Editor’s note: This piece was written in collaboration with San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper and Los Padres Forestwatch
Lopez Lake is an essential local resource providing water for the Five Cities, farms, and recreation. But beneath the surface lies a problem that generations of local leaders have failed to resolve: Lopez Dam has been operating without the proper state water license for nearly 30 years.
The licensing process is on hold, and the county can’t secure our water supply, unless and until it brings operations into compliance with the Endangered Species Act by addressing Lopez Dam’s harm to south-central California coast steelhead trout in Arroyo Grande Creek. Once abundant along our Central Coast and into the Los Padres National Forest, threatened local steelhead are at risk of extinction as they struggle to survive in fragmented watersheds with limited water flow. Federal and state resource agencies have deemed Arroyo Grande Creek as critical habitat for the survival and recovery of steelhead.
Lisa Van Atta, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries’ West Coast region assistant regional administrator, stated “We are at a crucial point where we can still help improve the resilience of the species to climate change, but that time is running out.” Reviving key watersheds, like Arroyo Grande Creek, is necessary for steelhead recovery amid existing conditions and the ever growing pressures of climate change.
Steelhead are a keystone species, meaning they play a significant role in the health of other organisms and the entire ecosystem. Protecting steelhead is not only a legal obligation, but also a measure of whether our water management systems are truly sustainable.
For multiple decades San Luis Obispo County has kicked this can down the road–leaving the issue for current officials and our communities to solve. When San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper and Los Padres ForestWatch finally forced the issue in 2024, the county responded with legal tactics that have already amounted to $2.68 million in litigation defense, and the bill is slated to land on Five Cities ratepayers. Without meaningful consultations with city councils or ratepayers, the county is prolonging the dispute and spending limited public resources rather than engaging with clear collaborative solutions.
The good news is that on Oct. 1, 2025, the county complied with a U.S. District Court order to submit a Habitat Conservation Plan to federal agencies, which is a critical first step toward complying with the Endangered Species Act and securing water rights for the Five Cities. The county’s plan, while light on some important details, proposes a balanced program to release water from Lopez Dam into Arroyo Grande Creek that will benefit steelhead, and protect the communities’ water needs by moving close to a proper water right license.
Now that the county has written a Habitat Conservation Plan, it’s time to implement it. If the county is willing to commit to executing its proposal, this would go a long way toward enabling a potential settlement—allowing the county to redirect limited public funds away from litigation and toward solving local communities’ water supply and environmental challenges. But the question remains: Will the county seize this opportunity?
It is important to emphasize that steelhead are not responsible for the region’s limited water supply. Local water scarcity is the result of our naturally variable Central Coast climate combined with outdated water management practices and increasing pressures of climate change. The decline of steelhead in Arroyo Grande Creek is the canary in the coal mine, signaling that our current approach is unsustainable for humans and fish alike. Our water management success must be measured by our ability to simultaneously preserve irreplaceable ecosystems and provide a reliable water supply to families, businesses, and farms—one without the other is not sustainable for our communities.
What we need now is bold leadership to protect our environment and develop long-term solutions for our water supply, starting by securing rights to the water in Lopez Lake. County leaders need to collaborate with city councils, stop spending money on risky legal maneuvers, and focus on implementing real solutions that protect steelhead, water supply, and Five Cities’ ratepayers.
Our future depends on more than just changes at Lopez Dam. To ensure our families, farms, and steelhead have enough water, the Central Coast must embrace integrated water management strategies that prioritize conservation, advanced water recycling, and sustainable groundwater management to reduce pressure on limited surface water supplies. Other communities across California are already moving in this direction. San Luis Obispo County should not be left behind.
The Sierra Club joins with our community partners in calling on county leaders to settle this lawsuit and commit to collaborative solutions that connect local communities and ecosystem health. The time for delay is over; the time for sustainable solutions is now. ∆
Gianna Patchen and Andrew Christie with the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club wrote this column in collaboration with San Luis Obispo Coastkeeper and Los Padres ForestWatch. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 9-19, 2025.
“…signaling that our current approach is unsustainable for humans and fish alike.”
Or, as the Cree are attributed to saying:
“Only when the last tree has died, and the last river been poisoned, and the last fish been caught, will we realize we cannot eat money.”
Most of our problems are associated with the pursuit of wealth. Right now, massive fleets of rusting, Chinese commercial fishing vessels with miles long nets encroach on protected fishing grounds and sovereign territory from the Philippines, to the coast of Chili and Argentina, and to the Natuna Islands of Indonesia, hell bent on capturing every last fish in the ocean to feed their 1.4 billion people and make as much doing so as they can. This is abetted by their (communist) government that gives them subsidized fuel. Like HG Wells martians in “The War of the Worlds,” they too look at our world’s resources, in particular America’s bread basket, with jealousy and if not careful and thanks to all of our self serving politicians, may be handed over to them, turning once free Americans into slaves, picking THEIR cotton. So, for all those on the left, wake up. Pointing this out isn’t “racist,” it’s reality. Your kindness, to them, is weakness.
We find our nation destitute and most of our leaders willing to sell their own parents if it means they can protect their own dynasties and individual families. The Clinton’s a are case in point.
Let’s keep American land and resources in the hands of Americans and not foreign interests. Support our farmers and SUPPORT AMERICAN NATIONALISTS. If that bothers you, leave.
Downstream releases were increased by 50 percent to a level beyond the sustainable supply of the Lopez Lake watershed. Models have shown that, had the proposed release schedule been in effect, Lopez Lake would have been drained in 2016 and 2021-22. This judgment has put us on the path to draining Lopez Lake, the South County’s main water supply. (https://www.newtimesslo.com/our-water-supply-depends-on-fighting-the-lawsuit-against-slo-county-16238159/#:~:text=This%20lawsuit%20threatens%20our%20water,water%20supply%20depends%20on%20it.&text=This%20article%20appears%20in%20Jan%2023%20%E2%80%93%20Feb%202%2C%202025.)
While you have the right sentiment, your argument and conclusions lack a complete understanding of the issue… What the plaintiffs are requesting for settlement will create water insecurity for the region. The dam was put in before the ESA was put into law and the dam was funded by the federal govt and given to the county to operate. The unfortunate reality is we have to choose between water for the community and water for steelhead. 5 Cities is continuing to grow and will require more water which puts releases risk to the water supply for the community. If we limit growth, rent and home prices will increase which will hurt lower income households. Agreed the real solution is investing in sustainable water management (ie: deep desal, reducing water usage, putting meters on agricultural wells, reducing water intensive practices), but the dam operations are not the primary cause for jeopardy to steelhead. The dam releases have not even increased streamflow downstream because it is sucked up by farmers with pumps in the stream with their unlimited water rights before it even gets to the ocean. It also risks contributing to flooding as the water level in lagoons downstream and between the levee system are more prone to overtopping, which the county is obligated to maintain and have also gotten sued over for not being able to manage properly. Everybody wants to point the finger at the easy target of the county, but they have no incentive to harm steelhead with their water practices, their obligation is to serve the community and they know what a sustainable release is based on decades of drought. Farmers need to look at how they are treating the land and change their practices to reduce environmental harm (ie; monocrop, grading, erosion, excessive groundwater and stream pumping, pest/herbicide application, removal of floodplains/riparian areas, etc). The central valley is a prime example of how a natural ecosystem has been completely devastated through dikes, diversions, and grading… There is no wildlife and terrible water/air quality.
The only people winning right now are the lawyers and once again, the poorest will be the most impacted since the county will need to increase rates to fight the lawsuit to protect water supply for the future.
You are correct in that the pursuit of wealth is causing environmental degradation, but xenophobic nationalism is not the solution. Putting up walls in a connected ecosystem of the world is not the solution… There is no jealousy, only a fight between powers to suck the earth dry of its resources (US and China included). In the US, our government is trying to sell off our public lands to the highest bidder for private entities to mine and log our public resources. Wealth inequality in the US (as well as most places across the world) is at an all time high as we slash taxation for the highest income earners who leach off the work of middle and lower income households to produce the slop they then sell back for profit. Taxation of wealth is one step we need to provide the income to resolve social issues that are inherently created by this income inequality (homelessness, mental health issues, lack of low price nutritional foods, raising rent, stagnant wages, private jails, private healthcare etc.). The capitalistic sentiments of our nation are driving this income inequality, environmental degradation, and social issues. Our politicians work for these high-income workers as they need lobbying donations to their campaigns to stay in power. We could resolve all these issues by taxing those making over $10 million in annual profit very easily, but we see false claims that taxation is somehow going to hurt middle and lower class hardworking Americans. We need to safeguard world resources for all, regardless of the nation, because many are shared resources (air, water, animals, etc) and don’t conform to national boundaries. We need collaboration between nation leaders for sustainable management of world resources. Not the protection of the interests of the few. Collaboration at the global scale for the sustainable management of communal resources is the only solution.
Sammy:
Good luck with that, I prefer a well defended coastline whose resources belong to Americans. Have you ever been to a developing country where only the few with enough money can afford to have their trash picked up, the rest just build a pile of trash in their front yard and burn it? Those that had it picked up can usually find their trash on the side of the road a mile away. The fragrance of melting plastic never leaves.
There is a role for taxation and it’s not to subsidize the well-to-do. Maintaining the opportunity to profit is also important, as it is that that drives entrepreneurial activity.
I believe in maintaining English as our national language and if you are so enamored of immigrants, why don’t you simply move to their country where you too can burn your trash? If they chose to come here, they can get in line and take a number. If not, no one should be surprised when they get tossed in van and deported. That’s actually one of the few times I feel my tax money is going to a good cause. Your pals, illegal immigrants, are setting up criminal enterprises and engaging in drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, human trafficking, and other illegal enterprises. We need law and order and the elevation of European/Protestant values over that of indolence and a resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. Live free or die.
A regional solution to the problems of a sustainable water supply is right in front of us but most citizens, and many elected officials, know nothing about it. It could play a major role in helping the steelhead as well.
In May of 2017 the California Coastal Commission mandated the SLO South County Waste Water Treatment plant (SSLOCSD) to begin planning for possible relocation of the Oceano facility by May of 2047 due to legitimate concerns the SSLOCSD could be compromised by climate change induced sea level rise and creek flooding (link to W37a).
It also required a progress report every 10 years and specified studies be completed on: new locations safe from sea level rise and watershed flooding; detailed life expectancy of the current plant; detailed hazard response plan and risk assessment related to flooding and earthquakes; estimate costs to build a new treatment and drinking water standard purification plant for ALL municipal waste water from AG, GB, and Oceano; estimate costs to demolish the existing plant and restore the property to a natural state; and estimate costs to build new distribution structures for treated water. The first ten year progress report is due in 19 months. Most of the above required information has been created and shared with the CCC.
The CCC has provided a huge gift to the South County in laying out the groundwork for a comprehensive plan to secure a new treatment plant while at the same time creating a state of the art municipal wastewater reclamation and purification operation. It would create millions of gallons of “new water” on a daily basis for South County and create water security for decades to come. Water insecurity is perhaps the most acute environmental issue we face in our communities and this legacy project will protect us and our great, great grandchildren.
The existing treatment plant is old and vulnerable. Studies estimate it would need more than $100,000,000 over the next 22 years in maintenance and repairs. Its replacement is inevitable and now is the time for our communities to come together in this effort to protect our water resources into the future.
We can use the CCC’s “gift” of this planning mandate as a regional water management blueprint. At this time there are billions of dollars in planning and construction grants from State and Federal sources. Now is the time to embrace and mobilize as communities working together to create a modern water recycling facility and be a model for doing it right.
We need elected leaders who have the vision and understanding necessary to seize this opportunity and push the process forward on behalf of all who live in Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, and Oceano. We need citizens who are educated and engaged in the process. We need to be ready and at the front of the line when it is time to seek funding.
Charles Varni
Oceano
Past Director, Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District
Past Director and President, Oceano Community Service District
Past Member and President, Oceano Advisory Committee