Report Shows Supply of Water Is Inching Up

An increase in rainfall earlier this year helped produce higher ground-water levels in the San Gabriel Valley, water officials said last week.

John Maulding, executive officer for the Main San Gabriel Valley Basin Watermaster, reported that a consultant for that board had found that a Baldwin Park well used to gauge water levels in the basin showed an increase of 80,000 acre feet. An acre foot is about 325,850 gallons.

Measurements at the well over the past 18 months showed a 10-foot rise as of Nov. 30, indicating enough new water in the basin to serve 160,000 households for one year, Maulding said. Though helpful, the increase does not eliminate the area’s water shortage, he said.

“Although the increase in our ground-water supply does not mean we should relax our conservation efforts as consumers, it does demonstrate how heavy rainfall, even for one short period, along with recharging efforts, can have a very positive impact for the following year,” he said.

Maulding said the draining of the Morris Dam and purchases from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California may also have contributed to replenishment of the 167-square-mile ground-water basin. The basin supplies about 130,000 acre-feet of water per year to roughly 1 million residents.

The West Covina-based Stetson Engineers Inc., consultants to the Watermaster, reported that 11.8 inches of rainfall fell in the San Gabriel Valley during February and March. The average is 18.5 inches a year.

“If we were to have a normal to wet year, ground-water levels in the basin could rise substantially,” said Tom Stetson, founder of the firm. “In 1977-78, for example, heavy rainfall during the winter caused a 50-foot rise in ground-water level at the (Baldwin Park well).”

The court-appointed Watermaster is responsible for managing the basin’s ground water.