Shandon water district seeks 4.56 billion gallons from Nacimiento Reservoir
The Nacimiento Reservoir is 18 miles long and has a storage capacity of 377,900 acre-feet. Photo from Monterey County Water Resources Agency.
Monterey County opposes water diversion, citing legal and environmental concerns
– The Shandon San-Juan Water District has requested 4.56 billion gallons of water from the Nacimiento Reservoir and Santa Margarita Lake from the state water board for an underground storage project. The Monterey County Water Resources Agency has opposed any action by Shandon to remove water from these two sources.
The Groundwater Sustainability Agency of the Shandon San-Juan Water District initially filed two water rights applications with the state water board in 2021 to request 14,000 acre-feet, or 4.56 billion gallons, of water to their district for use and storage. They filed updated applications on July 2, 2024 to divert the water for an underground storage project; this was prompted by the state water board informing the Shandon district that “they do not demonstrate that Shandon has access to the land and physical facilities needed to implement the projects contemplated in the applications,” as seen in the Monterey County Oct. 8 board report.
The Monterey County Water Resources Agency, along with the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, have opposed any water diversion to Shandon on both occasions. Both agencies submitted a letter to the state water board in May 2021 and October 2024 with their dissent.
“Nacimiento Reservoir and its associated water diversion and conveyance facilities, and related public works, are critically important to the citizens of Monterey County. The subject land and facilities provide essential flood control benefits and beneficial uses of water for irrigation, environmental and domestic use. Under the present facts and circumstances, Shandon simply cannot satisfy the legal requirements for condemnation of facilities already dedicated to a public use,” reads the Oct. 8 board report.
Monterey County has held the water rights permits for the Nacimiento Reservoir and San Antonio Reservoir since the 1960s. Permit 21089 was granted in 2001 for an annual storage of 27,900 acre-feet of Nacimiento Reservoir; it has a capacity of 377,900 acre-feet.
The report notes that “while we appreciate the challenges the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act has presented to many regions throughout the state, including in Monterey County, it is inappropriate for Shandon to place new burdens on others that have in no way contributed to the problems it now faces.”
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which was passed in 2014, requires the creation of groundwater sustainability agencies and implementation of sustainability plans to reduce the number of critical overdrafted basins by 2040 and medium and high priority basins by 2042.
“The unlikelihood of legal success and the fact that the entirety of storage space in Nacimiento Reservoir and use of its associated public works is dedicated to the quarter-million people living in communities downstream of the confluence of the Salinas River who have paid for its construction, maintenance, and operation for over 65 years, makes the applications by Shandon more than a mere distraction, but a potentially significant waste of public resources,” reads the board report.
