California Growers Investigated For Possible Illegal Vineyard Plantings
September 25, 2013 Officials are investigating 12 possible violations of a new emergency ordinance prohibiting the planting of any new vineyards on California’s Central Coast that would increase water demand in the declining Paso Robles groundwater basin, according to a report this week in The San Luis Obispo Tribune.
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors passed the ordinance Aug. 27 prohibiting the planting of new irrigated crops or new construction in the basin unless the water it will use is offset so that there is no net increase in the amount of water pumped from the basin.
The Monday after the ordinance went into effect for 45 days, the county code enforcement department received a flurry of complaints from rural residents in the basin about night and evening activity in vineyards that may be a violation of the ordinance, the newspaper reported.
Here is the full text of the newspaper’s story.
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