Alpine County Municipal Code Art. II Definitions

As used in this chapter:

“Aquifer means a geologic formation that stores, transmits and yields any quantity of water to wells and springs.

“Board” means the board of supervisors of Alpine County.

“Commission” means the planning commission of the county of Alpine.

“County” means the county of Alpine.

“Director” means the director of planning or his or her designee.

“District” means an entity wholly or in part located within the boundaries of the county, which is a purveyor of waters for agricultural; domestic, or municipal use.

“Export” means exportation via a pipeline, and/or natural or artificial water channel.

“Groundwater” means all water beneath the surface of the earth which is capable of being extracted, and includes, but is not limited to, water occurring in a defined pool or aquifer.

“Groundwater Management Act” means Water Code §§ 10750 et. seq.

“Hydraulic gradient” means the slope of the water table.

“Hydrology” means the origin, distribution, and circulation of water through precipitation; stream flow, infiltration; groundwater storage, and evaporation.

“Overdraft” means the condition of a groundwater supply in which the amount of water withdrawn by pumping exceeds the amount of water replenishing the supply over a period of time and also the point at which extractions from the supply exceed its safe yield plus any temporary surplus.

“Percolation” means the movement of water through the soil to the groundwater table.

“Permeability” means the capability of the soil or another geologic formation to transmit water.

“Piezometric surface” means the surface to which the water in a confined aquifer will rise.

“Porosity” means voids or open spaces in alluvium, other soils and/or rocks that can be filled with water.

“Recharge” means flow to groundwater storage from precipitation, irrigation, infiltration from streams, spreading basins and other sources of water.

“Safe yield” means the maximum quantity of water which can be withdrawn annually from a groundwater supply under a given set of conditions without causing overdraft or adverse water quality conditions or an undesirable result.

The phrase “undesirable result” is intended to refer to a lowering of the groundwater levels resulting in, or tending to result in, the eventual depletion of or the substantial diminution of the supply of water. Specifically, “safe yield” is the amount of water which can be withdrawn without:

1. Exceeding in any calendar year the long-term mean annual water supply of the basin (considering all sources of recharge and withdrawal);

2. Lowering water levels so as to make further drilling of water wells uneconomical;

3. Causing water pumped from the basin to deteriorate below drinking water standards;

4. Violating water rights or restrictions in pumpage in the groundwater basin as established by court adjudication or application of state or federal law;

5. Other observable environmental damage.

“Specific capacity” means the volume of water pumped from a well in gallons per minute per foot of drawdown.

“Spreading water” means discharging native or imported water to a permeable area for the purpose of allowing it to percolate to the zone of saturation. Spreading, artificial recharge and replenishment all refer to operations used to place water in a groundwater table.

“Transmissivity” means the rate of flow of water through an aquifer.

“Usable storage capacity” means the quantity of groundwater of acceptable quality that can be economically withdrawn from storage.

“Water table” means the surface or level where groundwater is encountered in a well in an unconfined aquifer.

“Water year” means the year beginning March 1 and ending the last day of the following February.

“Zone of saturation” means the area below the earth surface in which the soil is completely saturated with groundwater. (Ord. 646 § 1, 2003)