Citing health, Cambria desalination backer backs out of services district race

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• Cambria directors to put alternatives to desalination back on the table

  Cambria directors to put alternatives to desalination back on the table

  The Cambria Community Services District — still reeling from the California Coastal Commission’s unanimous Dec. 9 vote against a series of sampling tests near the mouth of Santa Rosa Creek — is now seeking other possible locations from which to draw salty or brackish water into a desalination plant, and will also be taking a look at other possible alternatives for bringing stable new water supplies to town.

  CCSD directors and staff said Jan. 19 they also expect to consult soon with the district’s constituents and its project partner, the Army Corps of Engineers.

  Alternatives would be considered during federal-and- state level environmental studies being done for the district’s desalination project that, so far, doesn’t have a location from which to get salty water and into which to deposit the hypersaline brine that the desalination process produces.

• Government Watch: A roundup of this week’s agendas

  Government Watch: A roundup of this week’s agendas

  Arroyo Grande Planning Commission. Meets Tuesday. 473-5420. Discuss whether to recommend that the City Council approve an ordinance to establish a mandatory waiting period between sequential lot-line adjustments.

  Atascadero Planning Commission. Meets Tuesday. 461-5000. Oak tree removal request for shopping center at 7600 El Camino Real.

  Atascadero Unified School District Board of Trustees. Meets Tuesday. 462-4200. Annual financial audit; Citizens Advisory Committee presentation; update on bond-funded projects.

• Ed Waage, Pismo councilman, says he's considering a run for supervisor

  Ed Waage, Pismo councilman, says he's considering a run for supervisor

  Although he has not formally announced his candidacy, Pismo Beach City Councilman Ed Waage said Thursday he is considering running for county supervisor and has spoken to former Supervisor Katcho Achadjian about making a run.

  Waage, 68, declined to provide details about what he and Achadjian, now a state Assemblyman, spoke about. But both are Republicans who endorsed conservative Mike Zimmerman in his unsuccessful bid to replace Achadjian on the Board of Supervisors in 2010.

  Paul Teixeira defeated Zimmerman for the county board seat that includes Nipomo, Oceano and Arroyo Grande.

• 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.

• Nipomo district to lead in financing for pipeline

  Nipomo district to lead in financing for pipeline

  The Nipomo Community Services District — not the county — will lead efforts to finance construction of a pipeline that would deliver water to the community from Santa Maria.

  San Luis Obispo County supervisors agreed Tuesday to allow district officials to form a property tax assessment district of about 8,000 property owners in the Nipomo area, including the Mesa, some of whom live outside the services district boundaries.

  The supervisors’ action helps move the $25.3 million project ahead — and could save the district time and money, because the district won’t have to wait for the county’s approval to form an assessment district and issue bonds to finance the project.