fountain and avoided a mess of underground utilities where the drownings occurred.

12. IN NOVEMBER 2009, Paso Robles residents voted down a proposed rate increase to cover the city’s share of the project.

13. IN APRIL 2010, the Paso Robles City Council voted in a modest hike in water rates, but the city remains the only one that will receive Nacimiento water with no concrete plan in place to pay down the debt it incurred to participate.

14. IN AUGUST 2010, dive crews discovered that two sections of three-eighths-inch stainless steel intake pipe feeding into Lake Nacimiento had “buckled.”

15. IN OCTOBER 2010, project commissioners nixed a $50,000 “valve turning” ceremony due to cost and, perhaps, deciding it would be awkward to celebrate a project that took the life of three construction workers.

16. IN JANUARY 2011, crews finished work on the project early and under budget and began pumping water.

4. miles and could supply 15,775 acre-feet of water a year—enough for 33,000 homes. The current participants have dibs on 9,655 acre-feet. One acre-foot can serve about two families for a year.

5. million.

6. Nacimiento and southeast Atascadero.

7. along the planned route. In contrast to traditional construction, the pipeline was built simultaneously in many sections.

8. Villagomez drowned while working in a 30-inch diameter section of pipe. Members of the Teichert

After years of planning and construction, the Nacimiento Water Project is now pumping waterCOMPILED BY ROBERT A. McDONALD • ART BY NEAL BRETON

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CITY OVERVIEWSFor the cities involved in the projects, water rates are going up dramatically

for the foreseeable future.

ATASCADEROAtascadero’s share is $36 million and 2,000 acre-feet.

SAN LUIS OBISPOSan Luis Obispo’s share is $80 million and 3,380 acre-feet, giving the city enough water to supply far beyond the size of its projected full build-out. Or, in the words of ex-Mayor Dave Romero, “Enough water for the city that my great-grandchildren will live in.”