The LOSG

Working on Solutions for our Community

LOSG History

Brief history of the LOSG's efforts to protect the Basin

The LOSG came together in 2007, when we teamed up with the local chapters of the Sierra Club and Surf Rider's Foundation to submit sustainable project scoping options for the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) of the Los Osos Waste Water Project (LOWWP).  We remained involved in the LOWWP review and permitting process, becoming increasingly concerned about the severity of seawater intrusion in the Basin and the potential impacts of the LOWWP on the problem and on sensitive habitat as we looked more closely at documents and dug further into research.  

Based on a review of the 2005 Seawater Intrusion Assessment and chloride data from a key supply well, we sounded an alarm in 2009 at the Planning Commission hearing that seawater intrusion may be accelerating and, with the help of the Sierra Club and other presenters, we were able to convince the Planning Commission to add greater protections for the Basin including stronger recycled water and conservation programs.

In 2010, again with the help of the Sierra Club and other presenters, we highlighted the severe seawater intrusion problem facing the Basin, and the Commission added Special Conditions 5 and 6 to the LOWWP Coastal Development Permit (CDP).

By this time, our concerns about accelerating seawater intrusion had been confirmed in a study showing seawater intrusion in the Basin had accelerated by 10 times and was threatening to shut down a main Los Osos Community Service District (LOCSD) supply well.  

At the Coastal Commission meetings in 2010, we presented the results of two reviews by Eugene Yates, one of the creators of the Basin model and author of two key Basin studies in 1988 and 2003.  His reviews analyzed uncertainties in the Basin model and benefits of sustainable management options. At the same meeting, we presented a review of sustainable management options for the Los Osos Basin researched and written by the CSU Monterey Bay Watershed Institute entitled “Can the Los Osos Valley Water Basin Provide a Sustainable Water Supply.” (See Yates' Reviews and CSUMB Report)

When we had exhausted all other remedies and unsuccessfully requested all stakeholder agencies to reevaluate the potential impacts of the much worse seawater intrusion problem than described in the LOWWP EIR; we filed a request for revocation of the Coastal Development Permit for the LOWWP, in a last attempt to have the Coastal Commission consider the potential risks, we believed and supported with considerable evidence outweighed the potential benefits.  The Commission rejected our request and did not reevaluate the project although it acknowledged that our assessment of risks was compelling.

The LOSG later participated in the early development of the Basin Plan, providing comments to the County and LOCSD prior to and after release of the Draft Los Osos Basin Plan in 2013 and 2014.  With Sierra Club, we also provided input to the Parties regarding the Interlocutory Stipulated Judgment (ISJ) agreement, which the Superior Court Approved in 2015.  The ISJ provides the legal understanding between the Parties, which resolves the adjudicated basin dispute and underpins the Basin Plan.  The Parties to the ISJ include the three water purveyors in Los Osos and the County, which now make up the BMC.  

We continued to provide input with the Sierra Club during regular meetings of the Basin Management Committee from its startup in 2015 through 2017.   During that time, we submitted suggestions for ways to strengthen the conservation program and other Basin Plan programs for greater protections of the Basin, advocating generally for a more precautionary approach to planning that relied less on modeling and more on the collection of adequate reliable well-monitoring data to track seawater intrusion, water levels, and the effects of Basin Plan Programs.  We also advocated for a redefinition of “sustainable yield” consistent with the Sustainable Ground Water Management Act (SGMA) Best Management Practices (BMCs), and management actions that aligned more closely with SGMA BMCs and the requirements of Special Conditions 5 and 6 of the LOWWP CDP.

During this same period, we made several presentations to the Regional Water Board, requesting support for basin-wide conservation and nitrate remediation of the Basin via a Salt and Nutrient Management Plan and Septic System Management Plan for properties not connected to the LOWWP. (Note that the LOWWP was renamed the Los Osos Recycled Water Facility (LOWRF) when construction of the wastewater project was completed).  The Regional Board requires these programs for all watersheds region-wide.  We also provided options and advocated for the Water Board to support storm water management projects that would simultaneously protect Morro Bay National Estuary and support the Basin by infiltrating run off via Low Impact Development (LID) measures that recharge the Basin with clean rainwater.  We had advocated for similar measures during lobbying efforts before the Planning Commission and Coastal Commission staff, and believe our efforts may have resulted in local drainage measures implemented during construction of the LOWWP.

For personal and professional reasons, the LOSG stepped back from close involvement in Basin related issues from mid 2017 to December 2019, but again got involved when the Los Osos Habitat Conservation Plan (LOHCP) and draft EIR were released in late 2019, closely followed by release of the second draft of the Los Osos Community Plan (LOCP).  We had submitted comments on an earlier public-review draft of the LOCP in 2015, pointing out that the LOCP was not adequate to protect the Basin.  

After reviewing the Annual Monitoring Reports and other reports prepared for Basin Management Committee (BMC), we joined with the Sierra Club, in November and December of 2019 in pointing out inadequacies of the LOCP, LOHCP, and related EIRs, including “fatal flaws” that could lead to permanent harm of the Basin.  Since then we have submitted several letters to the Planning Commission pointing out deficiencies in various drafts of the LOCP and related documents including the County Growth Management Ordinance (GMO).