"Faced with new cost overruns that it feared would spike water rates, along with years of delays, threats of lawsuits and other setbacks, the board of Santa Clara County's largest water agency on Tuesday voted to kill a plan to build a huge new reservoir in the southern part of the county near Pacheco Pass after eight years of studies and meetings."
"By this year, the price tag had soared to $2.7 billion. On Tuesday, Darin Taylor, chief financial officer at the district, said tariffs and other costs would increase that price tag to $3.2 billion, not counting financing, which could cost an additional $3 billion. With no partners interested to help cover those costs, the project could raise water rates for Santa Clara County residents by $20 to $27 a month for the average household, Taylor said."
The Santa Clara Valley Water District board voted 6-0 to halt planning and engineering and withdrew the state bond application for the Pacheco Reservoir after eight years of studies and meetings. The project had already consumed about $100 million for planning, environmental studies, engineering, legal fees and other costs. Initial 2017 cost estimates of $969 million ballooned to $2.7 billion, with additional tariffs and costs raising the estimate to $3.2 billion and financing potentially adding another $3 billion. The district failed to secure partner agencies and lost federal permission to store federal project water, which would have increased local water rates substantially.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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