Growers in Watsonville, who buy irrigation water produced by the city’s wastewater treatment plant, would pay 14% more under a new rate approved this week by the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency. Officials say the new charge of $306 per acre foot of water, won’t go into effect unless property owners agree to a new rate on water pumped from their wells. A date of August 10th has been set for a mail-in election that is expected to determine whether the groundwater rate will be implemented. Meanwhile, board members also approved a 12-million dollar budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year that assumes the measure will pass and that the agency will receive 4.2 million dollars in grant funding promised by the state for completed water projects.
