SLO County agencies get more control over Lake Nacimiento water. Here’s what is changing
The California State Water Board has lifted some water use restrictions for Lake Nacimiento, giving local agencies more control over the reservoir’s water than they’ve had in decades.
San Luis Obispo County Public Works Director John Diodati called the decision “monumental” in a news release Friday.
“This new order from the State Water Board is a monumental day for water resources in San Luis Obispo County and the culmination of years of hard work,” Diodati said in the release. “I look forward to seeing how water agencies use this opportunity to balance the (Paso Robles groundwater) basin and enhance both the residential and economic needs in our county.”
A state permit has long governed Lake Nacimiento’s water.
Under the permit signed in the 1950s, Monterey County can withdraw 180,000 acre-feet of water per year from the lake, while San Luis Obispo County only has rights to 17,500 acre-feet of water per year, The Tribune reported in 2018.
The permit also restricts local use of water from the reservoir to 7,000 acres of urban and suburban land, along with 500 acres of agricultural land, according to the release.
“That put the county in a tough spot, because the combined usage by Nacimiento participants consistently exceeded those allotments,” the release read.
Further exacerbating the issue was that Monterey County officially holds the permit, meaning any fix or changes to how the water is used has to be requested by Monterey County — not San Luis Obispo County water agencies.
In 2011, San Luis Obispo County built a $176-million pipeline to transport water from Lake Nacimiento to San Luis Obispo County communities. This project was called the Nacimiento Water Project and has the ability to deliver 15,750 acre-feet of raw water each year, according to the San Luis Obispo County Public Works Department’s website.
That water was still governed by the permit however, restricting how the participating communities could use it.
On Feb. 17, an order from the state returned control of the water to Nacimiento Water participants, which includes the cities of Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo, the Templeton Community Services District and the Atascadero Mutual Water Company, according to the release.
Now, the agencies involved in the project can decide how to use Lake Nacimiento’s water in the county — including being able to sell water they don’t intend to use on an annual basis, according to the release.
“Lake Nacimiento is one of the few supplemental water sources available to water agencies within SLO County,” Paso Robles City Water Resources Manager Kirk Gonzalez said in the news release, “and maximizing its beneficial use is an important step to improving water availability in the county.”
