Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/197145
NOVEMBER NEWS Water Worries in Paso Robles California region's serious groundwater overdraft divides community GEI C P onsu ltants aso Robles, Calif.—Residential and agricultural wells in San Luis Obispo County are going dry at an alarming rate, triggering an attimes acrimonious debate among growers, vintners and rural residents about who's sucking up all the water. On Oct. 8, the county's Board of Supervisors voted to extend an emergency ordinance prohibiting the drilling of new wells to give local officials and residents time to draft a strategy to deal with the overdraft problem. While groundwater levels have been steadily declining in the area for decades, the problem became precipitously worse in recent years. Sue Luft is a leader of the citizens' group PRO Water Equity (Paso Robles groundwater basin Overliers for Water Equity), which advocates for a "dependent district" under the county's Flood Control District, which is overseen by the Board of Supervisors. The board could then assign county Decreases in groundwater elevation are most serious in the red areas mapped above. staff to draft a plan for basin management. Luft said residents would also have to vote to form an assessment district and then get the state legislature to empower the district to require well monitoring, manage groundwater allocations and implement recharge programs. Water allocations would be granted on a per-acre or perparcel basis. "What we would like to see... is allocations," she said. "It doesn't reward people who overuse water." An alternative solution is touted by a group calling itself Paso Robles Agricultural Alliance for Groundwater Solutions (PRAAGS), which is headed by a board comprised of leading names from the local agricultural community. The group's chair and spokesman is Jerry Reaugh, who owns a 70-acre vineyard east of Paso Robles. The group argues for forming a California Water District winesandvines.com that would be funded Learn more: Search keywords by landowners with"Paso water." in the district. The group proposes importing additional water to meet demand and would encourage its members to conserve groundwater. Voting would be based on size of property, and assessments would be based on property size too, Reaugh said, adding that rural residents would get the benefits of the district without shouldering most of the costs. —Andrew Adams AVAs await TTB approval P aso Robles, Calif.—A proposal to split the 612,000-acre Paso Robles AVA into 11 subappellations received the renewed attention of federal authorities, who issued a notice of the change Sept. 20. The original petition for the change was submitted by the ad hoc Paso Robles winesandvines.com AVA Committee in 2007 and remains Learn more: Search keywords "Paso subappellations." virtually intact. "It was genuinely the largest single request," said Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance spokesman Christopher Taranto. "That alone had them needing to spend a lot of time on it. The TTB put in a moratorium while they rethought their petition/review process." The proposed districts are: Adelaida, Creston District, El Pomar District, Paso Robles Estrella, Paso Robles Geneseo, Paso Robles Highlands, Paso Robles Willow Creek, San Juan Creek, San Miguel, Santa Margarita Ranch and Templeton Gap. TTB will accept public comments on the proposal until Jan. 21. Before the federal government shut down in early October, the TTB announced final approval for four new AVAs in California: Ballard Canyon in Santa Barbara County, Moon Mountain in Sonoma the fine art of closures mala-usa.com (415) 302-3123 G@mala-usa.com County and Big Valley and Kelsey Bench in Lake County. —Jane Firstenfeld Win es & Vin es N OV EM B ER 20 13 17