Big Bear Valley Groundwater Resource Evaluations

City of Big Bear Lake Department of Water (1999 – Present)
Big Bear City Community Services District (1998 – Present)
Big Bear Area Regional Wastewater Agency (2003 – Present)

Overview:
Thomas Harder has been providing ongoing hydrogeological support services to Big Bear area water agencies since 1998. As this area of the San Bernardino Mountains doesn’t have access to imported water, they are reliant solely on groundwater resources for municipal supply. As such, management of the groundwater resources is critical. Mr. Harder has prepared numerous perennial yield (i.e. sustainable yield) evaluations to assist the various agencies with water resource planning including:

• Reevaluation of the Perennial Yield of the Baldwin Lake Watershed
• Reevaluation of the Perennial Yield of the Big Bear Lake Watershed
• Evaluation of the Perennial Yield of the Grout Creek and North Shore Subunits
• Evaluation of the Perennial Yield of the Lake William Tributary Subarea
• Evaluation of the Perennial Yield of the Arrastre Creek Watershed

Multiple methods were used for evaluating perennial yield, including groundwater level/production history relationships, underflow analysis, water budgets, and rainfall/runoff models.

Over the last 15 years, Thomas Harder has been instrumental in developing and implementing a groundwater management plan for the City of Big Bear Lake Department of Water. This has included participation on the biannual Technical Review Team to monitor groundwater level trends in key wells across Big Bear Valley as a basis for groundwater management decisions. Most recently, Mr. Harder has been providing guidance to the various management agencies for the formation of a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) in order to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

Dollar Amount: $22,000