U.S. Aquifer Compositions and Southern California Groundwater Management

Billions of people worldwide get their drinking water from the ground. This groundwater is a key resource for domestic, agricultural, and industrial use. In order to better understand the properties of groundwater, we need to understand the lithology that composes them. Previous works have used lithological logs from wells to understand different aquifer formations. If enough logs are taken in a study area, an accurate cross section depiction of the aquifer system can be created. Currently, no central database contains cross sections for every aquifer in the United States. Here we compile cross sections and supporting lithological information for all the aquifer systems on the west coast, and analyze groundwater well levels in three southern California counties (Kern County, San Bernardino County, Santa Barbara County). The data collected for the southern California counties were total water usage, groundwater usage, and records of long term groundwater levels. Well levels have decreased for both Kern County and San Bernardino county, but have remained variable in Santa Barbara county. Our literature review and compilation of cross sections are an important basis to understand groundwater systems, and will be used in future research to compile a national aquifer database. Such a database will support future research and improve our understanding of the numerous and diverse aquifer systems in the United States, including implications for current environmental policy in California, such as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

Project Mentor: Annette Hilton

Faculty Advisor: Scott Jasechko