HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/20/2017 Item 15, Wallace
June 15, 2017
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council
From: John and Cindy Wallace
1860 O’Connor Way
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Subject: Prado Road, (Corp Yard) Well
Dear Mayor and Councilmembers;
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Unfortunately, we will be out of state and not be able to attend your meeting on June 20 to provide
verbal comments concerning the staff report and its recommendations to terminate the public use of
the Corp Yard. well. Therefor we are providing the following as to our thoughts on the matter and to
recommend that you do not terminate the well access at this time.
First, we commend the City and the Utilities Department staff in administering the use of the well during
the recent drought. For property owners in the City and for those outside the City limits, but within the
San Luis Obispo groundwater basin’s watershed, the water that was made available was literally a life
saver to those whose wells were marginal to begin with and non-existent during the drought. We were
more fortunate than some of our neighbors but we all witnessed some extreme difficulties during this
time.
I also recognize that the resolution adopted in June of 2015 called for an end of access when the
Drought Emergency was rescinded…and we support the rescission of the emergency regulations
adopted at that time and believe that we all have become more intensely aware of the need for on-
going water conservation. As a result the City exceeded its conservation requirements during the
drought and will continue to establish long-term conservation targets as a “Way of Life”.
But those families and homesteads on the City’s fringe, while somewhat temporarily restored in their
water supplies due to the wet winter, do not have many options. For these folks access the Corp Yard
well is so important to maintain some of the basic necessities for non-potable uses such as for livestock,
toilet flushing, laundry and other non-potable uses. Furthermore, even with some marginally higher
water levels in the local wells, in many cases, the water quality is so mineralized that basic landscaping is
not possible.
So we offer the following observations and thoughts to support our family’s request to keep the access
available at this time, but with perhaps, some modified management of access.
The extractions form the well are minor with respect to the safe yield of the SLO GWB. The
extractions reported approximate 8 to 9 AFY. With the safe yield of the basin estimated to be
over 2,000 AFY (probably more), the Corp Yard Well usage is literally a “drop in the bucket”.
Even though it is necessary for the City to keep groundwater as part of its overall “water
portfolio”, this use is not a factor in that overall water supply strategy. With the additional
allocation from the Nacimiento project, it would seem that the City is well protected in its water
supplies as so stated in previous council meetings.
The City, while owning the “straw into the GWB” does not own the groundwater. Rather the
water is held in trust by the State of CA and is available to all overlying owners over the basin.
While some of our neighbors including myself are not “overlyers”, runoff from our properties
does contribute to the recharge of the GWB.
Water used on properties does provide some recharge as a portion of the water used percolates
through the tributary watershed into the GWB.
Although the permit system significantly reduced the access to the well from people,
contractors etc. for the use of the water outside the City and GWG, I believe that there were
some abuses that can be addressed such as “key sharing” and other unauthorized uses. I
suggest:
o Install a web cam that can identify those people using the well and correlate them to
the picture id that was issued as part of the permit.
o Install a key card system that will clearly identify what permittee took water from the
well and at what time and date.
o Provide a cash bond from permittees that will be forfeited if there is confirmed misuse.
The residents and ranchers in the Foothill and O’Connor Way areas have long had an interest in
conservation and many of us have spent considerable time and energy in strategizing
on a Morros Specific Plan which fits in nicely with the City’s Open Space and Greenbelt objectives.
Therefore to maintain the rural uses made possible in part by access to a supplemental, non-permanent
water source, ie. the Corp Yard well, helps meet these objectives.
In closing, I urge the Council to not terminate the access at this time but to work collaboratively with us
and our neighbors in this area who wish to help alleviate some of the management challenges that have
occurred with the present permit system. We look forward to doing so.
Sincerely,
John and Cindy Wallace,
675 and 1860 O’Connor Way
San Luis Obispo, CA, 93405
CC: Carrie Mattingly, Utilities Director
West Foothill, O’Connor Way Residents Association