WATSONVILLE — Construction of a new levee will begin on the Pajaro River next summer. This was made official with the signing of a Project Partnership Agreement between local elected officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tuesday.
Local, state and federal representatives gathered in the Community Room at the Watsonville Civic Plaza to deliver speeches and commemorate the agreement signing for the construction of the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, which aims to construct a new levee and provide a 100-year level of flood protection to the town of Pajaro and neighboring city of Watsonville.
The current levee was constructed in 1949 to address flooding in the area, but it has still yielded four major floods during that time: in 1955, 1995, 1997 and this past March when rains from an atmospheric river storm resulted in a breach that flooded the town of Pajaro, resulting in residents being evacuated or displaced, structures receiving water damage and fields being soaked.
This past summer, the Army Corps worked to rehabilitate critical levee infrastructure damaged in the storm and set the stage for a systemwide rebuild scheduled to take place this summer. Zach Friend, chair of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, called it “a defining moment in the over-75-year history of this river levee.”
“We’ve been looking for some sense of hope to transition from fear of flooding for generations, and we’ve moved now into a situation where we move toward construction of a new day,” he said. “We still have not just this winter weather but future winters’ weather during construction. We know we’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re moving towards something that we just haven’t seen here in generations, which is an opportunity to rebuild the levee for communities that deserve it.”
Friend then introduced Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, who said it was a long time coming.
“It really does take an enormous amount of leadership to identify the fact that we have communities that are very vulnerable here in California, more vulnerable given the effects of climate change and the intensity of the storms, the growing intensity we anticipate experiencing and the true impact it has on communities,” she said.
Nemeth said last winter was particularly challenging with the key takeaway being that governments and agencies need to work to keep communities safe from extreme weather events.
“It’s extraordinarily disruptive to families, to communities, to the local economy, and we need to do better and we can do better,” she said.
Nemeth said her department is in the process of finishing a contract agreement for an additional $47 million to support the project, which was produced through two of the morning’s speakers: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and state Sen. John Laird, who represent the area in their respective legislative chambers.
“We would not be here without it,” she said.
Maj. Shantel Glass of the Army Corps said the agreement would lay out the roles and responsibilities of the federal government and the execution of work.
“A project of this scale would not succeed without the strong, unyielding support from the collective energy everyone has provided,” he said. “Without strong support to remove the administrative barriers on all fronts — local, state and federal — we would not be here today.”
Friend praised Rivas as “a very strong voice for the community,” but Rivas said the effort took all the voices of the community.
“For many of us, we know Pajaro is a resilient community,” he said. “This is a special place on the Central Coast, and this community absolutely understands the importance of working hard but more importantly of working together to get things done because there’s no better example than this levee project of working together to get things done.”
Rivas said expediting the project would keep the region safer.
“We’re able to shave off years from the construction of these levees and provide a hundred-year flood protection for this region,” he said.
Laird said the project is very people-oriented. He related how when he went to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds this year to meet with evacuees, he could swear that some of the parents were kids when he was county manager during the 1995 flood.
“It is a thing that has driven us in making sure that there’s a solution,” he said.
Laird said a lot of people were worried in the early stages of this year’s flooding because of the feeling the impacted populations were disadvantaged and that the government did not care about them. However, he said the ensuing action proved those sentiments wrong.
“In the last two or three years, it was because it was a disadvantaged community that legislation was adopted and a real change in the narratives of this story,” he said.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who represents Watsonville and Pajaro in Congress, said she was only a few months into serving the area as part of her newly redrawn district when the flooding occurred.
“It was heartbreaking to go over to the fairgrounds to meet with the people who had lost everything and to be re-energized on the need to get this done,” she said.
Lofgren said a lot of support for the new levee modernization comes through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021 and included $149 million to rebuild the levee system at the request of Lofgren, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, Sen. Alex Padilla, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died in September.
“Let’s celebrate what’s about to happen and with thanks to all of the people who worked so hard, including the Army Corps and the state partners,” she said. “I’m looking forward to ribbon cuttings and celebrations when this is done.”
Panetta, who represents much of the Monterey Bay area in Congress, said the project was about prioritizing people, forming partnerships and applying pressure where needed.
“It is about protecting people,” he said. “It’s about protecting everybody from the seniors who are over on Bridge Street to the farmworkers and families who are there on Bishop Street in Pajaro, and yes, to our producers in the fields in the Pajaro Valley.”
Panetta said that it was a long journey and will continue to be and expressed gratitude toward all who made it possible.
“Thanks to all of you at all levels of government, at all levels of our community to ensure that not only are we at this point to where we have this signing today but to where we finish this in the future,” he said.
In a statement issued after the signing, Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the action.
“California is investing in the infrastructure and tools needed to meet the challenges of extreme weather across the state,” he wrote. “This project is critically needed to protect communities in the Pajaro Valley, and I thank Speaker Rivas, Senator Laird and all our partners working to make it a reality.”
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