Montara Water & Sanitary District Prevails, Litigation Ends
re: City of Half Moon Bay v. Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside,
Montara Water and Sanitary District, and Granada Community Services District

For Immediate Release: March 3, 2026 
Press Contact: Clemens Heldmaier
Cell (650) 766-6982

Montara, CA – On Tuesday, March 3, Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) confirmed the end of the City of Half Moon Bay’s 2017 lawsuit related to the Sewer Authority Mid-Coastside (SAM) contract. With no appeal filed, the August 2025 Superior Court of Santa Clara County ruling stands – affirming GCSD and MWSD’s position that the SAM Joint Powers Agreement is clear and requires all SAM member agencies to share responsibility for operating and maintaining our consolidated community sewer system. This ends the City of Half Moon Bay’s wasteful 9-year legal action which cost Coastside residents millions.

In 2017, the City of Half Moon Bay abruptly sued its partners attempting to avoid paying its share of the millions needed to maintain and repair the SAM Intertie Pipeline System (IPS). The IPS conveys wastewater from Montara, Granada and Half Moon Bay to the centralized sewer treatment plant in Half Moon Bay. During heavy rain events, when increased wastewater flows from the City’s sewer system alone can overwhelm the treatment plant, the IPS provides critical storage and conveyance capacity. This capacity allows the City’s sewer flows to be treated first, and prevents releases of untreated sewage into coastal waters.

In 1976, in order to serve all three communities, the partners of SAM chose to construct, own, and operate consolidated wastewater infrastructure, including the IPS, and a single shared treatment plant to serve the Coastside. The SAM Agreement assigns the costs to be paid by each partner agency based on the partner agency’s share of wastewater conveyed into the SAM system. 

Half Moon Bay’s lawsuit disregarded 45 years of established operational and financial partnership amongst the three partner agencies and the clear contractual language of the SAM Agreement.  

The Superior Court’s 2025 judgment – which followed an earlier 2022 ruling in favor of MWSD and GCSD – affirms that the City of Half Moon Bay must fund maintenance work related to the SAM IPS, an integral part of our Coastside’s sewage system, for which all partners are responsible. Half Moon Bay spent almost nine years attempting to renege on the SAM contract and shift its financial obligations onto its northern partners.  The City’s decision not to appeal brings this 9-year dispute to a close.

“MWSD and our ratepayers are finally free of the wasteful and costly burden of this lawsuit,” said MWSD Board President Scott Boyd. ‘Throughout these 9 years MWSD and GCSD have remained focused on maintaining and upgrading SAM’s critical system. We look forward now to making progress on needed investments.” 

As a public utility, MWSD’s relies on bill and fee payments from its customers to fund all operations, infrastructure investment and legal fees.

For the benefit of its ratepayers, MWSD has filed a motion seeking reimbursement of over $1 million in attorney fees expended due to this litigation. As prevailing parties, both GCSD and MWSD may file for reimbursement of these fees to be paid by the City of Half Moon Bay, which the Court will consider in the coming months. Seeking reimbursement of this expense helps protect MWSD ratepayers and supports the continued operation and maintenance of SAM’s regional wastewater system, which serves the entire Coastside and protects coastal water quality and public health.

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SAM was formed in 1976 under a Joint Exercise of Powers Authority (JPA) contract between GCSD, HMB, and MWSD, and is tasked with protecting public health and our beautiful coastal environment.

For more than 45 years, SAM has operated and maintained constantly aging infrastructure. Throughout the years, the three agencies worked together to share staffing, maintenance, and repair costs.

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Montara Water and Sanitary District (MWSD) works every day to deliver water, garbage, and sewer services for the residents of Montara and Moss Beach. Over 6,000 residents rely on our services for their homes and businesses.