Hundreds of San Luis Obispo County residents win quiet title lawsuit

September 25, 2026

By KAREN VELIE

A judge ruled Thursday that the more than 800 residents involved in a quiet title lawsuit to protect their rights to use water from the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin without charge have won their case. Moving forward, water districts can not force the plaintiffs to pay fees or taxes for using the groundwater under their land.

Despite the absence of a legal finding of overdraft, in 2013, the San Luis Cbispo County Board of Supervisors enacted an “emergency ordinance” limiting landowner’s pumping to a fixed, rather than flexible, amount. However, groundwater use can be lawfully restricted by the government only in the event of severe depletion of the basin’s water supply — an overdraft.

More than 800 property owners then formed Protect Our Water Rights. The group of overlying landowners who, by virtue of owning their property, asserted they have the right to pump and reasonably use water on their land.

The landowners filed a quiet title lawsuit in 2014, asking the court to confirm their right to pump.

The defendants include SLO County, the City of Paso Robles, San Miguel Community Services District, Templeton Community Services District and Atascadero Mutual Water District. After five trials and 21 affirmative defenses, four of the defendants received the right to pump slightly more than 2,000 acre feet of water a year, out of the 92,000 acre feet of safe annual yield, according to the court.

The land owners retained the priority right to pump 90,000 acre feet of water a year, and the defendants won just over 2,000 acre feet of water a year. The landowners won the remaining arguments in the case.