By Kristin Withrow, CSDA Communications Specialist
There are as many layers of complexity to water management in California as there are layers of geology, aquifers and water basins in our vast state. Water management is a broad term for the many agencies, offices and professions that deal with understanding the ebb and flow of California water and the innumerable demands placed on supplying, conserving, purifying, capturing and monitoring it. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) passed by the California Legislature in 2014 requires local agencies to adopt groundwater sustainability plans for groundwater basins.
One such agency is the mighty Rancho California Water District (Rancho Water) serving 45,000 connections and more than 150,000 people in the area around Temecula and including portions of Murrieta and unincorporated southwest Riverside County. One significant aspect of their mission is the monitoring and recharging of the groundwater basin on which the district resides. In the past, monitoring was a manual process using probes and a bubbler system to measure well depths in the 57 wells served by the district.
The operations team at Rancho Water was dissatisfied with the time requirement and variability of results in the manual process and sought a more reliable method of well depth monitoring. The resulting Well Depth Measurement System (WDMS) is a trailblazing solution that provides automated, reliable, accurate well depth measurement using a modular design that integrates easily with existing infrastructure and incorporates a sophisticated algorithm to record measurements with exceptional precision.
“We looked at the other technologies available,” explained Maintenance Projects Manager Sonny Miller. “We had tried them, but they weren’t trusted. We wanted to use a system based on the sounding model of the manual method but automate it”. So, Miller and the Rancho Water electrical services department designed, built, programmed and tested it, then monitored it for a year to check for accuracy and repeatability.
With an accuracy of +/- 0.200 inches and repeatability of +/- 0.125 inches at 500 feet, their WDMS surpasses industry standards, ensuring reliable performance in diverse environmental conditions. Additionally, over a span of years, the automated system operates at a fraction of the cost when taking into consideration the probes, bubblers, maintenance and staff hours of the manual system.
Beyond well depth, the system’s accuracy will allow the district to conduct further testing that will reflect well efficiency, specific capacity and well rehabilitation.
The first four WDMS well installations will be complete before the end of 2024, with the remainder added in the first half of 2025. Their intention is to make the system technology available to all applicable water agencies so others can benefit from their work.
“If there are other districts out there that are serious about their groundwater, and are taking the SGMA seriously, they will be able to use a tool like this to get accurate, repeatable data,” said Miller.
Rancho Water General Manager Jason Martin is thrilled with the accomplishment of the operations team. "The district is quite impressed with our operations team for devising this innovative idea, which goes above and beyond their usual responsibilities," he said. "Sonny and his team not only had the vision to conceive this idea but also the dedication to successfully implement it. Their extraordinary effort surpasses all expectations.”
The California Special Districts Association agrees with Martin on this point, so much so that Rancho Water’s Well Depth Measurement System was selected to receive the 2024 Excellence in Technology Award for this accomplishment that promises to drive success for Rancho Water and has implications for operational improvement across the industry.
“Innovation is something our Board really looks for us to be doing all the time,” explained Public Affairs Manager Kimberly Wall. “So, it’s no surprise that they were very supportive of this idea.”
Congratulations to Rancho Water for their innovative approach to water operations, and to their visionary board of directors for supporting the team that invented this novel technology.
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