April 30, 2004
By Rick Elkins
Staff writer

Information

Water well experts say homeowners who live in rural areas should have wells inspected to ensure they are deep enough to reach groundwater levels that are dropping because of lack of rainfall. Signs that a well may not be deep enough include a loss of pressure or dirt or sand in the water.

Water well levels are dropping in the rural areas of Tulare County as the sixth dry year in a row takes its toll.

"We're running from sunup to sundown," said Rick Phillips of C.J. Hammer Machinery and Pumps in Visalia.

Phillips, a 19-year employee in the well business, said this is one of the earliest times they have been so busy and that is because of the lack of rainfall, coupled with warm temperatures.

And the problem goes beyond farming. Rural homeowners who depend on their own wells are also seeing water levels drop.

Visalia has had less than an inch of rain since March 1 and the season total is 4 1/2 inches below average.

"This is not a real great year," said Randy McFarland of the Friant Water Users Authority that has projected snow runoffs at 75 percent or less of the average.

The runoff projection for the Kaweah River is 59 percent of average April-July runoff.

Tom Weddle, river operations manager, said Lake Kaweah will peak at about 152,000 acre feet, which is more than the lake used to be able to handle, but 31,000 acre feet short of capacity with the new spillway gates.

"We're looking to fill it this year to where we'll have no problems," Weddle said.

Officials had hoped to fill it completely, but earlier flood releases and the lack of late spring rain means that won't occur.

He said the lake will peak around the end of May.

Homeowners hit

Phillips said much of the work his crews are doing involves homeowners in rural areas who are also seeing the water levels drop in their wells.

He said if the water level has dropped, the pump begins sucking air.

That burns out the pump.

His advice is for homeowners to have their wells checked because it's cheaper to lower the well than replace the pump.

Signs that a homeowner can look for is a loss of pressure, sprinklers that no longer cover the same amount of area, or dirt or sand in their water.

"We're having a lot more calls [to rural homes] this time of the year than the past two years," Phillips said.

He said municipal water companies, such as the city of Tulare or Visalia Water Company, do not have the same problems because their wells are deeper and they have enough wells to make up for shortages.

Little water for irrigation

Irrigation districts are planning for a short irrigation season again this year.

Paul Hendrix, manager of the Tulare Irrigation District that receives water from Lake Kaweah and also from Friant Dam, said he is looking at two short irrigation runs, with one around the first of June and the other in late July or early August.

That means farmers will have to rely on pumping water from underground.

Danny Aguiar, manager of Sim-onich Farms south of Tulare, said they are already running and repairing pumps.

He said water tables in his area have dropped 25 to 35 feet because of the pumping.

"A lot of people are already doing work on their wells," he said.

That includes work on the pump motors, but more often lowering the bowls to capture enough water to meet their needs.

He said once the surface water begins to flow those water tables will rise a little because there will be less pumped, and the surface water will help to replenish the underground supply.

Costs

Besides the repairs, Aguiar said pumping water costs about $10 to $50 more an acre foot, depending on how deep the well is. The deeper the water, the more it costs.

Central Valley Project

In addition to the 40,000 to 45,000 acre feet of water from Lake Kaweah, Hendrix said farmers will get another 40,000 acre feet from the Central Valley Project, water from Friant Dam where runoff is projected to be 70 percent of average.

That is the basic amount of water. In wet years that amount could be more than doubled.

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