The Effects of Agricultural Activities on the Groundwater Flow Direction in Hinkley, California

Recent groundwater samples in the Hinkley Valley of the Mojave Desert have shown elevated concentrations of hexavalent chromium (chromium VI) to the east of the current mapped boundary of the chromium VI plume. The chromium VI was discharged in the 1960s at the PG&E Gas Compressor Station to prevent corrosion in the cooling towers. The purpose of this project is to determine whether the recent detections of chromium VI are naturally occurring background concentrations or associated with the chromium VI plume. This will be tested by running a groundwater flow model using MODFLOW 2005 to determine the flow direction in the eastern section of the Hinkley Valley. A well database will be created using HYDRODaVE to manage, analyze, and visualize the groundwater elevation data.