HomeMy WebLinkAbout4-13-2022 Salinas Feasibility Study - Padilla
April 13, 2022
The Honorable Alex Padilla
U.S. Senate
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Re: County of San Luis Obispo
FY23 Appropriations - Salinas Dam Feasibility Study
Dear Senator Padilla:
The County of San Luis Obispo has submitted a request to your office for $1.9 million in Congressionally
Directed Spending (CDS) for the Salinas Dam Feasibility Study. The City of San Luis Obispo, who is
currently the only beneficiary of water from Salinas Reservoir, strongly supports this important project
and urges you to give all due consideration to the request.
The project includes a Feasibility Study for taking ownership of, retrofitting, and potentially expanding
the Salinas Dam and its storage capacity by installing gates along the spillway to retain flood
flow/stormwater for beneficial use. The City of San Luis Obispo is dependent on water from Salinas
Reservoir for its nearly 50,000 residents, and daytime population that exceeds 100,000. A complete
understanding of the feasibility of transferring the facility to local ownership and retrofitting the facility
is paramount for the City.
The Salinas Dam (which forms Santa Margarita Lake) is situated in the northern area of San Luis Obispo
County, California, about seven miles southeast of the town of Santa Margarita, California. The dam is
located on the upper Salinas River at river mile 150. The US Army Corps of Engineers is in the process of
conducting a Disposition Study to evaluate alternatives for disposing of the dam. Taking ownership of
and retrofitting the dam would help secure and protect an essential part of the local water supply and
expanding the dam would leverage existing infrastructure to increase resilience and an available water
supply. The $1.9 million funding requested here is for the Feasibility Study to support a larger project,
which is anticipated to cost $30 - $50 million, to take ownership of, retrofit, and potentially expand the
Salinas Dam and its storage capacity to protect and optimize existing infrastructure, and increase local
water resiliency.
I urge you to support this request, and I thank you for your service to our community.
Sincerely,
Erica A. Stewart
Mayor
City of San Luis Obispo
C: San Luis Obispo City Council