When asked whether the Groundwater Authority’s Technical Advisory Committee (The “TAC”) agreed by consensus that the “Safe Yield” of the IWV’s groundwater basin was 7,650 acre-feet per year, world-renowned hydrogeologist Tim Parker gave a clear, concise response that will live in hydrogeologic scientific infamy forever:

“Hogwash!” – Tim Parker, June 10th, 2026

October 7, 2026

Indian Wells Valley California

Publisher’s Note: I grew up on the base at China Lake, and I’ve spent nearly half my 70 years in the Indian Wells Valley. I know about water. I watched every day of the Phase Two “Safe Yield” comprehensive adjudication trial. You don’t know how lucky you are in Ridgecrest. You have more water underground than can fill Lake Mead and half of Lake Powell. The Indian Wells Valley is located in the north Mojave Desert and it’s an amazing place. It’s truly unique and there’s no place like it.

Gavin Newsom issued the first in the nation Covid lockdown orders in March of 2020. If you know me, you won’t be surprised to know that I refused to be locked down and became a full-time traveler on that very day. It’s true! I’m on a full-time adventure and paying $7 per gallon for diesel.

In the last six and a half years, I’ve traveled throughout the southwest, spending summers in Kings Canyon for 4 years, helping a friend who manages 60 miles of the Friant-Kern Canal in the San Joaquin Valley. I spent one summer at 9,000 feet in the White Mountains of Arizona and didn’t feel a temperature over 86 degrees all summer. I’ve put on thousands of miles between Fresno and Ridgecrest and eastern and northern Arizona.

I’ve traveled up and down the Colorado River, from Lake Powell to Lake Mead, Lake Mojave and Lake Havasu. I’ve been taking video of reservoirs throughout California and Arizona, including Lake Isabella and the Haiwee Reservoir in Inyo County. Incidentally, everywhere I go, I see Roadrunners, even in the parking lots in north Phoenix, at Marble Canyon and Lee’s Ferry, and in the desolate northern regions of Death Valley.

I haven’t abandoned Ridgecrest or the Indian Wells Valley; I’ve been on an adventure and a dream of mine for many years.

The Indian Wells Valley is the Roadrunner Capital of the World.

Any Lesson’s Learned from Importing Water in the Desert Southwest?

Every city in the southwest is discovering that importing water with unsustainable growth and sprawl will only lead to where Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas are today. Need I say more? The politicians in Arizona have no solutions if the Colorado River reservoirs become “dead pools”. Smaller cities are swapping allocations and searching for land to dig wells.

SGMA wasn’t a solution to California’s water resource management issues, it was a band aid to a larger problem.

• California needs to better manage the water it has.
• California needs to build the reservoirs that voters approved in 2014. No Reservoirs have been built in 12 years.
• The Indian Wells Valley needs to conserve water and plan for sustainable growth without relying on imported water to do so.

Trust me when I say this, you don’t want to grow while relying on unreliable, imported water. Payson Arizona made the mistake of buying water and building a pipeline thinking that growth would come and it didn’t. They have more water than they can use and the growth hasn’t happened for over 10 years. They’re paying more for their water than they need to, and they could lose their allocation from the CC Cragin reservoir after building a 20-mile pipeline to convey 3,000 acre feet of water per year.

The IWV Groundwater Authority is a costly mess, and the AVEK pipeline and imported water project would be a huge mistake and a boondoggle with a pipeline to nowhere.

Last year, we described how the City of Ridgecrest blew itself up.

Last year, the IWVGA sponsored, and GA attorneys likely authored AB 1413 and AB 1466. This was an unfortunate mistake and a failed legal strategy. Capitol Core Group colluded with DWR, the SWB and DOJ on wording (just short of an endorsement). The attorneys exposed the Ridgecrest city council to severe legal jeopardy.

Members of the Ridgecrest City Council likely violated the Brown Act and/or misrepresented the city’s position in a committee hearing held in Sacramento in April 2025. AB 1413 was an attempt to obstruct the Phase Two trial and to take the due process of comprehensive adjudication and the determination of “safe yield” out of the hands of the judge. It was an attempt to change the rules of the ballgame in the middle of the game, and it failed.

“The Stipulation Strategy”

Here’s where you stand in the Indian Wells Valley’s Phase Two “Safe Yield” Trial (Public Comments)

I’m recommending a solution to put the Comprehensive Adjudication trial behind you.

• The appointment of a Special Master will be delayed, perhaps by a month or more.
• A decision by Judge Claster won’t be expected until sometime mid-2027.
• Residents of Ridgecrest will be paying millions more in attorney’s fees and “Replenishment Fees”.
• The original DRI groundwater model vanished and was never validated by anyone, not even Stetson Engineers.
• The IWV Groundwater Sustainability Plan was supposed to be a “living, breathing document”. It is not.
• The GA had no science, the “Safe Yield” was fixed at 7,650 from the beginning and hasn’t changed since.
• The subsequent “DRI” model developed with Stetson is “reverse engineered” to the fixed safe yield of 7,650 afy.

I talked to the Director of SGMA at DWR two weeks ago, and he is aware of the problems we have with the IWV Groundwater Authority

• The “best available science” is the IWV Technical Working Group’s science.
• The IWV Groundwater Sustainability Plan is indefensible in court.
• Phase One proved that the Navy’s Federal Reserve Water Right was over-allocated.
• Phase Two will result in a decision by Judge Claster that 7,650 acre feet per year was improperly fixed and under-estimated by Stetson Engineers and the GA.
• SGMA’S definition of Groundwater in Storage was redefined by Stetson Engineers.

There’s a very simple solution on the table right now.

I’ve already shared the “Stipulation Strategy” with elected public officials at the Kern County Board of Supervisors, the IWV Water District and the City of Ridgecrest.

It will save the people of Ridgecrest millions and millions of dollars in unnecessary expenses and attorney’s fees.

The IWV Technical Working Group’s Science is the “best available science” we have today.

Four hydrology experts working independently have arrived at the same conclusions using methodologies accepted by the Department of Water Resources.

The Kern County Board of Supervisors and the Ridgecrest City Council should instruct their representatives on the IWVGA as follows:

Stipulate to the IWV Technical Working Group’s conservative estimate of “Safe Yield” at 14,300-acre feet per year.

Stipulate to the Groundwater in Storage of 37,500,000-million-acre feet. That’s a lot of water!

Close the Phase Two trial and move on to Phase Three, the dividing of the “pie”.

• Put this plan on the agenda for your next meeting. It’s really very simple.
• The best available science is there for you. You have more groundwater than can fill Lake Mead.
• Stop taking orders from your city attorney and the Groundwater Authority’s attorneys. None of them live here.
• The only thing they’ve done is to place the Ridgecrest city council in unnecessary “legal jeopardy” with their “legal strategy” while making boatloads of money.
• Do something right for your “community”. You are the bosses, give the orders and fix this mess.

Put this extremely divisive, controversial and very expensive Comprehensive Adjudication trial behind you.