WATSONVILLE – A $400 million rebuild of decrepit Pajaro River levees, which has been in the works for decades, is more likely to pencil out after the Biden-Harris administration earmarked $67 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds for the project.
The system of levees was built in 1949. Flawed since its inception, Latino and working-class residents in Watsonville and Pajaro have borne the brunt of flood impacts. A 1995 flood killed two people and triggered $95 million in damages.
The funds awarded Tuesday, are part of $17 billion appropriated by a new federal infrastructure law to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to improve critical waterway infrastructure and alleviate flood impacts across the U.S., in the face of climate change.
“Here we are over 70 years later finally moving toward the level of protection that these residents deserve,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend. “We’ve seen investments across the country towards more affluent regions … now a new voice is in the national discussion.”
The Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, some 50 years in the making, aims to safeguard surrounding communities from a 100-year-flood, versus the levees’ current five-year flood protection. It was one of 300 infrastructure projects nationwide chosen by White House officials.
The federal funding will be put toward the first phase of project construction. Some levees on the river – which meanders through Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties – will be torn down and relocated, while others will be rebuilt in place.
U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta held multiple meetings with White House staffers to push the Pajaro River project forward, an issue his father – former U.S. Reps. Leon Panetta – also championed.
“Fortunately after some fierce advocacy we were able to get their commitment,” Panetta said. “It’s a great first big step, but we have many more big steps to go to complete it. We have to continue to put pressure on the federal government.”
The State Department of Water Resources has also committed some $180 million to the project. For the rebuild to be completed, around $150 million in funding will still need to be secured.
The Biden-Harris investment, Friend said, is “historic.”
“It felt like that hope was the only thing you had on a project like this and now you have a state and federal investment that puts us at the finish line,” Friend said. “The hope is turning into the reality of a project that many thought would never happen.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com