Michael LeBrun named interim district manager of the Nipomo Community Services District

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• Nipomo begins pipeline process

  Nipomo begins pipeline process

  This week, Nipomo property owners should receive letters asking them to verify some details about their parcels.

  The letter, from the Nipomo Community Services District, is one step in the process toward levying a tax that would fund the estimated $25.8 million capital cost of a pipeline to bring water to Nipomo from Santa Maria.

  The letters are being sent to about 6,600 owners of about 9,000 parcels, with owners of numerous properties receiving one letter per parcel, Nipomo services district General Manager Michael LeBrun said.

• Nipomo Mesa is set to consider pipeline cost

  Nipomo Mesa is set to consider pipeline cost

  Some Nipomo Mesa residents could pay from $120 to $225 a year for 30 years to fund construction of a pipeline to bring water to the community from Santa Maria.

  But many others could pay at least double that, depending on the size of their property and other factors.

  The Nipomo Community Services District, which is leading efforts to form an assessment district to pay for the pipeline, has released updated cost estimates for residents who receive water from one of the four purveyors that will share the project’s costs.

• Nipomo district puts water pipeline process in motion

  Nipomo district puts water pipeline process in motion

  Nipomo Mesa residents could vote as soon as March whether to increase their property taxes to pay for construction of a pipeline to bring water from Santa Maria.

  The Nipomo Community Services District board voted Wednesday to move ahead with the process to create an assessment district to fund the estimated $25.3 million capital cost of the pipeline.

  The board also agreed that the cost of the actual water delivered from Santa Maria would be covered through water rate hikes — a separate process in which local residents affected by the rate increase would have a chance to vote against it.

• Nipomo revs up pipeline efforts

  Nipomo revs up pipeline efforts

  EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to include links for information on the water-shortage publicity campaign and opposition to the Santa Maria water pipeline project.

  Every day, when residents on the Nipomo Mesa fill up their coffee pots, irrigate their lawns or take a shower, they’re using water that comes from under their feet.

  Nipomo residents rely on water from an enormous underground aquifer that covers a surface area of about 256 square miles and serves parts of southern San Luis Obispo and northern Santa Barbara counties.

• Cost of water in Nipomo going up

  Cost of water in Nipomo going up

  Over the past 49 days, 209 letters were mailed or dropped off at the Nipomo Community Services District office in protest of a proposed water increase, the district’s first in nearly three years.

  Another five typed — and in one case, hastily scribbled — letters were submitted Wednesday during the district board’s meeting.

  But when the final vote count was tallied, the 214 protests received were not nearly close enough to stop a water rate increase from going forward. The board unanimously approved the increase, which will take effect Nov. 1.