Nine seats on proposed Paso water basin district board are up for grabs

Eleven residents of the Paso Robles groundwater basin are running for nine seats on the board of directors for a proposed management district for the basin that, if formed, could have a momentous impact on the North County, including the authority to impose parcel taxes and limit the pumping of groundwater.

The nine people who ultimately are elected will only take office if two mail-in ballot measures are approved by voters and property owners in the basin to form the district. Ballots for the election were sent out Monday and are due back by March 8.

All 11 candidates have said they care passionately about the future of the sprawling 790-acre basin, and all but one owns agricultural operations there.

They said they want the basin’s dwindling water resources to be fairly and equitably distributed among residents and growers to bring the basin back into balance.

The state has declared the Paso Robles basin to be in severe overdraft, causing aquifer levels in many parts of the basin to fall precipitously. A new state law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires that severely overdrafted basins be sustainably managed by 2020 — if not by local officials, then by the state.

Ten of the 11 candidates said they support formation of the management district. Most support it enthusiastically. One candidate, Dean DiSandro of Paso Robles, said he opposes the district’s formation and is running for the seat to be a watchdog on the board on behalf of residents and property owners if it is formed.

Many are interested in bringing more water into the basin, but none said they favored one particular supplemental water option over others. The three most commonly mentioned options are the Nacimiento pipeline, the State Water pipeline and recycled water from Paso Robles.

The following are short biographies of each of the candidates presented in the order they will appear on the ballot. All of the candidates were asked why they are running and whether they support the district’s formation and what, if any, supplemental water supplies should be obtained if the district is formed.

The nine-member board of directors would be a mix of property owners and registered voters. Six directors would be property owners with large, medium and small landowers each represented by two seats on the board. Three seats would be reserved for registered voters. This hybrid of voters and landowners is intended to prevent any one group from dominating the district.

A simple majority vote is required for the contested seats.

Large landowner seats

Three people are running for two seats in the board’s category for large property owners of 400 or more acres.

Dana M. Merrill

Merrill is the owner of Mesa Vineyard Management Inc. and Pomar Junction Vineyard & Winery. He is vice chairman of the Paso Robles Agricultural Alliance for Groundwater Solutions, one of three groups supporting the formation of the district.

“I feel fortunate to be part of the successful vineyard industry and feel responsible to see our basin balanced for current and succeeding generations,” he said.

Local governance of the basin via the water district is the best way to comply with state requirements that the basin be balanced, according to Merrill.

“Yes, I support it as a critical component of securing our future with regard to water supplies as well as economic stability for all residents and businesses,” he said.

He is interested in getting additional water sources as a means of recharging the basin and maintaining wells.

Serena Friedman

Friedman is a medical doctor and owner of four vineyards and more than 700 acres in the Paso Robles and San Miguel areas, including the Four Sisters Ranch Vineyard & Winery and Serena’s Vineyard. She also served on the county’s Paso Robles Basin Advisory Committee.

She stressed that she will vote independent of any vested interests and would not bring any hidden agendas to the board. Her priorities would be transparency, vigilance and integrity, and she would fight any attempt to export water from the basin.

She supports pursuing state grants and other funding sources to fulfill the basin’s needs.

“I will be the watchdog to keep expenses to a minimum, oversee the fees and regulations requested to keep them to a minimum and ensure the use of our water for our Paso Robles basin.”

Stephen Sinton

Sinton is a Shandon resident and owner of two family ranches as well as a certified sustainable vineyard. He also is a lawyer specializing in water law and settling water rights disputes.

He has served on multiple advisory panels, including 30 years on the county’s Water Resources Advisory Committee — 10 years as its chairman.

“My lifelong work has been water and ranching,” he said.

If elected to the board, his goals would be to work to secure additional water sources and protect property rights and the access of basin residents to groundwater.

“The Paso Robles basin district is an important element in protecting both our water rights and our right to farm and ranch,” he said. “I am prepared to serve the ranching industry and the greater community by protecting our local economy through local control of our most vital property rights.”

Medium landowner seats

The two seats on the board representing the board’s category for medium property owners of 40 to 399 acres are uncontested. The following two candidates will be seated without an election if the district is formed.

Randall Diffenbaugh

Diffenbaugh is a self-employed Paso Robles farmer. He said he supports the water district because he does not want the county or some other government agency involved in his family business any more than absolutely necessary.

“My farming experience has taught me that neither the government nor the courts will look out for us locally and so it is up to us to take charge and find a solution that works for us, locally,” he said.

He was also frustrated that the county has not stepped up and requested additional Nacimiento water that could have gone to help the basin.

Bill Spencer

Spencer owns Windrose Farm in Creston and has been farming in the basin since 1962. Since then, growth in the North County has placed additional demands on the basin’s water.

He believes a locally controlled water district is the best solution to the basin’s problems. He is willing to consider a wide variety of new water sources and techniques for improving recharge of the basin.

“We are a near-desert climate with varied and limited rainfall,” he said. “Our future depends on the best and most diversified management possible to keep our basin sustainable for my generation and those who follow.”

Small landowner seats

Like the previous category, the two seats on the board representing the board’s category for small property owners of less than 40 acres are uncontested and will be filled without an election.

Edwin J. Rambuski

Rambuski is an attorney and farmer who owns the organic Templeton Family Farms. He said the law does not require that a water district be formed, but inaction by state and county officials has left residents of the basin no choice but to form a district.

“I am running because I think I have skills that will allow me to give something back to our local farming and rural residential community,” he said.

Importing water into the basin is “not necessarily a good idea,” he said. “We can have a sustainable basin without importing water, with proper farming practices and good land-use policies,” he said.

Chad E. Patten

Patten is a self-employed general contractor of Whitly Gardens, a community east of Paso Robles. He served six years on that town’s Green River Mutual Water Co.

He is the only candidate for the board who is not a farmer or rancher.

He called himself a problem solver at heart and said local residents are best able to manage the basin’s water. As a contractor, he has dealt with flawed building codes and land-use regulations that were not prepared by locals.

“Water is one of the most important aspects of rural life, and I think that we as rural residents should have direct representation on this issue with a seat at the table along with others that will be working toward SGMA compliance,” he said.

Registered voter seats

Three seats on the proposed board are reserved for registered voters of the basin. Four candidates are vying for those three seats.

Sue Luft

Luft is a retired engineer who lives on 10 acres in the El Pomar area east of Templeton, where she has a small vineyard. She served on the Paso Basin Advisory Committee and county Water Resources Advisory Committee.

She supports the formation of the district because the well on her property dropped more than 150 feet, and she had to drill a new well into poor water quality.

She wants residents with “skin in the game” to manage the district. All options for supplemental water should be examined as well as state Proposition 1 grants to fund them, she said.

“I feel that my education, experience and energy would be an asset to the district,” she said. “I would represent the rural resident, as I have done for the past four years on the Paso Basin Advisory Committee.”

Hilary Shirey Graves

Graves is an agricultural consultant in Creston who also raises livestock and grows wine grapes. She is a board member of CALM the Basin, a group that supports the formation of the water district.

She has an academic interest in state water policy and believes that everyone in the basin has the responsibility to protect groundwater. She thinks finding new water sources is vital to the agricultural heritage and economic vitality of the basin.

“A local water district would be more effective and efficient in pursuing these opportunities,” she said. “This is just one of many examples of how a local water district could be proactive in bringing our basin to sustainability.”

Dean DiSandro

DiSandro is a management consultant who owns a small ranch east of Paso Robles. He also operates a small winery that produces fewer than 1,000 cases a year.

He is unique among the candidates for the district board in that he does not support the district’s formation. He said he believes the county could manage the basin and at a much lower cost than the district without creating a new layer of government — a point disputed by county officials.

He is running for the board to be a watchdog to ensure that the parcel taxes that would fund the district are used wisely and only when necessary. He said the only realistic supplemental water source for the county is to massively expand the desalination plant at the Morro Bay power plant.

“I will ensure that every aspect of any formal water district will be open and transparent,” he said. “I will tell you the facts and truth at each step of the process.”

Michael Baugh

Baugh works as a magazine editor after retiring from the motion picture industry. He also farms three acres 8 miles east of Paso Robles and served on the Paso Robles Basin Advisory Committee.

He became interested in managing the basin when some of his friends were forced to drill a new well or, in one case, pack up and leave. Not only should the district pursue supplemental water sources, it should also restrict pumping to curtail falling water levels, he said.

“The declining basin cannot be stabilized by supplemental water alone,” he said. “Restrictions on overpumping by some vineyards and other commercial operations must be imposed as well. We are all in this together, and we must all work together to preserve this precious resource.”

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 8:11 PM with the headline "Nine seats on proposed Paso water basin district board are up for grabs."