From farmers to winemakers, commercial irrigators pumping from the Paso Robles Area Groundwater Basin may soon need to pay for their water use. On Tuesday, the Paso Robles Area Groundwater Authority voted unanimously to send notices of the proposed rates to impacted property owners, giving them the opportunity to protest the fees. If a majority of recipients submit a written protest, the agency can’t implement the rates. The California Department of Water Resources considers the basin “critically overdrafted.” Users pumped about 25,500 acre-feet of water more than was returned to the underground reservoir in 2024, according to the most recent annual report on the basin. … The fees would fund administrative tasks like monitoring wells and writing annual reports along with programs designed to balance the basin. If passed, the rate structure will last for five years.