Wine and water: Deep aquifer trouble in California's North County

(SanLuisObispo) - Deep beneath the peaceful countryside, the North County’s primary water source is facing an unprecedented crisis.

Over the past 30 years, levels in the underground aquifer have dropped precipitously, 80 to 100 feet or more in some areas.

These declines pose a profound threat for the region, residents and economy. Rural homeowners are facing the prospect of losing their homes because their wells are going dry. Vineyards could lose access to a crucial resource.

And the crisis in the groundwater basin is only expected to get worse — much worse. Rainfall this winter was only about 40 percent of normal, leaving the area even more short of water at a time when vineyards are planting as many as 8,000 new acres of wine grapes.

“Lowering pumps, digging new wells and trucking in water to meet the needs of our families — this is the reality people are already facing in our area,” said Lindsay Pera, a homeowner in the El Pomar area east of Templeton. “We are not ahead of this problem. We are smack dab in the middle of it.”

Hardest hit is a 5-mile-wide by 10-mile-long swath of land east of Paso Robles. Like many families in this area, the Peras have already had to lower the pump in their well twice to keep up with the declines.