Santa Cruz, California: water and wastewater capital improvement projects
39 line items · $312M · starting 2026–2030 · 1 plan
Santa Cruz's published capital plans list 39 water, sewer and wastewater line items with a combined planning budget of $312M, of which 18 items worth $86M sit in the wastewater and sewer departments. The largest single item is GHWTP Facilities Improvement Project at $68M (2026–2030). 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 Cruz
| # | Project | Department | Type | Budget | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GHWTP Facilities Improvement Project | Water Supply | Water treatment plants | $68M | 2026–2030 |
| 2 | Water Supply Augmentation | Water Distribution | — | $51M | 2028–2030 |
| 3 | WWTF-Electrical System | Wastewater | Wastewater treatment plant upgrades | $48M | 2027–2030 |
| 4 | Beltz WTP Upgrades | Water Supply | Water treatment plants | $35M | 2026–2030 |
| 5 | Newell Crk. Pipeline Felton/Graham Hill | Water Distribution | Water mains and distribution | $13M | 2026–2030 |
| 6 | Water Program Management Reserve | Water Supply | Planning, studies and asset management | $10M | 2027–2028 |
| 7 | Tait Diversion Rehab/Replacement | Water Distribution | Headworks, screening and grit | $9M | 2026–2030 |
| 8 | City WWTF Headworks Replacement | Wastewater | Headworks, screening and grit | $9M | 2026–2027 |
| 9 | Water Program Administration | Water Distribution | Planning, studies and asset management | $8M | 2026–2030 |
| 10 | Beltz 8 Upgrades for Aquifer Storage and Recovery | Water Supply | Wells and groundwater | $8M | 2026–2030 |
29 more line items in Santa Cruz, with descriptions and contacts
Klarifi holds every Santa Cruz line item with its description, the page it appears on and the source document. Track new plans as they are adopted and compare with similar projects in other cities.
Planned spend by start year
2026
$184M
22 items
2027
$73M
8 items
2028
$54M
7 items
2030
$1M
2 items
By department
| Department | Line items | Budget | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wastewater | 17 | $82M | 26% |
| Sewer | 1 | $4M | 1% |
| Water Supply | 8 | $132M | 42% |
| Water Distribution | 13 | $95M | 30% |
Project types in Santa Cruz's plan
Wastewater treatment plants in Santa Cruz
No publicly owned treatment plant is recorded under Santa Cruz in the facility directory; the city may be served by a regional plant listed under another municipality. Browse all plants in California.
Other California cities with capital plans
Santa Cruz capital plan questions
Sources and methodology
Budgets and years are as published in Santa Cruz’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 (39 line items).
Data refreshed September 11, 2026.