Santa Barbara, California: water and wastewater capital improvement projects
19 line items · $450M · starting 2029 · 1 plan
Santa Barbara's published capital plans list 19 water, sewer and wastewater line items with a combined planning budget of $450M, of which 8 items worth $105M sit in the wastewater and sewer departments. The largest single item is Vic Trace Reservoir Replacement and Resiliency Project at $125M (2025–2030). The ten largest items are listed below; the full list with descriptions and page references is in Klarifi.
A capital improvement plan (CIP) is a city’s multi-year budget for building and replacing infrastructure. The water, sewer and wastewater sections list each project with its budget and the years it is funded, which makes them the earliest public signal that a plant, pump station or pipe network is about to be upgraded, usually two to four years before a contract is awarded.
The largest water and sewer projects in Santa Barbara
| # | Project | Department | Type | Budget | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vic Trace Reservoir Replacement and Resiliency Project | Water Supply | Stormwater and flood resilience | $125M | 2025–2030 |
| 2 | Water Main Replacement Program | Water Distribution | Water mains and distribution | $111M | 2025–2031 |
| 3 | Cater Reservoir Resiliency Project | Water Supply | Stormwater and flood resilience | $44M | 2025–2027 |
| 4 | El Estero Water Resource Center Electrical Distribution Renewal | Wastewater | Water mains and distribution | $31M | 2025–2027 |
| 5 | El Estero Water Resource Center Maintenance Program | Wastewater | Biosolids, sludge and dewatering | $27M | 2025–2031 |
| 6 | Desalination Program | Water Supply | Pump stations | $26M | 2025–2031 |
| 7 | Reservoir Program | Water Supply | Storage tanks and reservoirs | $23M | 2025–2031 |
| 8 | Sanitary Sewer Overflow Compliance Program | Sewer | Sewer rehabilitation and I&I | $19M | 2025–2031 |
| 9 | Lift Station Maintenance Program | Sewer | Lift stations | $14M | 2025–2031 |
| 10 | Sanitary Sewer Capacity Improvement Program | Sewer | Sewer rehabilitation and I&I | $11M | 2025–2031 |
9 more line items in Santa Barbara, with descriptions and contacts
Klarifi holds every Santa Barbara line item with its description, the page it appears on and the source document, plus 3 verified contacts at the city’s treatment plants. Track new plans as they are adopted and compare with similar projects in other cities.
Planned spend by start year
Before 2026
$449M
18 items
2029
$200K
1 items
By department
| Department | Line items | Budget | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wastewater | 4 | $58M | 13% |
| Sewer | 4 | $47M | 10% |
| Water Supply | 8 | $232M | 52% |
| Water Distribution | 3 | $112M | 25% |
Project types in Santa Barbara's plan
Wastewater treatment plants in Santa Barbara
2 publicly owned treatment plants in Santa Barbara with 18 permit violations in the last three years. Each profile shows flow, permit, technology and compliance data.
| Plant | Avg flow (MGD) | NPDES | Violations (3y) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montecito Sd WWTP | 0.58 | CAL047899 | 8 |
| El Estero WWTP | — | CA0048143 | 10 |
Other California cities with capital plans
Santa Barbara capital plan questions
Sources and methodology
Budgets and years are as published in Santa Barbara’s capital improvement plan or adopted budget. Klarifi extracts the water, sewer and wastewater line items from the published document, keeps the page reference for each one, and assigns a project type from the title and description with a keyword classifier. Figures are planning budgets, not awarded contracts, and can change when a plan is re-adopted.
Documents: CIP 2026–2030 (19 line items).
Data refreshed September 11, 2026.