Ojai’s Water Supply Up For Study
State grants $219,000 to measure groundwater basin, effects of wells
By Daryl Kelley
In a move that should make the Ojai Valley better able to survive a drought, the state has awarded $219,000 for a definitive study of how the Ojai groundwater basin works.
The grant from the state Department of Water Resources will pay for a study of hundreds of wells already sunk into the 10-square-mile Ojai Basin, a subterranean bowl filled with layer after layer of sands and gravel separated by clay.
In some places, experts say, the basin is 900 feet deep and may hold perhaps 75,000 acre-feet of water, about one-third as much as is stored in the Lake Casitas reservoir.
But what is not known is precisely how that water is stored there at any given time, how the water moves between layers, how it’s drawn down by over-pumping, and how much rainwater it takes to refill it.
Of particular concern, is the relationship between wells on the perimeter of the basin-bowl, which tend to dry up during drought, and wells at the center of it.
That information is important because water managers want to use it to help pumpers work together to prevent dry wells, and to develop more underground storage as a hedge against drought. They’re already developing a new spreading grounds near Carne Road from which water can be pumped down into the basin during wet years.
“The study will determine the structural nature of this basin,” said farmer Jerry Conrow, chairman of the Ojai Basin Ground-water Management Agency, an oversight group formed amid severe drought in 1991.
“We think we know what we’re talking about,” said Conrow. “We think there are three different levels of water-bearing sands. But it all depends on where you are. We think there are about 75,000 acre-feet of water in the basin, but we don’t really know if that’s accurate.”
An acre-foot of water covers one acre, 1 foot deep. Two families of four water each year.
The study, expected to take about 16 months, will be conducted by Jordan Kear, a hydro-geologist who has worked with the Ojai agency for six years. Kear’s master thesis was a study of the Ojai Basin.
“The basin is like a layer cake of sands and gravel and clay,” Kear said. “There are about 20 distinct strata.”
What he doesn’t know, Kear said, are the characteristics of each layer. Some layers may be highly permeable and some not. Some may confine water, and some not. And every well drilled into the basin provides clues to this information.
“Every driller was taking notes on what was found at what level,” he said. “And we’re now going through all the data on those hundreds of wells. We’re looking at how much water a well makes at what level.”
Kear is also charting the depth at which water was found for each well, and how that changes from spring to fall and from wet year to dry.
Wells in the basin range in depth from about 100 feet to 1,300, he said. And the typical well is probably about 450 feet.
And water levels can vary a couple of hundred feet depending on time of year and how much rain was received, he said.
“This year, some wells that were at 70 feet in the spring are at more than 200 feet now,” he said. Recent rains probably will add several feet to the water levels of local wells, he said.
Basic questions, such as how much natural recharge of the basin occurs during wet winters, may be determined by the new study, he said.
A key goal of the study is to determine the inter-relationships of wells: for example, how pumping of a deep well affects production at a shallow well nearby, or how pumping of wells near the center of the basin affects wells on its edges. Some perimeter wells dried up during the extended drought of 1986-1991. And shallow wells sometimes have to be re-drilled during dry years even if there is no prolonged drought.
Kear said that even a well located at the center of the basin could cease production during dry periods if it is only 100 feet deep.
One of the goals of the new basin model is to be able to “predict pumping scenarios so we can be most efficient in our water use,” Kear said.
Farmer Tony Thacher said the new study will be “hugely important.”
“Right now, we really don’t know how much water is in the basin and how much of it is usable,” he said. “And with the rise in Casitas (Municipal Water District irrigation) rates, more people have drilled wells. So I think we could get to the point where we draw the basin down seriously. And we really need to know how much we can store in this basin.”
Casitas Water District Director Russ Baggerly, who is also on the Ground water Management board, said the new study could be invaluable.
“This is a major step forward in getting firm data on how to organize and run the groundwater basin effectively,” he said. “There may be lenses of clay that separate aquifers within the basin. Some may fill faster than others. We need to know how the basin works, so we don’t overuse it.”
The basin stretches about five miles from the valley’s East End near Ojai Valley School to about Foothill Road on the west. It’s about two miles across, beginning at the base of Black Mountain near Soule Park on the south and curving upward at the foothills on the north.
hope this is not the state and or water cos trying to take away or limit landowners right to dig wells … water cos are not happy with those of us who have wells as they cannot bill us for generating and using our own water from our own land .. hope this really is just a scientific study and not a way to limit our rights and impact our pocketbook by forcing us to pay for city water … maybe I am just unnecessairily suspicious??? comments please especially from well owners ….
anonymous
21 Oct 09 at 10:49 am
Maybe they could remove the toxic waste (fluoride) that kills off all the crops.
.....
21 Oct 09 at 2:50 pm
good idea. that has nothing to do with individual wells, at least not mine … my well water on my property … goes nowhere else and I aint puttin flouride in the groundwater. where does that come from??
anonymous
21 Oct 09 at 5:31 pm
Now that we are talking about water, know that the county is using Aquamaster, a form of the herbicide Roundup in our watershed to kill off the arundo plants. The main ingredient, glyphosate, has been found to cause a number of serious illnesses including cancer. New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden and parts of Canada have banned the substance. The water we have here will continue to be seriously compromised. There is no question the Arundo needs to be removed but not with poisons of any type.
Radtoth
22 Oct 09 at 7:28 pm
anonymous 10-21-09 5:31pm
It could be land above you(if any),
that simple.
Lawn fertilizer cannot be used on gardens as it is not “safe to eat” however, septic tanks and lawns with these types of fertilizers leach similar chemicals into the water table.
The fluoride kills the lawn so they fertilize and in extreme cases paint the lawn.
Radtoth 10-22-09 7:28pm
You are absolutely correct round-up/Monsanto are turning the natural into the unnatural and visa versa.
??. ?. ????
22 Oct 09 at 9:00 pm
John Doe stands for clean drinking water, and I thank the question mark for his support of my position.
John Doe
22 Oct 09 at 10:57 pm
john,
I would NEVER support you, even if I were a jockstrap, assuming you even have anything below the waist to support, as you are probably a unick.
claiming support when its not yours to claim is theft, you already like impersonating an officer you are on a roll.
??. ?. ????
24 Oct 09 at 2:10 pm
I hope the study is comprehensive and tests for pollutants and heavy metals could be included.
anonymous
26 Oct 09 at 8:39 am
Question Mark,
Monsanto turns natural to unnatural and vice versa, i.e., unnatural to natural???? You may want to read what you write before you post it.
What’s with your off topic comment about genital support?? You should take your sexual perversions elsewhere.
Ret. Lieut. John Doe
Member, Officer’s Club
Founder, Truth Coalition
John Doe
26 Oct 09 at 3:03 pm
Nice one doe,
Monsanto changing the natural into unnatural and the unnatural into the new natural.
Or
“Monsanto turns natural to unnatural and vice versa, i.e., unnatural to natural????”
I prefer it my way as its my post of my opinion.
I guess I should have known you need me to break it down for you,
like the drooling nincompoop you are.
Its not a sexual joke, its a joke about you clearly not having any testicular fortitude john unick doe.
There you go again “moderator he is off topic” like ANY of you’re posts have Anything to do with the topic.
james,john,anon5
You are a liar,
you have NEVER been in the service,
sorry john but you’re girl scout troop(truth coalition) does NOT qualify as a “military service”.
BTW: Catching that sentence for you must be the highlight of you’re day, the reason you get up, aside from the fact you need booze and Prozac!!!
Its a good thing you studied so hard in school john now you can catch those rouge blogers online at ovn.
john,
is grammar policing part of the truth coalition’s mission statement, along with making up fictitious titles and personalities????
Its not a youtube link but it will have to do…
Our tap water.
http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/yourwater/system_testing.php?pwsid=CA5601104
??. ?. ????
26 Oct 09 at 10:20 pm
The funny thing is JOHN “THE UNICK” DOE lives in VENTURA. Why is he concerned about what happens in this valley??
Jesse
27 Oct 09 at 7:30 am
Question Mark,
Are you withdrawing your support for my candidacy as water czar?? Huge mistake. I and my organization are the only ones qualified to answer the real question: How can you guarantee clean water? Simple solution to simple answer: Take over the California Aquaduct. With my fellow ex-operatives, who now mostly blog on small-town newspapers antagonizing the little-brained, we will redirect the aquaduct through Taft, drill a hole through Pine Mountain, and turn the entire Rose Valley into a lake. We will then use gravel trucks to haul the water into Ojai during peak hours over Hwy. 33. Jesse will wear a zebra leotard while riding on the back of a condor overseeing the entire operation from above. You, question mark, will serve as my arab goggles as I sit on my throne.
Ret. Lieut. John Doe
Water Czar
John Doe
27 Oct 09 at 10:36 am
—————Warning snooze alert—————
If you have a low tolerance for information don’t read
the fallowing…
Basically you cant withdraw what you don’t have, hence you never had my support.
In my opinion you are a coward liar,
you would “fit in too well” with the other coward liars we already have supposedly “representing” us.
By you and you’re “org” do you mean the make believe fake non existant james, joe, anon and many more???
That is mildly funny on a blog however when the military is marching up and down you’re street my street the stupid insignificant ranting and ravings you spew forth here wont do me or anyone any good….
You joe are just another “snake oil salesman” selling guarantees, safety, hope, change whatever intangibles you have for sale that sheeple are willing to buy….
Things that you can not sell because you don’t own them, things like security, democracy, freedom and peace….
You or anyone else cant sell, give, take or transfer what you don’t have,
but that wont stop stupid people from still buying into the illusion of guaranteed safety in exchange for bigger and bigger pieces of their god given inalienable rights…
Now onto you’re aqueduct rantings.
A simple idea would be to stop the chem-trailing that has been going on for decades now……
Holding California any many other states hostage…
There is a real threat to wall st.
That threat is anything that can hold an economy independent of wall st., more accurately in-spite of wall st.
Mostly farming but many other small business stand in the way of the nwo.
New world order enemy number one is farms.
They survived engineered economic crisis in the past and can survive this, therefore they must be stopped.
The chem-trail project AKA “Geo-engineering” is a way to “modify” the weather for drought conditions and successfully keep it that way for very extended periods.
The watershed protection act declares the rain on you’re roof is not yours and you cant collect it however its not heavily enforced.yet…
During vietnam rain was artificially manifested to keep ideal conditions for “keeping the enemy wet, cold and tired”.
It was bragged about in news papers.
So the question begs,
why not pour rain on the states that need it?
Well cancer is the answer…
Just to recap they(government) are keeping us(California) and other states dry actively preventing necessary rain from ever getting here.
But the rose lake thing made me laugh,
however you absolutely lost me after hwy33 & Jesse’s attire more importantly the “Arab goggles” comment.
Urben def: Put ones testicles over someones eyes.
EG: While I was doing J.D.’S mom I gave her some Arab goggles.
If this post gets removed due to crude content J.D.’s should also be because of what he is suggesting.
As I am only defining.
I am not crying to admin to remove you john, I just don’t want to be censored for defending myself…
The climate bill that just passed will regulate private wells, ponds any standing water can now be declared a national preserve and is federally protected.
I cant believe they(congress) fooled you guys(sheeple) into thinking Carbon dioxide co2 is a toxic waste and not a natural resource.
Its what trees/vegetation breath.
Sea levels rise and fall all the time we even have a term for it its called the tide.
??. ?. ????
31 Oct 09 at 7:45 am
11-01-09
If this is possible the opposite is also possible inducing drought.
Beijing’s first snow of season ‘artificially induced’
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091101/sc_afp/chinaweatherbeijingsnow
??. ?. ????
1 Nov 09 at 8:06 pm
I have a low tolerance for youtube “facts” . If you go to you tube and look up chemtrails they show you all sorts of jet trails and call them chemical trails. They even show a air refuel hose as if it was some kind of chem spray outlet. Who let you out of “ramblin rants”???
ZZZZ
1 Nov 09 at 10:05 pm
?,
I’m returning your Truth Coalition membership application. You won’t pass the psyche exam.
Good luck in la la land.
Ret. Lieut. John Doe
Truth Coalition
Membership Chair
John Doe
1 Nov 09 at 10:05 pm
ZZZZ,
Good you go right on back to sleep,
as you are worthless and of no use to you’re country.
I love the little psy-opp you trolls run…
If you look at my post a little closer you would see ITS NOT A YOUTUBE LINK its yahoo news, I can see why “fact finding” is not you’re strong point, can you even read????
I don’t need YouTube, I look up in the sky and see trails from jets the chem-trail expands into clouds
however the clouds don’t yield rain.
I don’t even see a single YouTube link here…
I just see john doe trying his usual B.S. of double posting, look at the time 10:05pm two different people at the exact same time, or john note-padding two posts and posting one after the other??
Who let me out of rambling rants???
I am free to post my opinion, even if a link illustrates my point better than words.
Since I’m already talking to you john,
you are returning my truth coalition membership application?,
funny because I would never consider joining a fake non-existent pretend organization.
I know I would not pass as I AM smarter than a fifth grader….
I don’t care much for la la land, but I know you know you’re way around there don’t you??
Stop with the stupid closing lines and actually come up with a relevant thought other than you making a stupid comment about me as it just proves how worthless you really are….
2nd class citizen under the queen
Heir to the throne of zamunda
Peter Pan’s right hand man
Occupier of fema region 5
Resister of the nwo
Knight without armor in a savage land
??. ?. ????
2 Nov 09 at 7:39 am
ZZZZ,
You don’t need to go any further than ?’s posts to find evidence of chemtrails. The Rambling Ranter is so loaded with chemicals that when he gets to a computer his blogs end up just being trails of random letters put into no particular order to form a long trial of letters.
?,
You really aren’t smarter than a fifth grader. Just because your membership was turned down doesn’t mean you have to deny ever applying. Remember, humility in the face of rejection is a virtue.
Ret. Lieut. John Doe
John Doe
2 Nov 09 at 10:44 am