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SLO County may max out allotments of Nacimiento water

December 9, 2015

tap-waterSan Luis Obispo County is considering maxing out its total allocation of Lake Nacimiento water. The county board of supervisors is scheduled to vote on the issue in March.

The cities and communities involved in the Nacimiento Water Project have a combined yearly allotment of 15,750 acre-feet of water. They are currently using 9,655 acre-feet, leaving an annual reserve of 6,095 acre-feet.

Each of the cities and communities have requested an increase in their annual share of Lake Nacimiento water. Also, two other agencies are asking for allocations of Nacimiento water.

The five current users are: Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Atsacdero Mutual Water Co., Templeton Community Services District and the county service area in Cayucos.

Paso Robles currently has an allotment of 4,000 acre-feet. The city is requesting an additional 2,477 acre-feet for a total of 6,477.

San Luis Obispo currently has an allotment of 3,380 acre-feet. SLO is asking for an additional 2,093 acre-feet for a total of 5,473.

The Atascadero Mutual Water Co. is currently entitled to 2,000 acre-feet. It is requesting an additional 1,239 acre-feet for a total of 3,239.

The Templeton CSD has an allotment of 250 acre-feet. The CSD is seeking an additional 155 acre-feet for a total of 405.

Cayucos’ county service area is entitled to 25 acre-feet. On behalf of the area, the county plans to increase the allotment by 15 acre-feet to a total of 40.

The two additional water purveyors that have applied for allocations are the Bella Vista mobile home park in Cayucos and the Santa Margarita Ranch Mutual Water Co. The Cayucos mobile home park is requesting 12 acre-feet for its 84 units.

The Santa Margarita Ranch Mutual Water Co. is requesting 104 acre-feet for a proposed 111-home development on the Santa Margarita Ranch. In that case, the Nacimiento pipeline would be the main source of water for the development.

Supervisor Frank Mecham said during a board meeting Tuesday that full allocation of Lake Nacimiento water is a good way for purveyors to nail down their supplies, and he has been pushing for it for about 10 years. Mecham noted that unused water allotments do no roll over from year to year.


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Too funny….I’m reminded of the Owens Valley water wars and how Mono Lake was so dramatically transformed. I guess we have learned NOTHING from our historical blunders.


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The unfortunate part here is that the County is coordinating this, yet fails to step up to the plate and look out for it’s residents. Why can the cities, and even a mobile home park see the value in this water, yet our BOS/Flood Control District will restrict our abilities as landowners through an Urgency Ordinance, but not value securing a supplemental water source? Incompetence on a County Scale!


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The proposed Laetitia development maintains they can get by with less than a half acre foot per year per residence for rural 1 acre lots. They also want to tear out over 100 acres of mature producing vineyard to accommodate homes. They plan to replace vineyard acres removed elsewhere on land not as viable as homesites. This is a poster child example of abuse of the Ag Cluster Ordinance.


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Laetitia has Compton and Arnold all sewn up. Tragic!


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And Petetit and Belsher have Hill and Gibson all sewn up, your point?


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Do Petetit and Belsher have ANYTHING to do with water ?


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Yes, they build, which does use water. Unless you can name me a local building project that doesn’t use water?


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A drop in the bucket.


On the other hand , Laetitia is a HUGE mistake.


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Yes, but 20 drops in the bucket equal a large drop. We should let some mistakes go by just because we determine they are small, after you let enough small mistakes go by it gets to the point of, Well we let those mistakes so just let them all go by.


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“The Santa Margarita Ranch Mutual Water Co. is requesting 104 acre-feet for a proposed 111-home development.”


More rich people wasting water? Normally an acre foot supplies 3 to 5 homes per year. Why do they need so much water? Perhaps to open the door to additional development? Or will the residents just be waterhogs?


Interesting that the county would even consider selling to a non-governmental agency like SMRMWCo. State water will not sell to private entities because they have no collateral to offer in case of default — govt agencies can offer taxpayer backup. So Rossi and company couldn’t get state water, but it’s ok to sell them Naci water? Ain’t water politics fascinating? Twain was right.


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