California is currently drought-free, as declared by the US Drought Monitor. But what does that mean for San Luis Obispo County?
Rain is crucial for refilling area reservoirs, and last winter's storms did just that for the county. But, irrigation for agriculture and some of the county’s drinking water come from deep below ground. Groundwater basins, as they are called, take a long time to refill.
County Director of Groundwater Sustainability Blain Reely said only a small percentage of last winter's rainfall made it into the local groundwater basins.
“We need a back-to-back wet years like we had this past year really to see a significant impact of recharge to our groundwater basins. We just don't capture enough of that rainfall to get it back into our groundwater basins during a you know, one wet cycle.” Reely said.
He said people need to pump less groundwater in order for SLO County to fully recover from the drought.
Of the county’s six groundwater basins, two are critically overdrafted — that means too much water is being pumped out of them. Those are the Paso Robles and Cuyama Valley groundwater basins.
Reely said to bring the Paso Robles Basin back to sustainability the county’s working on a plan that would charge farmers and others who pump groundwater from it.
“Nobody wants an additional charge. It impacts the bottom line of your business, you know, it impacts your Revenue,” he said.
The County implemented similar fees for Cuyama Valley Basin users earlier this year. In response, a battle emerged between the big corporate farms who pump the water and concerned community members.
Reely said the County is still developing the plan for the Paso Basin, but fees could rise in the next one to two years.
