Funding Approved for Pajaro River Flood Management Project
A project to repair the Pajaro River levee system South Santa Cruz County will receive $400 million in state funds following the passage and signing of Senate Bill 489. The California Dept. of Water Resources is now empowered to advance gap financing to The Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, which will protect the communities of Watsonville and Pajaro. There have been four major floods on the Pajaro River and its tributaries that overtopped or breached the levees since their construction in the late 1940s. Floods in 1995 caused more than $95 million in damage and two people died. The state funds make up 35% of the cost of the project with the rest being contributed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. An Environmental Impact Report is slated for release next year and work on the project is expected to begin in 2025.