Paso Robles drops legal argument over water rights
June 25, 2026
Greg Grewal
OPINION by GREG GREWAL
The quiet title litigation over groundwater rights was a poker game. After five trials and numerous stipulations, the city of Paso Robles finally folded its hand.
Their last two legal arguments were pueblo and treaty rights, which they withdrew on June 17. A 2019 court order on the quantification of the Paso City pumping rights in the basin was so minimal the city pursued pueblo treaty rights as an affirmative defense.
These rights deal with Spanish land grants, which were presidios, ranchos, missions, and pueblos. Paso Robles tried to claim they were a pueblo, which they were not.
They wasted millions of dollars to prove nothing about water and property rights. At the same time, the California State Constitution gives the priority rights to the private landowners.
Sustainability Groundwater Management Act’s first rule is it does not change groundwater law. All they had to do was follow the law and use their supplemental water to offset their pumping.
Instead, they would rather pay lawyers and screw their neighbors.
Keep it simple, recharge, no export, and use your supplemental water. This is called management!
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