Bulletin No. 52-B Salinas Basin Investigation Summary Report

The Board of Supervisors and the Flood Control and Water Conservation Conmittee of the County of Monterey became concerned in April 1944 over the intrusion of saline water in the ground water supply utilized for irrigation, domestic and industrial purposes in the lower reaches of the Salinas Basin near Monterey Bay. The entire agricultural and urban development in the basin depends on an adequate supply of ground water of good quality.

There had been some abandonment of wells in the Salinas Basin near the bay shore due to excessive salinity as early as 1938. Accelerated encroachment of the contamination occurred in 1943, and the matter was brought to public attention in 1944. The County of Monterey and the Department of Public Works, State of California, executed a contract on July 10, 1944, providing for maintenance in cooperation an investigation of the water resources of the Salinas Valley in Monterey County and conditions relative thereto which obtain in the valley or affect the water supplies available therefor. It further provides that the Department shall prepare a report based on the investigation setting forth the physical facts pertinent to water supply and to salt water Intrusion, and if possible, incorporate findings as to a method or methods of solving the problems involved.