Borrego Springs Groundwater Subbasin
The Borrego Springs Groundwater Subbasin has a surface area of approximately 98 square miles or 62,776 acres. The western and southwestern boundary of the Subbasin is defined by the contact of poorly to moderately consolidated sediments with the plutonic and metamorphic basement of Pinyon Ridge and the San Ysidro Mountains. The northern and eastern boundaries are defined by the mapped trace of the Coyote Creek fault that trends northwest–southeast. East of the Coyote Creek fault lies Coyote Mountain, the Borrego Badlands, and the Ocotillo-Clark Valley Groundwater Basin. The southeastern boundary of the Plan Area is defined by the location of San Felipe Creek, which also marks the northern boundary of the Ocotillo Wells Groundwater Subbasin.
The Plan Area consists primarily of private land under County jurisdiction, which is surrounded on nearly all sides by land owned by the State of California. The primary developed land uses in the Plan Area are agriculture, residential, transportation infrastructure, and recreational (including golf courses). The public water district serving the Plan Area is the BWD, which provides water and sewer service to the developed portions of Borrego Valley within its service area. Within the Plan Area, the majority of the land is undeveloped open space.
Borrego Springs Watermaster
The Watermaster is a committee of representatives of the parties to the Judgment. The Watermaster convenes monthly to conduct its business and prepares an annual budget and assessment to fund its operations and activities. The Watermaster maintains this website for the purpose of disseminating important documents and data to the Parties, other stakeholders, and the interested public, such as meeting agendas and minutes, production and water-level elevation data, guiding documents, Watermaster forms.
Technical Advisory Committee
Section IV.G of the Judgment and Article III of the Rules & Regulations provides for the formation of a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). The Judgment defines the TAC as (Section I.A.58):
The advisory body established pursuant to Section IV.G(1) of this Judgment to study technical aspects of the Basin and to issue recommendations to Watermaster based on such technical study for the purpose of achieving Sustainable Groundwater Management in the Basin in an effective and efficient manner, consistent with the rights and obligations of the Parties established by this Judgment.
The Judgment defines the TAC’s duties and responsibilities as (Section IV.G.2):
The Technical Advisory Committee’s responsibilities will include, without limitation, making recommendations based on best science and data collected regarding the Water Budget and the avoidance of Undesirable Result, determined by the TAC based on best available data, including without limitation information generated from BVHM model runs. Such assessment must consider all inflows and outflows from the Basin, including without limitation mountain front underflow and flux into the Borrego Springs Basin across the Coyote Creek fault and all other underflows, agricultural and recreational irrigation return flows; specific yield differences of the three aquifers (upper, middle and lower) within the different Management Areas of the Basin; and other matters approved by the Watermaster to improve upon initial assumptions regarding the Water Budget that will enable better Adaptive Management of the Basin.