Paso Robles farmers ask for fair water rules after supervisors repeal planting ordinance
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to repeal the planting ordinance for the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin before it could take effect on March 1, as farmers called for a more fair approach to managing the resource.
For the time being, it means SLO County will return to its 2015 permitting rules for sowing crops irrigated by basin groundwater using an exemption limit of 5 acre-feet of water per year, rather than the increase to 25 acre-feet approved by the conservative majority in December.
According to the restored rules, the county can only issue a planting permit to farmers if the crops are water neutral — meaning the new crop uses the same amount of water as the previous crop on that land, with an exemption of a maximum additional 5 acre-feet of water per year, according to Planning Division manager Airlin Singewald.
Supervisors Dawn Ortiz-Legg, Jimmy Paulding and Bruce Gibson said the planting ordinance would drain the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin and voted to repeal it.
“I hope I don’t need to remind anybody in this room that agriculture is our No. 1 industry, that all of this is to really help make sure that we continue to thrive,” Ortiz-Legg said.
Supervisors John Peschong and Debbie Arnold, however, denied that the basin is in overdraft, and voted to keep the planting ordinance intact.
“The Paso Basin’s never been declared in overdraft,” Arnold said.
Gibson noted, however, that the California Department of Water Resources labeled the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin as “critically overdrafted,” as shown on the department’s website.
At previous meetings, Ortiz-Legg suggested that the county use the Groundwater Sustainability Management Act to improve water levels in the basin instead of the planting ordinance.
Arnold argued that the 2015 rules disadvantage small farmers. During the 2015 drought, large, commercial farms could afford to drill deeper wells or import water, and continued to grow their crops, Arnold said. Some small farms, however, stopped growing crops for five years or more — and are now unable to plant crops under the 2015 rules, according to Arnold.
Under the 2015 rules, the county won’t grant a permit to a farmer whose land sat unplanted for more than five years, according to the county website.
The planting ordinance would have restored the right to farm to those small growers, she said.
“We need a more fair distribution of water,” Arnold said, and Peschong agreed.
“You cannot balance the basin on the backs of small family farms, and that’s what’s occurring if we rescind (the planting ordinance) today,” Peschong said. “I believe that these are property rights questions and water rights questions, and they are guaranteed by the Constitution.”
The liberal board majority acknowledged that the current rules are unfair but said that the planting ordinance’s potential for depleting the basin means they need to look for other ways to manage water use in the area.
“The fairness issues that have been brought before us are indeed real,” Gibson said. “Unfortunately, the planting ordinance as it was constructed is not an acceptable solution.”
Farmers urge the board to improve water rules
The planting ordinance would have allowed farmers to apply for permits to plant water-neutral crops with a 25 acre-foot per year exemption, according to the staff report.
The extra water came with strings attached, however.
In order to use that water, farmers would have had to implement a list of environmental mitigation measures including planting crops at least 50 feet away from riparian areas, providing a hydrology report for use of well water, and implementing carbon sequestration measures, the staff report said.
At the Dec. 6 board meeting, SLO County Farm Bureau Executive Director Brent Burchett called the measures “costly and burdensome bureaucratic red tape.”
Farming organizations including the SLO County Farm Bureau, The SLO Cattleman’s Association, The Grower and Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties and the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance opposed the planting ordinance because of the environmental mitigation measures, Burchett said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“That’s not something that SLO County wants to do for agriculture,” Burchett said on Tuesday.
Though many farmers are glad to see the planting ordinance go, they’re worried about returning to the 2015 rules, Burchett said.
“This is not a good day for anybody,” Burchett said. “What we’re going to go back to, the ag offset ordinance, is a bad ordinance. It is not fair to everybody.”
The 2015 ordinance’s rule on land that’s been unplanted for more than five years prevents people from expanding their farms or starting new ones, some folks said at public comment.
Matthew Glunz owns 20 acres in Paso Robles, where he and his family run the Glunz Family Winery. He wants to plant another 5 to 10 acres of grapes, he said, but isn’t able to under the current rules.
“This business that we have and this land that we have, this is how we pay for our home,” Glunz said. “This is how we pay for our kids to go to Catholic school. This is how we pay for their health care.”
With grape prices increasing, his business is losing control of the prices of their products, Glunz said.
“If we could grow a little bit more on our land, it would make a difference for us,” Glunz said.
Burchett urged the board to work through the county’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan to get farmers the water they need — and soon.
“This is going to be neighbor against neighbor. It’s going to be difficult, but I hope we can come together because the outcome has to be the same,” Burchett said. “We have to get this basin in balance or that’s going to hurt our existing ag economy. We have to make sure to find a way to work together.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 9:00 AM.
