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Status and Understanding of Groundwater Quality in the Redding–Red Bluff Shallow Aquifer Study Unit, 2019: California GAMA Priority Basin Project

Scientific Investigations Report 2022-5127
A product of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program
Prepared in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board
By:
https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20225127

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Abstract

Groundwater quality in the north Sacramento Valley (NSV) was studied in the Redding–Red Bluff shallow aquifer study unit (referred to as the NSV shallow aquifer or NSV-SA) as part of the Priority Basin Project (PBP) of the California Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The study unit is in Shasta and Tehama Counties and included two physiographic study areas: (1) the Redding area to the north and (2) the Red Bluff area to the south. The study was focused on groundwater resources used for domestic drinking-water supply, which are mostly drawn from shallower parts of aquifer systems than those of groundwater resources used for public drinking-water supply in the same area. This assessment characterized the quality of ambient groundwater in the aquifer before filtration or treatment, rather than the quality of drinking water delivered to the tap.
The water-quality evaluation in this study has three components: (1) a status assessment, which characterized the quality of the groundwater resources used for domestic supply for 2018–19, in reference to state and national benchmarks; (2) an understanding assessment, which evaluated the natural and human factors potentially affecting water quality in those resources; and (3) a comparison between the groundwater resources used for domestic supply and those used for public supply in the region.
The status assessment was based on data collected from 50 sites sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey for the GAMA-PBP in 2018–19. To provide context for the measured concentrations of groundwater constituents compared to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water regulatory and non-regulatory benchmarks for drinking-water quality, relative concentrations (RCs) of groundwater constituents were calculated as the concentration in a sample divided by the respective benchmark. Health-based benchmarks include regulatory and non-regulatory human-health benchmarks such as a maximum contaminant level, notification level, or health-based screening level. Aesthetic-based benchmarks are regulatory or non-regulatory non-health-based benchmarks that can affect the color or taste of water. A grid-based method was used to estimate the proportions of the groundwater resources used for domestic drinking wells that have water-quality constituents below (low), approaching (moderate, greater than half the benchmark), or above (high) benchmark concentrations. This method provides statistically unbiased results at the study-area scale and permits comparisons to other GAMA-PBP study areas.

Suggested Citation

Harkness, J.S., 2023, Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the Redding–Red Bluff shallow aquifer study unit, 2019—California GAMA priority basin project: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2022–5127, 76 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20225127.

ISSN: 2328-0328 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Acknowledgments
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Hydrogeologic Setting
  • Methods
  • Potential Explanatory Variables
  • Status and Understanding of Groundwater Quality in the Shallow Aquifer System
  • Comparison of Domestic and Public-Supply Aquifer Systems
  • Summary
  • References Cited
  • Appendix 1. Attribution of Potential Explanatory Variables
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Status and understanding of groundwater quality in the Redding–Red Bluff shallow aquifer study unit, 2019—California GAMA priority basin project
Series title Scientific Investigations Report
Series number 2022-5127
DOI 10.3133/sir20225127
Year Published 2023
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) California Water Science Center
Description Report: xii, 76 p.; Data Release
Country United States
State California
Other Geospatial Redding, Red Bluff
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details