Newell Creek Dam piping replacement to come with a high price tag

The Loch Lomond Reservoir is the largest major water source in Santa Cruz County. Now part of it’s water system needs replacing.

The Newell Creek Dam, which contains the water in the reservoir was built in the early 1960’s. While the dam itself is holding strong, the Water Department says the piping that runs underneath is in need of replacing.

“It’s aged like all infrastructure does, and the pipeline that runs currently at the bottom of the dam and the valving on both sides just needs to be replaced, similar to how we replace all the mains in our streets,” says Santa Cruz Water Department Engineering Manager, Heidi Luckenbach.

Water Department Manager, Rosemary Menard says this is a critical part of the water system year round, “it’s a huge piece of critical infrastructure for the water system that serves about 100 thousand people here in Santa Cruz County.”

“Sometimes in the winter we could be operating completely off of Newell Creek if the river is fairly turbid and that might be as many as 6 million gallons a day,” says Menard.

The project is expected to cost about $40 million.

“Largely these things will be funded through rate increases and other kinds of long term borrowing that we’ve planned and talked with the council about. It’s a really significant and important investment for the community because without a reliable water system and water supply the community isn’t economically viable or environmentally viable and people don’t have services they can rely on.”

There is a community meeting being held in Ben Lomond at the Highlands Park Lorenzo Room on Thursday July 19th at 6:30pm for comments and questions.

The Water Department is still in the planning stages of the project and does not plan to start construction until 2020.

They expect construction to take roughly two years.

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