UC Santa Barbara

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dynamic movement of groundwater on the management of operation near Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) operations using geochemical tracers and numerical modeling at the Kern Water Bank (KWB) San Joaquin Valley, Kern County, California. Groundwater samples were collected from a shallow and a deep monitoring well and analyzed for Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11 and CFC-12), and stable isotopes of the water. The CFC data shows that young water is found in the northern and central regions of the KWB at shallow depths. An intermediate aged groundwater component is found in the deeper wells of the northern and central regions and the oldest water is found in the southern and western areas. The CDWR numerical flow model was used in the study and was optimized for an earlier time period, under different recharge and pumping rates.