MEETING NOTES: Dispute between east Kern water entities prevents information sharing

Meeting: Indian WellsValley Groundwater Authority board of directors
Date: August 12,2026
Agenda and Packet: CLICK HERE

Authority puts off drilling monitoring wells

The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority extended an agreement with the U.S. Navy to drill groundwater monitoring wells in a specific location while it works to get data from the Indian Wells Valley Water District that already has monitoring wells in that same location.

The agreement, which involves funding from the Navy-Coso Royalty fund, was set to expire Aug. 31, 2026.  That fund is made up of payments from geothermal companies that operate on Navy land.

Under the agreement, the Navy-Coso Royalties fund will pay up to $300,000 for the authority to  drill two groundwater monitoring wells and the authority is to pay Stetson Engineering $75,000 in related project costs.

One of the monitoring wells would collect groundwater flow information in the Rose Valley Basin, just north of the Indian Wells Valley Basin. The Rose Valley area was identified as a data gap in the authority’s 2020 groundwater plan.

April Keigwin, general manager of the authority, said the Indian Wells Valley Water District had already drilled monitoring wells in Rose Valley in 2024, which was confirmed by Inyo County. 

She asked the water district’s former general manager, George Croll, for data from those wells and was told to file a request under the California Public Records Act, which she did.

However, she only received one well completion report and data from a distribution well, not a monitoring well. 

The water district’s attorney Jim Worth, who was at the authority’s meeting, said work done in Little Lake and Rose Valley is subject to the ongoing adjudication filed by the water district.

Authority board members questioned why that would prevent the water district from providing data from the groundwater monitoring wells

Authority Chair Phillip Peters wanted to hold off on drilling new wells using the Navy-Coso Royalty funds.

Board member John Vallejo disagreed but Peters argued it would be a waste of money to drill duplicate wells and suggested suing the water district to get its data.

Worth responded that he would look into what information the water district could provide.

“There’s a lot of duplication of efforts by everybody because of the ability to not work together,” one audience member noted.

Data center letter

Water Resources Manager Steve Johnson, of Stetson Engineers, said the authority sent a letter to the California Energy Commission regarding the proposed Inyokern Artificial Intelligence Data Center on July 15.

The data center has polarized residents concerned that it could be a huge drain on already scarce water resources as AI data centers need significant water to cool their machines.

Johnson highlighted elements in the letter.

• The Indian Wells Valley basin is critically over drafted.
• Current pumping is three times the sustainable yield.
• The Inyokern Community Services District is listed as the water supplier for the data center, which could cause the district to exceed its pumping allocation.
• The data center would be subject to all regulatory requirements by the authority. 
• It asked the energy commission to recognize the authority as an interested party for water supply evaluation.