Root Creek Water District Groundwater Sustainability Agency Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Root Creek Water District | November 11th, 2019

San Andreas Fault Stress Change Due To Groundwater Withdrawal in California's Central Valley, 1860-2010

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | December 28th, 2021

We investigate the spatial and temporal effects of groundwater removal in California's Central Valley on ground surface deformation and on stress changes on the nearby ce

We investigate the spatial and temporal effects of groundwater removal in California's Central Valley on ground surface deformation and on stress changes on the nearby central San Andreas fault (CSAF). In particular, we focus on two outstanding questions: (a) What are the spatial distributions of Coulomb failure stress (ΔCFS) on the CSAF? (b) What are the effects of viscoelasticity on uplift and ΔCSF over time? We focus on the well studied 2006–2010 drought, estimating the change in groundwater storage and the resulting uplift and stress change through a numerical model for the Earth. Viscoelastic effects are examined through an estimate of historical groundwater change from 1860-1961 and a hydrological model from 1961-2003 added to the 2006–2010 drought estimates. Here we find that lower crust or upper mantle viscosity variations enhance uplift and stress changes and that CSAF stress changes may accumulate with time, especially with droughts and groundwater consumption.

San Antonio Water Company v. Foothill Irrigation Company, et al

Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino | July 25th, 1958

From "An Evaluation of California's Adjudicated Groundwater Basins" by Langridge et al: "The Cucamonga Basin is a small groundwater basin located in San Bernardino Co

From "An Evaluation of California's Adjudicated Groundwater Basins" by Langridge et al: "The Cucamonga Basin is a small groundwater basin located in San Bernardino County. In the 1950s, approximately 25 parties, mostly small local water companies and several individual water users, filed an action to adjudicate the rights to the basin’s groundwater and certain surface waters tributary to the basin. The subsequent adjudication resulted in a 1958 Decree that contains some provisions for the metering and recording of water production, inspection of records, prohibitions against new water production, and potential reductions in water production. The court did not appoint an official Watermaster for the basin, and annual reports are not required. Since adjudication, water use in the basin has shifted from primarily agricultural use to primarily municipal use. Today there are three main water agencies — Cucamonga Valley Water District, San Antonio Water Company, and West End Consolidated Water Company — that hold nearly all of the adjudicated rights in the basin and jointly manage the basin pursuant to the 1958 Decree. Studies differ regarding the condition of the basin. A 2007 Metropolitan Water District review indicates that water levels in key wells have decreased about 120 feet and that the basin is experiencing long-term decline. Basin managers point to production data that also shows water production in the basin can trend below the total allocated rights production data."

San Timoteo Watershed Management Authority, vs. City of Banning, et al.

Superior Court of California, County of Riverside | February 4th, 2004

Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency | November 21st, 2019

Due to size, this file has been divided Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Due to size, this file has been divided Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Satellite-based monitoring of groundwater depletion in California’s Central Valley

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | November 5th, 2019

Range change data, obtained from Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites, form the basis for estimates of aquifer volume change in california’s central Valley. th

Range change data, obtained from Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites, form the basis for estimates of aquifer volume change in california’s central Valley. the estimation algorithm incorporates a function penalizing changes far from known well locations, linking the aquifer volume changes to agricultural, industrial, and municipal pumping within the tulare basin. We show that the range changes are compatible with the hypothesis that the source of aquifer volume changes are variations in effective pressure around documented wells. Specifically, inclusion of the well distance penalty does not degrade the fit to the observations, inversions with and without it both give variance reductions of 99.6%. The patterns of aquifer volume change vary significantly from the drought year, between October 2015 and October 2016, to a wet year in 2017, and into 2018, a year with near average rainfall. The 2.3 million acre-feet of estimated volume reduction, a lower bound on the amount of water extracted from the basin between October 2015 and 2016, agrees with independent estimates of 1.8 and 2.3 million acre- feet. The aquifer volume reduction is also compatible with a loss of 3.1 km3 (2.5 million acre-feet) in groundwater volume derived from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data.

Sensing the ups and downs of Las Vegas: InSAR reveals structural control of land subsidence and aquifer-system deformation

Geological Society of America (GSA) | June 1st, 1999

Land subsidence in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, between April 1992 and December 1997 was measured using spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar. The deta

Land subsidence in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, between April 1992 and December 1997 was measured using spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar. The detailed deformation maps clearly show that the spatial extent of subsidence is controlled by geologic structures (faults) and sediment composition (clay thickness). The maximum detected subsidence during the 5.75 yr period is 19 cm. Comparison with leveling data indicates that the subsidence rates declined during the past decade as a result of rising ground-water levels brought about by a net reduction in ground-water extraction. Temporal analysis also detects seasonal subsidence and uplift patterns, which provide information about the elastic and inelastic properties of the aquifer system and their spatial variability.

SGMA Alternative Groundwater Sustainability Plan – Bridge Document for the Indio Subbasin

Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) | December 15th, 2016

Decline in the Coachella Valley’s groundwater table was first noted in the 1910s. Concerned that their artesian wells were drying, local residents and farmers formed th

Decline in the Coachella Valley’s groundwater table was first noted in the 1910s. Concerned that their artesian wells were drying, local residents and farmers formed the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) in 1918. CVWD took steps to secure water supplies from the Colorado River that led to the completion of the Coachella Branch of the All-American Canal in 1949. CVWD and Desert Water Agency (DWA) contracted with the State of California for water from the State Water Project (SWP) in the early 1960s with the first deliveries in 1973. At that time, CVWD and DWA implemented groundwater replenishment programs and collected replenishment assessment from groundwater producers. However, continued growth in the Valley resulted in groundwater level declines and overdraft. Twenty years before the adoption of SGMA, CVWD began development of the initial Water Management Plan in 1994 after recognizing the need to sustainably manage the Coachella Valley Groundwater Basin. CVWD adopted the Coachella Valley Water Management Plan in 2002 (2002 WMP) to eliminate groundwater overdraft in the Basin. The 2002 WMP was updated in 2010 (2010 WMP Update) and adopted in 2012. This plan covers the Indio Subbasin of the Coachella Valley Groundwater Basin. CVWD, along with DWA and Mission Springs Water District also prepared the Mission Creek-Garnet Hill Water Management Plan (MCGH WMP) that covers the Mission Creek Subbasin and the Garnet Hill Subarea of the Indio Subbasin. As of 2016, plan implementation is showing positive results with stabilizing water levels throughout much of the Valley. Continued implementation is expected to eliminate water level declines by about 2025.

Short‐lived pause in Central California subsidence after heavy winter precipitation of 2017

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | August 29th, 2018

The Tulare Basin in Central California is a site of intensive agricultural activity and extraction of groundwater, with pronounced ground subsidence and degrada

The Tulare Basin in Central California is a site of intensive agricultural activity and extraction of groundwater, with pronounced ground subsidence and degradation of water resources over the past century. Spatially extensive observations of ground displacements from satellite-based remote sensing allow us to infer the response of the aquifer system to changes in usage and to marked recharge events such as the heavy winter rainfall in 2017. Radar imagery from the Sentinel-1a/b satellites (November 2014 to October 2017) illuminates secular and seasonal trends modulated by changes in withdrawal rates and the magnitude of winter precipitation. Despite the increased precipitation in early 2017 that led to a marked decrease, or in some areas, reversal, of subsidence rates, subsidence returned to rates observed during the drought within a matter of months.

Simulating the sensitivity of evapotranspiration and streamflow to large-scale groundwater depletion

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | June 19th, 2019

Groundwater pumping has caused marked aquifer storage declines over the past century. In addition to threatening the viability of groundwater-dependent economic activitie

Groundwater pumping has caused marked aquifer storage declines over the past century. In addition to threatening the viability of groundwater-dependent economic activities, storage losses reshape the hydrologic landscape, shifting groundwater surface water exchanges and surface water availability. A more comprehensive understanding of modern groundwater-depleted systems is needed as we strive for improved simulations and more efficient water resources management. Here, we begin to address this gap by evaluating the impact of 100 years of groundwater declines across the continental United States on simulated watershed behavior. Subsurface storage losses reverberate throughout hydrologic systems, decreasing streamflow and evapotranspiration. Evapotranspiration declines are focused in water-limited periods and shallow groundwater regions. Streamflow losses are widespread and intensify along drainage networks, often occurring far from the point of groundwater abstraction. Our integrated approach illustrates the sensitivity of land surface simulations to groundwater storage levels and a path toward evaluating these connections in large-scale models.