Salinas Valley – Paso Robles Area
Statistics
- Basin Name
- Salinas Valley – Paso Robles Area
- Basin Number
- 3-004.06
- SGMA Basin Priority
- High
- Critically Overdrafted
- Yes
- Hydrologic Region Name
- Central Coast
- Counties
- San Luis Obispo
- Adjacent Basins
-
Salinas Valley - Atascadero Area 3-004.11, Cholame Valley 3-005, Carrizo Plain 3-019, Salinas Valley - Upper Valley Aquifer 3-004.05,
At-A-Glance
Located in California’s Central Coast hydrologic region, the Salinas Valley – Paso Robles Area subbasin is 436,157.09 acres in size. This High priority basin is home to an estimated 44,532 people (2010 value). It has approximately 1081 wells, of which approximately 51 are water supply wells. Groundwater accounts for approximately 94.14 percent of the basin’s water supply.
Basin Notes
2003: Bulletin 118 basin description
2014: Basin priority high. Comment: Nitrate and TDS impacts and county ordinance banning further residential development in the basin.
Before the Well Runs Dry: Improving the Linkage Between Groundwater and Land Use Planning, Paso Robles case study, Stanford University, April 2014
Steinbeck Vineyards v. County of San Luis Obispo et al “The Quiet Title” case
2016: Basin boundary modification request: creating the Atascadero subbasin approved. The Atascadero Area Subbasin is not subject to critical conditions of overdraft. – Bulletin 118 Interim Update A further request for a change to the Upper Valley subbasin 3-004.05 is pending. Revised basin boundary description
2018: Draft basin prioritization comments –
- CRITICAL OVERDRAFT 2016 Source: DWR 1) CASGEM/WDL/GWIDS: Longterm hydrographs show groundwater level decline. Source: DWR 2) The Paso Robles groundwater subbasin supplies water for 29 percent of the population and an estimated 40 percent of the agricultural production of San Luis Obispo County. Groundwater levels in the basin have been dropping rapidly in recent years, with many areas experiencing groundwater level declines of more than 70 feet. – Central Coast Groundwater: Seawater Intrusion and other Issues, California Water Foundation, August 4, 2014
- Subsidence: 1) There don’t appear to be continuous GPS sites in the valley to access whether or not subsidence is still occuring. Source: USGS; submitted via email to DWR, 10/21/2016 – Subsidence has been documented in Paso Robles: 2) It is the current belief of the county and locals that subsidence is active. Source: 2015 County of San Luis Obispo Sustainable GW Proposal
Quiet Title: SLO County claims a victory in ongoing legal battle with landowners over water rights, Tribune/San Luis Obispo.com, 9/26/18
Landowners victorious in North County water trial, Cal Coast News, 10/1/18
2019: Approved basin modification revised the western external boundary based on arguments that a local fault and geologic contacts act as hydrologic barriers. Basin priority status remained high, as did classification of critical overdraft.
2020: January 30 – Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) jointly filed with the Department of Water Resources (DWR) by cooperating GSAs of the County of San Luis Obispo, Shandon San Juan Water District, City of Paso Robles and San Miguel Community Services District
2022: January 21 – Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) found incomplete by Department of Water Resources (DWR)
July 19 — Revised GSP submitted to DWR.
2023: GSP approved by DWR