When the Nipomo Community Services District learned last November that a pipeline to Santa Maria would cost $24 million four times the original estimate it made sense to send the consultants back to the drawing board.

The effort came about as a result of a court order, but the area had already been searching for a new water source. Concerns about supply recently prompted the district to reduce the amount of water it allocates for new development by 33 percent.

On June 27, the district is set to consider a draft report comparing 10 different supplemental water options. Though they run the gamut, the options indicate that

$24 million may be the best deal the district will get.

"The [Santa Maria pipeline] project, you know, at the time it appeared to be expensive and it was more expensive than what the district had estimated a year or two before," said Mike Nunley, principal engineer for Boyle Engineering, which wrote the report. "But expensive is a subjective term." ?