Wednesday June 25, 2025
Sierra2theSea —
Famously the unincorporated town of Los Osos on the California Central Coast, was the subject of a 35-year building moratorium that was only lifted earlier this year. The community of 15,000 is overseen by the county Board of Supervisors who has now allowed a few residential projects that would hook up to the local groundwater supply to move forward. Currently Los Osos water supply is 100% sourced by groundwater.The supervisors use a formula that is dependent on the health of the groundwater aquifer as measured each year.
For years, there has been a debate within the community over whether we are pumping too much of that groundwater allowing seawater to intrude into the community’s aquifers.But now a new “more accurate” groundwater model released this month appears to show the town may not have the water to sustain growth without significant new initiatives. Without new hook ups – seawater is already moving in, says the model. What to do?
The Los Osos Basin Management Committee (BMC) is charged with monitoring the basin.The committee made up of the town’s three water purveyors and a public member (Supervisor Bruce Gibson), files an annual report to the court as a result of a 2015 Stipulated Judgment.