Page 26 - Beaumont Basin Watermaster

Section 3
Status of the Basin and Administration of the Judgment

Table 3-4 presents a summary of the annual groundwater recharge in the Beaumont Basin
since 2003 on a calendar year basis.

3.3.1 State Water Project Water Recharge
BCVWD’s Noble Creek spreading facility, located in the vicinity of Beaumont Avenue and
Cherry Valley Boulevard, is the only facility in the Beaumont Basin where deliveries of
imported water can be used to recharge the groundwater basin. The location of this
spreading facility is depicted in Figure 3-3. Deliveries of imported water are conducted
through the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency, which is the State Water Contractor for this
area.

The BCVWD began taking deliveries of imported water for groundwater recharge in the Fall
of 2006 when 3,501 ac-ft were spread pursuant to the storage and recharge agreement on
file with Watermaster. Deliveries of imported water for BCVWD increased over the next five
years and peaked in CY 2011 at 7,979 ac-ft. Since, a slight decrease in imported water
spreading has been recorded; in CY 2013 close to 7,400 ac-ft of imported water were
delivered. Overall, a total of 42,034 ac-ft of imported water have been spread by the BCVWD
since 2006 as illustrated in Table 3-4. Significant differences between the imported water
deliveries provided by the BCVWD and those documented by the SGPWA were documented
in the previous annual report. The inconsistencies between the BCVWD and SGPWA
though CY 2011 have been addressed. Values provided by the SGPWA for CY 2012 and
CY 2013 still need to be checked against information to be provided by the BCVWD.

The City of Banning began purchasing imported water for recharge at the BCVWD’s Noble
Creek facility in July 2008 and has since recharged 8,813 ac-ft. in accordance with their
storage agreement on file with Watermaster. Over the last two years, the City of Banning has
been spreading an average of 100 ac-ft per month.

In addition to imported water deliveries to BCVWD’s Noble Creek facility, SGPWA has also
delivered significant quantities of imported water at the Little San Gorgonio Creek Spreading
Ponds. These spreading ponds are located outside the adjudicated boundary of the
Beaumont Basin and to the north of the Banning Fault, as shown in Figure 3-3. Spreading of
imported water at these spreading ponds may be a source of subsurface recharge to the
Beaumont Basin; however, Watermaster has not adopted this finding. Subsurface recharge
across the Banning Fault will be investigated as part of the Safe Yield of the Basin
determination study, currently being conducted.

Deliveries of imported water by the SGPWA to the Little San Gorgonio Creek Spreading
Ponds began in August 2003; the agency has since recharged a total of 10,464 ac-ft
averaging 1,046 ac-ft/yr. Deliveries in CY 2013, at 881 ac-ft, were less than half of the
amount spread in CY 2011 and CY 2012. It should be noted that the SGPWA applied to the
Beaumont Basin Watermaster to develop a storage agreement, but the application was not
approved.

Beaumont Basin Watermaster 2013 Annual Report – DRAFT August 2014 3-6