Domestic well owners should not be charged fees for pumping from the overdrafted Paso Robles Groundwater Basin, according to one water district. “The problem has never been the de minimis users,” Shandon-San Juan Water District Board of Directors president Willy Cunha told The Tribune on Thursday. Farmers are most responsible for dwindling water levels in the basin, so they should be charged the fees — as long as the rates are reasonable, he said. The Shandon-San Juan Water District’s Board of Directors voted 4-0 on March 26 to pass a resolution that opposed charging domestic well owners water extraction fees, water district secretary Stephanie Bertoux said. Why did only four directors vote? The board didn’t provide the public proper notice that board member Matt Turrentine would attend the meeting virtually, so he couldn’t vote on the item, Bertoux said.

Other local water management and rates news: 

• Tahoe Daily Tribune (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.): Incline board approves new water rights purchases
• The Paso Robles Press (Calif.): Paso Robles Council appoints (Joint Powers Agreement) representatives