Butte Valley residents question rezoning

by John Scott

Butte Valley Coalition was recently formed to protect their water resources and agriculture. Everyone in Butte Valley is dependent on well water. The coalition defines greater Butte Valley as the large area between Table Mountain and Mount Neal (the landfill), and Paradise down to the valley along Highway 149. There are already significant water well problems in Butte Valley including along Clear Creek (and Butte College’s original wells), Horse Thief Canyon, and Dry Creek through Mesilla Valley.

Upper areas of Butte Valley are in fractured rock aquifers and recharge areas. Lower Butte Valley wells go down into a very shallow edge of the Tuscan formation, a fragile area of the aquifer, and they are usually no deeper than 200 feet, because deeper than that the water can be saline. The saline aquifer can extend down for another 900 feet, before potable water might again be reached.

Re-drilling wells is expensive and may not be feasible. Landowners are locked into a shallow source of water that must not be taken for granted. The groundwater table is already declining; gone are the Artesian wells. Some wells have dropped 50 feet in the past 25 years, or periodically go dry after pumping them for a few hours. Additionally, nitrate levels have been found to be increasing in well water.

When Butte Valley residents learned in September that much of the area was to be rezoned, residents began organizing. Butte Valley Coalition subsequently met with planners from Butte County toward resolving their concerns. They are asking for a cumulative impact analysis for water availability to inform land use and zoning designations as well as a special planning overlay to preserve the rural character of Butte Valley.

From the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of the Environmental News.