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Back Country water studies are finally underway
By Christy Scott
The Alpine Sun
CAMPO — “Studies don’t show any
groundwater problems currently existing in Campo and Lake Morena,”
said San Diego County Department of Planning and Land Use
groundwater geologist Jim Bennett.
Members of the Campo/Lake Morena Planning Group
Groundwater Subcommittee got an update on groundwater studies in
the area, and throughout the county, at the group’s regular
meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 15.
According to Bennett, thanks to increased monitoring in
the area, the county is compiling lots of groundwater data on
Campo/Lake Morena and the entire Back Country.
“In 2005, when this subcommittee was asking for a Back
Country-wide groundwater study and were asking to build up the
monitoring network, we had two wells that we were monitoring,”
Bennett said. “There are now 18 wells being monitored in the
Campo-Lake Morena area — up 16 from where we were just a year
ago.”
According to Bennett there are also 74 new wells being
monitored countywide. “We’ve been doing lots of work to expand
the network,” he said.
The wells that the county is now receiving readings
from are from project Major Use Permits in Campo (A Children’s
Village and Circle F Ranch), the two original wells in the Lake
Morena area, and residents who have volunteered wells on their
properties.
“Thanks to all of the volunteers, but we still need
lots more wells to monitor in the Campo/Lake Morena area,”
Bennett told about 30 residents at the groundwater subcommittee
meeting.
According to him, the county would prefer to use
non-active wells for monitoring purposes, but will accept active
wells into the program. In this case, county staff just needs to
coordinate with property owners so that pumping is stopped prior
to testing.
According to Bennett, groundwater levels in 2006 in the
Campo/Lake Morena area have been as high as 1.5 feet below the
ground surface, in a stream bed on the Circle F Ranch; and as
deep as 62.4 feet on the Children’s Village property. These
numbers show no significant water level problems, according to
county standards.
There are no long-term groundwater records for Campo,
according to Bennett, as monitoring there started in 2001. The
two Lake Morena wells have been monitored since the early 1990s.
Other areas of the Back Country have also joined the
water-monitoring program with new wells or by providing existing
information.
“We have a wealth of long-term information from wells
in Pine Valley,” Bennett said. “The Pine Valley Mutual Water
Company has 10 wells that they have long-term data for, and they
have shared with us.”
In addition to looking at groundwater levels in the
Back Country, the county has also conducted water quality
studies in various areas.
“We’ve been working on mapping nitrates and radioactive
elements in areas around the county with the department of
environmental health,” Bennett said.
According to Bennett, the Campo/Lake Morena area has
been flagged for radioactive materials and nitrates, as well as
areas of Potrero, Julian, Warner Springs and parts of Descanso.
The county is working on compiling a water quality map
for the entire region, to show problem areas. According to
Bennett, the map will be used as a screening tool, so that
projects in these areas will have to study for these toxins.
He expects that the map will be finalized and available
for the public by the end of the year.
Since its inception, the Campo groundwater subcommittee
has been a wave of force behind hydrogeology studies that are
being conducted in the area. A countywide groundwater study is
also being done as part of the General Plan 2020 process.
“Campo has been really vocal on this groundwater
issue,” Bennett said. “You’ve formed this committee, which I
love. We’ve really been able to come up with a lot of great
things and I’ve been getting a lot of good ideas.”
Bennett and county staff have been working on
calibrating the GP2020 groundwater study model. They have been
compiling well logs from thousands of wells, and working with
various agencies to put as much real data into the computer
model as possible.
“We’re at a point now that almost all of the data has
been entered into the model — the major bulk of the work has
been compiled,” Bennett said. “I am in the process of going
through all of the parameters of the model to make sure
everything is just right, before we run it on a countywide
basis.”
The county model, spanning 2,500 square-miles, will
study groundwater levels 30 years into the future. Groundwater
data has been input into the model based on current development
in areas and the maximum build out of GP2020 proposed maps. Also
included in the model are projects that have already been
approved, and even projects that have not yet been approved.
“We don’t know that these projects are going to be
approved, but we’re assuming, for the study, that they are, and
modeling groundwater use based on all of that,” Bennett
explained.
“If at any time in the modeling groundwater drops below
50 percent, that would be considered significant,” Bennett said.
He expects to run the model countywide in the next few
months. “By early next year I’d really like to have this thing
buttoned up.”
If you would like to volunteer a well on your property
to be monitored for the county study, please contact Dan Bahman
at (858) 694-3294.
Photo: The map above, part of the power point presentation
given by Bennett at the groundwater subcommittee meeting, shows
the locations of current monitoring wells in Campo and Lake
Morena.
 E-mail
Christy Scott
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