Now that four water districts over the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin have opted into a joint powers authority, its board alleviated rural users of water fees, leaving the cost primarily up to agricultural users.
At the inaugural meeting of the Paso Robles Area Groundwater Authority on April 7, consisting of the city of Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County, and the Shandon-San Juan and Estrella-El Pomar-Creston water districts, SLO County Groundwater Sustainability Director Blaine Reely announced that de minimus water users, or those who use little water, won’t be charged a fee for water usage.
The decision came after “all involved” in a fee study expressed desire to exclude small domestic groundwater users, Reely said.
Charging de minimus water users has been an ongoing frustration and concern of residents and board members, as many previously argued it should be the “big guys” of agriculture that take on the cost.
Shandon-San Juan Water District President Willy Cunha told New Times that this meeting was the first step for the joint powers authority (JPA) to establish its power and alleviate fees for water well users, which were anticipated to cost around $20 per year.
“In 2025, we are creating a real agency with real powers,” Cunha said. “And so, this meeting on [April 7] was really our kickoff meeting, and it just starts the wheels.”
Working jointly to ensure sustainable and collaborative management of the basin, the JPA hopes to address an “overdraft” of water, which averages about 13,700 acre-feet per year.
The San Miguel Community Services District (CSD) was the only district to opt out of the authority after its board said at a meeting in late March that there were too many unknowns, like how much fees would cost the CSD’s ratepayers and money the JPA would spend on hiring and administrative tasks.
These unknowns also made Shandon-San Juan and Paso Robles hesitant to join the authority as well, but Shandon-San Juan President Cunha said now that everything is said and done, it’s time for the district to gain some momentum and fight for its residents’ pocketbooks.
“We wanted to be fair and equitable. We want [fees] to be legal. There’s a lot of problems with people charging fees that are uneven, and they get challenged in court all the time,” Cunha told New Times. “So right now, the water uses in our last annual report, it’s like 93 percent of the water use really goes to agriculture—93 percent, that’s gigantic.”
On the other hand, regular, everyday residents aren’t using that much water, he said.
“At your house, you get up in the morning, you take a shower, flush the toilet twice, cook your breakfast, wash the dishes, and maybe you make a pot of coffee,” he said. “So, you’ve consumed many gallons of water, but all of its going back to your septic deck, back to the basin, except for that pot of coffee that you put in your thermos.”
A potentially equitable idea Cunha said was to charge farmers a flat rate of $80 to $100 per acre-foot of water they use, that way the farmer who grows carrots is still contributing to the water basin’s management but not paying as much as the large vineyard down the street.
But before any fees can be enforced, Cunha said the authority must conduct a study to determine how much water is being pumped from the basin per property. From there, the JPA and its consultants could decide on pricing. Δ
Editor’s note: This article was updated to include an image and links.
This article appears in Apr 10-20, 2025.
