County's First Blog

Welcome to the Public Works Department blog on the Los Osos Wastewater Project. The intent of this blog is to give the community an additional opportunity to participate in the County process as we begin to transition from project development to construction. One of the most important issues in implementation is addressing affordability and reducing the financial impact of the project for the residents of Los Osos.


Understanding and addressing affordability issues has been a primary objective since AB 2701 transferred the project to the County. We have reached out to funding agencies, federal and state representatives, and other stakeholders in an effort to bring awareness to the project and highlight the need for collective action.

Our efforts have provided a solid foundation for a funding strategy that should lower projects costs from the original estimate of $200* per month. The drop in cost will be a result of the following events:

• The State Water Board broadening the definition of “Disadvantaged Community” to incorporate criteria which includes Los Osos. This allows the project to apply for extended term SRF financing.

• Our efforts on Proposition 84 Integrated Regional Water Management grant funds have us poised to receive regional funds. The project is the highest ranking unfunded project in the Central Coast region.

• The project has the highest rank on the state’s Project Priority List for SRF funding.

• The $35 million dollar authorization in the Water Resources Development Act is still available for federal appropriation.

• Congress providing a USDA population waiver for access to stimulus funds.

Without question, our most significant accomplishment occurred on October 21, when President Obama signed the Fiscal Year 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill into law. This bill contained a very important provision for Los Osos, which provides a population waiver and allows the County to apply for stimulus funds in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The funds are part of the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA) wastewater loan/grant program.

Over three billion dollars were allocated to the USDA and approximately one and a half billion remains unspent. We have been in close communication with the USDA and have agreed that the County will submit an application for $80 million. The funding amount is anticipated to be $64 million in loan and $16 million in GRANT. Yes, GRANT! We are excited about this opportunity and must remind everyone that Congresswoman Lois Capps, Congressman Kevin McCarthy and Senator Diane Feinstein were instrumental in obtaining the USDA population waiver.

Over the next few months we will update this site with information on the project and where we are on funding applications and authorization. We invite the community and funding agencies to participate in this interactive experience by commenting and asking questions.

John Diodati
*The $200/month figure includes the monthly equivalent of the property assessment, utility bill, and general benefit portion of the capital cost. The property owner on-lot cost is not included in this figure, which will range in cost due to such variables as septic tank location, property slope, etc, but has been estimated to be $50/month.