Grover Beach left controversial water project. Why it could still be built in city
The contentious Central Coast Blue recycled water project is set to move forward in a new form in Grover Beach — but the city won’t have any control over whether it ultimately gets approved.
Central Coast Blue can trace its history in South County back to 2018, when the cities of Pismo Beach, Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande formed a joint powers authority to build the water purification project as a shared resource used by all three cities.
But since then, the project has changed dramatically in size and scope, with Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach pulling out of the project last year, leaving Pismo Beach as the sole agency still pushing for the project.
Once completed, the project is intended to take wastewater from the Pismo Beach Wastewater Treatment facility, clean it, and inject that water back into the Northern Cities Management Area of the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin, which supplies the Five Cities with water.
Despite Grover Beach withdrawing from the project, officials said some of the water treatment and then injection would still have to happen from a new facility within the city’s limits — a move that left some Grover Beach residents concerned.
The project has already proved politically and financially costly to the city.
In 2023, the Grover Beach City Council voted to approve new water and wastewater rates to help pay for the city’s share of Central Coast Blue and other infrastructure improvements.
As a result, Grover Beach residents formed GroverH20 to oppose the project. The City Council voted to roll back the water rate increase due to public pressure that took the form of a recall campaign against then-Mayor Karen Bright, and then Councilmembers Zach Zimmerman and Daniel Rushing.
Even with the City Council’s concession, the recall still cost Rushing his seat in the 2024 election, and in the following year, the city has continued exploring smaller water and wastewater rate increases to pay for non-Central Coast Blue infrastructure projects.
But as a new, smaller version of the project by Pismo Beach starts to pick up steam, community development director Megan Martin said Grover Beach won’t have any control over Central Coast Blue’s permits or development review process, and won’t have to go through a public hearing process in Grover Beach, drawing the ire of some residents.
“Why? Because state law gives the constructing agency — here, it’s the city of Pismo Beach — the authority to move forward without local land use or building approvals when building water infrastructure,” Martin said. “This does not mean that there are no regulations or rules, and I want to make that very clear — the project must still comply with state building standards, life safety codes, environmental regulations, coastal regulations where applicable and all engineering requirements.”
“Those reviews will still occur, just not with the city of Grover Beach as the lead agency, as you see in our normal permitting process,” Martin said.
A Pismo Beach project, but on Grover Beach land
As planned, the Central Coast Blue project site near the end of Barca and Huber streets encompasses a pair of parcels surrounded by a mix of industrial and less dense residential neighborhoods.
According to the staff report, the project would create a reliable water source by taking treated effluent from Pismo Beach otherwise being discharged into the ocean and purifying it to drinking water standards.
The treated effluent will be directed to the Central Coast Blue facility in Grover Beach and will undergo the standardized purification process consisting of ultra-filtration, micro-filtration and reverse osmosis, followed by ultraviolet and advanced oxidation processes for advanced disinfection, according to the staff report.
Over the course of each year, between 350 and 600 acre-feet of purified water will be injected via an onsite injection well into the Northern Cities Management Area of the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin.
In addition to the industrial work done at the project site, the project will require the construction of a 1,000 linear-feet pipeline that would convey secondary effluent the Pismo Beach Wastewater Treatment Plan’s outfall pipeline, while another 1,000 linear-feet pipeline would carry reverse osmosis concentrate from Central Coast Blue back to the existing outfall pipe, according to the staff report.
At a date to be determined, the project will require the construction of two monitoring wells, along with an extraction well required by the state.
The facility is located outside the Coastal Development Zone, and won’t need a coastal development permit from the city, though the California Coastal Commission will retain final jurisdiction over its coastal development permit.
As is, Pismo Beach has submitted a pair of environmental impact reviews — one in 2021 and an addendum in 2023 — predicated on a much larger version of the project, which are still considered valid, Martin said.
While Grover Beach is no longer a partner in the Central Coast Blue project, it will work with Pismo Beach to ensure development codes are being followed, Martin said.
“Although the city is no longer a direct partner in the current phase of the project, future participation is possible, such as contracting for potential water supply, and because the General Plan is a long-range planning document and framework, the goals and implementation measures related to regional water resiliency — particularly those referencing the CCB project and multi agency partnerships — continue to apply and guide city’s development within city limits,” Martin said.
New Central Coast Blue push ruffles feathers
During the meeting, Pismo Beach city manager Jorge Garcia gave a brief presentation on the scaled-back version of the project and answered some questions from the City Council.
Garcia said the project had to be located in Grover Beach because of the placement of groundwater basins under the Five Cities and the one immediately to the south.
“It can’t be in Pismo Beach, because it’s technically outside of that basin that we’re trying to protect, our existing source of groundwater,” Garcia said. “That is why it is situated where it is — it has to be immediately adjacent to that ocean outfall, and then ultimately, to protect where saltwater intrusion could potentially jeopardize that joint basin that the entire South County utilizes.”
Garcia said he understood why residents may take issue with the project, but made it clear that its impacts will be minimal.
“We are not relocating our treatment plant into Grover Beach — it is operating on Frady Lane adjacent to our baseball fields, it will remain there and stay there,” Garcia said. “There is no plans to relocate or move that facility again.”
Some residents in attendance — including GroverH2O founder and former Mayor Debbie Peterson — said they didn’t understand why the project had to be located in Grover Beach, and took issue with the lack of local approval process.
During public comment, Donna De La Rosa, a resident who lives within 300 feet of the project site, said it’s the city’s job to protect residents from projects that could impact their home values and personal space.
“Here’s where you come in as Grover Beach City Council — and I don’t know if you have any recourse or not — you need to look out for us, to protect us, and look out for our best interest as taxpayers and voters,” De La Rosa said. “What benefit is this project at all for any citizen in Grover Beach? Why is this being allowed to happen?”
Peterson said the City Council should not accept Pismo Beach’s explanations that they have no jurisdiction over the water project’s approval, adding that the council has “rolled over” and “gone AWOL” on this issue.
“You say there will be no same financial involvement, but there will be loss of property value for citizens and possible irreversible damage to our aquifer due to human or technical error with the project,” Peterson said. “The General Plan Land Use and Safety Code encourages projects that minimize environmental impact, but there are huge environmental risks, including actual seawater intrusion, as happened in Los Osos and other fragile ecological sites all over the United States, when agencies punch holes into the aquifer.”
The final version of Central Coast Blue is still in the works, and likely won’t be finished until late 2026, followed by construction work expected to start in 2028, Garcia said.
Residents will still have a chance to share their views on the project at public hearings held by Pismo Beach and at the Coastal Commission level, Grover Beach city manager Matt Bronson said.
“What we do have is a vested interest in working with the city of Pismo Beach on a very unique project occurring in our city that does support our groundwater basin that we all depend on,” Bronson said. “The commitment expressed by the city of Pismo Beach is valued and appreciated, and we will work with them diligently at the staff level, ensuring that continues with our community, with our residents, with our organization as this project goes forward in the coming years.”
