It shouldn’t be a surprise that Montecito will have this year’s State Water Project deliveries cut by 95 percent. The Department of Water Resources is reducing all contractors to 5 percent of expected water deliveries because of the drought.
That means that instead of 3,000 acre-feet of water, the annual amount that Montecito was promised by its state water contract, delivery will be reduced to 150-acre feet. This means that Montecito Water District customers will pay over $38,000 per acre foot for this year’s 150-acre feet allotment. That is $5.8 million dollars the district has to squeeze out of its customers and fork over to the state in this water year.
What is going on? In 1991 Montecito voted to join the State Water Project (SWP) hoping to receive extra water when needed. To do so, voters approved a huge bond measure to construct the necessary pipeline to the Central Valley aqueduct that brings SWP water south from the San Francisco Bay-Delta. That infrastructure cost continues to be paid and will not end until 2038, and the costs continue whether or not we get the water we want and can use. The SWP has never been able to deliver the full amount of water Montecito was promised.