Sacramento Valley – Los Molinos

Statistics

Basin Name

Basin Number

5-021.56

SGMA Basin Priority

Medium

Critically Overdrafted

Status

Subject to SGMA

DWR Region & POC

Northern Region Office
Michelle Dooley
(530) 529-7380
Michelle.Dooley@water.ca.gov

Number of Wells

438

Hydrologic Region Name

Sacramento River Hydrologic Region

Counties

Butte, Tehama

Adjacent Basins

Sacramento Valley - Corning 5-021.51, Sacramento Valley - Dye Creek 5-021.55, Sacramento Valley - Red Bluff 5-021.50, Sacramento Valley - Vina 5-021.57,

At-A-Glance

Located in California’s Sacramento River hydrologic region, the Sacramento Valley – Los Molinos is 99,422.40 acres in size. This Medium priority basin is home to an estimated 4,425 people (2010 value), which have been at a rate of 6.76. Sacramento Valley – Los Molinos is a(n) basin with approximately 438 wells, of which approximately 18 are water supply wells. Groundwater accounts for approximately 54 percent of the basin’s water supply.

Source: CA DWR

2003: Bulletin 118 basin description

2014: Basin prioritization – medium. Comment: Boron issues along east-side of basin. GW basin provides underflow to Mill Creek which supports endangered spring-run salmon. High SW-GW interaction for much of the western basin. GW Use based on 2003 Tehama Co GW Inventory data

2018: draft priority – very low. Downgrade left un-explained with a reference to a blank entry field (8c) on DWR prioritization dashboard

Basin boundary modification request to consolidate basins of Tehama County pending with DWR.

2019: Basin boundary modification approved. Per DWR: It “consolidates the Dye Creek subbasin, Los Molinos subbasin, and Tehama County portion of the Vina subbasin into a single subbasin named the Los Molinos subbasin. The modification correlates with a separate request submitted by Butte County Department of Water and Resource Conservation to expand the Butte County portion of the Vina subbasin.” Phase 2 draft basin priority: medium.