Status of groundwater quality in the California Desert Region, 2006-2008: California GAMA Priority Basin Project

Abstract

The six Desert studies were designed to provide a spatially unbiased assessment of the quality of untreated groundwater in parts of the Desert and the Basin and Range hydrogeologic provinces, as well as a statistically consistent basis for comparing groundwater quality to other areas in California and across the Nation. Samples were collected by the USGS from September 2006 through April 2008 from 253 wells in Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Mono, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. Two-hundred wells were selected using a spatially distributed, randomized gridbased method to provide a spatially unbiased representation of the study areas (grid wells), and fifty-three wells were sampled to provide additional insight into groundwater conditions (additional wells).