The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Saturday approved a $2.857 million state funding agreement that will connect Renaissance High School to the Soquel Creek Water District, replacing the campus’s groundwater system that has been plagued by elevated levels of hexavalent chromium.
The board held a special meeting to ratify a financial assistance agreement with the State Water Resources Control Board, allowing the district to move forward with the long-planned project.
The agreement provides $2.857 million in funding through the state’s Expedited Drinking Water Grant program. While structured as a loan agreement, the entire amount is designated as principal forgiveness, meaning the district will not have to repay the money if it completes the project and complies with the state’s reporting and funding requirements.
In a social media post, Trustee Gabe Medina praised the decision.
“This was an important vote because Renaissance High School students, staff, and families deserve access to safe and reliable drinking water,” he wrote on his Substack account. “Many students and staff have been asking the district to address this issue, and this project is one step toward meeting that responsibility.”
According to the agreement, the project’s purpose is to consolidate Renaissance High School’s water system with the Soquel Creek Water District “to address the hexavalent chromium maximum contaminant level violations” and provide “safe and reliable drinking water to the students and staff of the school.”
The project calls for extending a water main along San Andreas Road, installing a pipeline beneath the railroad tracks, constructing a booster pump station on campus and tying the new line into the school’s domestic water system. The project also includes installing a master meter and backflow prevention device and permanently abandoning the school’s two groundwater wells.
Construction is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 30, 2028, with the overall project wrapping up by Dec. 31, 2028. The district must submit its final reimbursement request by Feb. 28, 2029, and retain project records through Dec. 31, 2064.
State documents show the Water Resources Control Board determined the project will not create significant adverse water quality impacts. The agency relied on an Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration prepared by PVUSD, which approved the project in 2025 and adopted a mitigation monitoring program addressing biological resources, cultural resources and noise.
Under the agreement, the district must comply with numerous grant requirements, including completing the project on schedule, documenting expenditures, submitting quarterly progress reports and obtaining state approval before advertising the project for construction bids or beginning construction. Failure to comply could jeopardize reimbursement or require repayment of funds.
The agreement also prohibits reimbursement for costs incurred before the eligible work start date and limits funding to approved project expenses. If project costs exceed the $2.857 million budget, the district must notify the state and seek additional funding or modify the project’s scope, although additional state funding is not guaranteed.
The project budget includes $1.1 million for construction, $364,000 for contingency costs, $739,000 for engineering and administrative costs, a $28,000 Soquel Creek Water District connection fee and $626,000 in conditional costs.
