Water tables are continuing to ebb but not drastically, according to an annual report to be submitted Tuesday to the Butte County Water Commission.
Officials recorded that on average, ground water levels appear to be receding by about two feet a year in most places in the county, and double that in areas with large scale pumping for irrigation. That’s pretty much in line with the trend over the last few decades.
Christina Buck is a water resources scientist with the Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation.
“We are currently at or just in the last couple of years dropped a little bit below both historical lows that previously we saw in long-term monitoring in the ’90s and even in the 1977 drought,” she said.
According to the data, 29 of the wells monitored by the county were near or below the lowest levels ever recorded. As bad as that sounds, 31 reached that level in the spring.
While falling water tables are a serious concern, the problem is worse elsewhere. In the San Joaquin Valley the water table in places plummeted 50 feet or more. That’s more than ten times the rate here.
Falling levels have caused a small but growing number of residential and agricultural wells to suck air.
Buck said that conservation measures by both residents and agriculture have likely blunted the problem. Nevertheless, she said local groundwater levels only rise following years with above average rainfall.
“The question I think is, is it sustainable if we continue to have dry hydrology,” Buck said.
While that’s a question only the skies can answer, the issue of demand will continue to challenge all of California.