INYOKERN – Kern County Planning Department is proposing a major re-structuring of zoning in the county to deal with the water problem, i.e., shortage and drought. That was one of the developments that resulted from the department’s meeting on the Indian Wells Valley Resource Opportunity Plan: Water Availability and Conservation Report On Wednesday in Inyokern.
The first half of the meeting was a full presentation by Todd Groundwater, formerly Todd Engineers, the firm hired to compile the report and plan. The plan is a collection of water studies and data performed in the Indian Wells Valley in the past century; there were no new tests conducted for this study. The data was analyzed by Todd with its findings included in the report. The report then gives suggestions on how to resolve water problems.
The findings are that the IWV water basin is in overdraft, or more water has been pumped out than is going back in, since the 1960s. Todd also stated that the conservation efforts in place and those suggested would still not be enough to balance the basin’s recharge and pumping inequities. It was also noted that agriculture in the IWV is the leading consumer of water. But, even if all agriculture were stopped, it would still not be enough to balance the overdraft.
Todd suggests water importation as the option to fix the overdraft and have water available in the future. It was explained that the water in the basin will not dry up all at once, but as the water level drops, it becomes thicker with dissolved solids and costs more to pump from deeper distances.
One of the most startling revelations presented by Todd is its prediction for the future of agriculture and water in the IWV. Gus Yates of Todd presented a graph in his PowerPoint presentation that showed the amount of water that would be used for agriculture in the valley given current land use restrictions. The graph showed a nearly straight line representing current water use, then the line spiked nearly off the graph. This off-the-charts graph represented the amount of water that could be used on the 25,000 acres of undeveloped land in Inyokern zoned for agriculture and owned by non-locals. Yates explained if the current rate of pistachio groves continues to develop at its current pace on all 25,000 acres, the amount of water used annually would equal close to 140,000 acre-feet-per year, more than 10 times the average recharge into the basin.
And, There are no permits needed for a person to grow whatever they want in the county on agriculturally zoned lands. This fact caused many jaws to drop at the meeting. Many were aghast that there were no permits needed.
Lorelei Oviatt, director for Kern County Planning, replied that people growing alfalfa in the IWV did not need a permit to grow that crop, and neither do pistachio growers. There are several pistachio groves growing and reaching maturity in and around Inyokern, and they are the cause of dust and pollution, according to many pistachio grove neighbors.
Full story by Mike Bodine at ridgecrestca.com.
