The City of Morro Bay is in the midst of the annual maintenance shutdown of its drinking water supply, and residents didn’t get much of a heads up beforehand.
“Each year,” reads an Oct. 28 citizen’s alert from the Public Works Department, “the State Water project shuts down for maintenance of various systems and facilities. This year the shutdown is anticipated to run from Oct. 28 to Nov. 12.”
The City’s back-up water source is its groundwater wells in the Morro Creek basin, located at Lila Keiser Park. This water has historically been high in nitrates, a naturally occurring element in soil that has been linked to causing Blue Baby Syndrome in newborns with long-term exposure. It’s one of numerous constituents regulated by drinking water standards.
“Due to the high level of nitrates in this aquifer,” reads the alert from Utilities Division Manager, Damaris Hanson, “this water must be treated prior to distribution to the residents. The City treats this water at the Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis [BWRO] treatment plant to remove the nitrates prior to distribution. Also, during this time the water department will use the method of ‘free Chlorine’ for disinfection.”
State Water arrives in Morro Bay via the Chorro Valley Pipeline, blending with the City’s other sources (well water) at the Kings Street tank farm. Well water from the Morro Basin is run through the remnants of the desalination plant, and then piped up to Kings Street for blending. This gives the water customers a uniform quality of water all over town.
State Water is treated by the Central Coast Water Authority (CCWA) using “chloramines,” and not the more familiar chlorine. There’s a taste difference.
“Customers may experience brief periods of water discoloration and or higher odor due to the change in chlorine disinfectant,” said Hanson. “If this happens it is suggested the residents flush the faucets to run water through the system.”
The change in treatment could also knock loose gunk in a home’s pipes, so it might be wise to let water run a bit before drinking it. And you might want to wait to change the fishbowl water until the chloramine-treated water comes back.
The City said it would still be safe. “The water distributed will meet all treatment and drinking water standards,” Hanson said.
The shutdown maintenance work is expected to last 2-½ to 3 weeks, according to the CCWA. “Once complete, CCWA will activate Turnouts and resume water deliveries as follows:
• Water deliveries for the Golden State Water Company, City of Santa Maria, City of Guadalupe, Lopez, Chorro Valley [Morro Bay] and Shandon Turnouts are targeted to resume between 8 a.m. and noon on Tuesday, Nov. 12.”
• Water deliveries for Vandenberg Air Force Base, City of Buellton, City of Solvang and Santa Ynez RWCD ID#1 Turnouts will be targeted to resume on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024.”
According to the CCWA website (see: www.ccwa.com), the shutdown was scheduled by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), the agency that oversees the entirety of the State Water Project.
CCWA is the member agency that maintains the treatment plant at Polonio Pass and the “Coastal Branch of the State Water Project,” that’s the pipeline that delivers the fully treated drinking water to subscribers in SLO and Santa Barbara Counties.
Formed in 1991, the CCWA’s “distribution system consists of an approximate 130-mile-long pipeline, treated water tanks at the water treatment plant, three interim storage facilities, one energy dissipation facility, nine turnouts, four isolation valve facilities, a chloramines removal and water pumping facility and Lake Cachuma inlet monitoring facility,” according to the agency website. One of those turnouts leads to Morro Bay.
Morro Bay receives its allocation of 1,313 acre feet a year (plus an equal amount of reserve supply), via the Chorro Valley Pipeline, which is maintained by the SLO County Flood Control & Water Conservation District.
At this time, Morro Bay is at the end of the line for the Chorro Valley Pipeline, however, the Los Osos Community Services District is investigating a proposal to tap into that pipeline somewhere near the intersection of Hwy 1 and South Bay Boulevard and run a pipeline into Los Osos.
The initial concept was to be able to get 200-acre feet a year of supply for Los Osos. This would be used when needed to lessen the demand on the underground aquifer that supplies all of the South Bay’s water.
SLO County is sitting on over 4,800-acre feet of State Water Project allocation that it is entitled to, but no one subscribes to.
The County has looked at various ideas to sell this unused water allocation to other subscribers further down the pipeline. In 2023, according to a CCWA data sheet, the County Flood Control & Water Conservation District transferred (sold) 1,000-acre feet of water to other subscribing agencies. The top one was Vandenberg Space Force Base at 141 a.f. Second most was the Goleta Water District at 115 a.f.
If readers have questions about the water during the SWP shutdown, call Damaris Hanson at: 805-772-6265.
