Groundwater

The USGS has a long history of collecting water-level data in the Antelope Valley groundwater basin. Previous water-level contour maps for Antelope Valley were published by the USGS in cooperation with the Antelope Valley – East Kern Water Agency as Open-File Reports 80-1222, 86-498 and 98-4022 using water-level data collected in 1979, 1984 and 1996, respectively. An updated water-level contour...

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages the Dos Palmas Oasis complex on the northeastern side of the Salton Sea for the maintainence of threatened and endangered species. This Oasis complex represents a rare area of riparian/wetland habitat in the midst of an extremely arid desert region. Anthropogenic development of water resources during the 1900s depleted natural groundwater supplies...

The Tulare Lake basin in the southern Central Valley of California is heavily dependent upon groundwater for drinking water supply but groundwater in this basin is threatened by a wide array of issues. Groundwater aquifers in the alluvial fan sediments derived from the Sierra Nevada on the eastern side of the Tulare Lake basin are highly productive aquifers that are vulnerable to contamination...

Pesticides are used throughout the State of California in both urban and agricultural settings and are routinely detected in surface water. Each year, new pesticides are introduced to the market and often become detected in surface water. It can take several years or more for routine monitoring programs to acquire the capability to detect new and understudied pesticides of concern because...

Runoff from snowmelt and rainfall in the Tuolumne River basin plays a significant role in irrigation and domestic water supply for Turlock and Modesto Irrigation Districts, City of Modesto and the San Francisco Bay Area. This area experiences very different seasonal and decadal climate events which are known to affect the timing and volumes of runoff. Land-cover change alone, such as the Rim Fire...

Between 1956 and 1972, the Stringfellow Hazardous Waste Site, Riverside County, Calif., discharged approximately 34 million gallons of industrial wastes to unlined surface impoundments located at the head of Pyrite Canyon. Contaminants from the site have been detected as far as 4 miles downgradient near the Santa Ana River. Perchlorate in excess of the California Maximum Contaminant Level of 6...

The Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) is planning to construct an advanced water treatment facility and three supplemental injection wells in a recharge area in the coastal plain of Los Angeles County.

Measurements of elevations, aquifer-system compaction, and water levels are used to improve our understanding of the processes responsible for land-surface elevation changes. Elevation or elevation-change measurements are fundamental to monitoring land subsidence.

The California Water Science Center has been involved in multiple studies simulating land subsidence associated with groundwater withdrawal. The simulations can be used to estimate the magnitude, location, and timing of subsidence. They can also be used to evaluate management strategies to mitigate adverse effects from subsidence while also optimizing water availability.

The California Water Science Center has been involved in multiple studies simulating land subsidence associated with groundwater withdrawal. The simulations can be used to estimate the magnitude, location, and timing of subsidence. They can also be used to evaluate management strategies to mitigate adverse effects from subsidence while also optimizing water availability.

Although land subsidence caused by groundwater pumping has caused many negative effects on human civil works for centuries, especially in the highly developed urban or industrialized areas of Europe, the relation between subsidence and groundwater pumpage was not understood or recognized for a long time. Recognition began in 1928 when pioneer researcher O.E. Meinzer of the U.S. Geological Survey...

The San Joaquin Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the nation. Beginning around the 1920's, farmers relied upon groundwater for water supply. Over time, overpumping caused groundwater-level declines and associated aquifer-system compaction and land subsidence that resulted in permanent aquifer-system storage loss.