The Napa County Board of Supervisors is hoping the federal government might subsidize the cost of pumping recycled water into east Napa neighborhoods.

The area known as Miliken-Sarco-Tulocay, or MST, has suffered for more than a decade, with many wells thirsty for groundwater while the county has sought a way to both identify and solve the problem.

For the past couple of years the county has been moving forward with its answer: a joint plan with the Napa Sanitation District to build a recycled water pipeline into MST. The proposal is likely to involve Coombsville residents and commercial operations in the area being asked to approve an assessment on their properties to pay for the project.

In early October, neighbors, fed up with what they felt was a glacial county process, called on the county to kick the project into high gear while exploring options that would minimize the costs to the MST taxpayers.

Those requests put the Napa County Board of Supervisors in a dilemma at a joint meeting with the Napa Sanitation District Board of Directors earlier this week.

Napa Sanitation and agencies in Marin and Sonoma counties have formed a regional organization to go after state and federal funding for recycled water projects. Should the county be a partner in the team and risk more delays? Or should it continue on its own, probably at a faster pace and with substantial costs to local taxpayers?

One advantage of the broader coalition is that it has a better chance to gain the attention of Washington lawmakers, according to lobbyists for the organization. On the minus side, county staff was quick to point out that the seven-year Napa flood project has turned into a 14-year slog because of penny-pinching in Washington.

A things stand, the pipeline project could be under construction as early as 2010 if taxpayers pass an assessment on their properties in 2009. Federal or state funding could subsidize some costs and ease the burden on MST taxpayers.

County Public Works Director Bob Peterson said local officials should consider the flood project a cautionary tale.

“If the flood control project doesn’t get full funding, imagine what happens to the second project on the list,” he said.

A lobbyist hired by the regional team countered, saying the money for the flood project and the MST project will come from separate federal sources. Besides, state and federal money may be the only way to get a funding source for phase two, a project to bolster depleted groundwater supplies in Carneros.

Carneros landowners like David Graves of Saintsbury Winery were quick to take that point.

“I completely agree with Supervisor (Bill) Dodd in that there is a lot to be said by not going alone,” Graves said, adding it would be wise for the project to undergo both federal and state environmental review processes so it could be eligible for money from either source.

Dodd said perhaps NSD ratepayers could pay for part of the project, especially given what he felt was the agency’s long-term benefit from providing the recycled water to the MST area.

As it is now, excess recycled water is drained into the Napa River, a process that may become outlawed in coming years because of its perceived effect on fish and wildlife.

Not everyone was as optimistic about federal money as Dodd. Supervisor Mark Luce threw his support behind the regional team, but was lukewarm about the financial prospects.

“We could all be wrong: Money could start to flow from D.C. and pigs could start to fly,” he said.

Ultimately, boardmembers voted unanimously to link up with the regional team.