Indian Wells Valley
Statistics
- Basin Name
- Indian Wells Valley
- Basin Number
- 6-054
- SGMA Basin Priority
- High
- Critically Overdrafted
- Yes
- Hydrologic Region Name
- South Lahontan
- Counties
- Inyo, Kern, San Bernardino
- Adjacent Basins
At-A-Glance
Located in California’s South Lahontan hydrologic region, the Indian Wells Valley is 383,492 acres in size. This High priority basin is home to an estimated 34,837 (2010 census) people. It has approximately 1,194 wells, of which approximately 47 are public supply wells. Groundwater accounts for 100 percent of the basin’s water supply.
Basin Notes
2003: Bulletin 118 basin description
2014: CASGEM basin prioritization – medium. Comment: “Overdraft has been documented since the 1960’s. Water quality issues with respect to overdraft and mixing of aquifers.”
2016: Critical Overdraft
2018: Draft basin priority – High. Comment – CRITICAL OVERDRAFT 2016 KCWA showed long-term hydrographs in a 2016 meeting that showed definite groundwater level decline. Indian Wells Valley is co-managed with the Kern County GSA by the City of Ridgecrest, Inyo County, San Bernardino County, Indian Wells Valley Water District, the United States Navy – Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 2018 Final Basin Prioritization: Basin prioritization is changed from medium to high priority.
2020: January 31 – GSP filed with DWR
2022: GSP approved by DWR