Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Hydrogeological assessment of the 4-S Land and Cattle Company (4-S Ranch) was conducted using a combination of field investigations and a survey of available literature from nearby agricultural water districts and other entities. The 4-S Ranch has been able to meet most of its own water needs providing irrigated pasture for beef cattle by an active program of shallow groundwater pumping in the semiconfined aquifer above the Corcoran Clay. Comparison of groundwater pumping on the 4-S Ranch property with groundwater pumping in the adjacent Merquin and Stevinson Water Districts shows great similarity in the well screened depths and the quality of the groundwater produced by the well fields. The pump yield for the eight active production wells on the 4-S property are comparable to the production and drainage wells in the adjacent water districts. Like these Districts the 4-S Ranch lies close to the Valley trough in a historic discharge area. The 4-S Ranch is unique in that it is bounded and bisected by several major water conveyance facilities including Bear Creek. Although the large number of potential recharge structures would suggest significant groundwater conjunctive use potential the major well field development has occurred along the length of the Eastside Canal. The Eastside Canal is known to be leaky above the "A" Clay the Canal passes through sandy areas and experiences significant groundwater seepage. This seepage can be intercepted by adjacent groundwater wells. Pumping adjacent to, and along the alignment of the Canal, may induce higher rates of seepage from the Eastside Canal. Groundwater quality below and adjacent to the Eastside Canal is very good, reflecting the origin of this diverted water from the Merced River. Most of the pumpage occurs in a depth interval between 30 ft and 130ft. Safe yield estimates made using the available data show that the 4-S Ranch has sufficient resources to meet its own needs. Further exploitation of the groundwater will be limited if the leakage from the Eastside Bypass, Mariposa Bypass and Bear Creek are insufficient to replace the pumped water on an average annual basis. Should any future lining of the Eastside Canal occur, it would have a significant impact on the groundwater resource potential of the 4-S Ranch and impair the overall quality of the available water supply.