Bert Rapp
City of Fillmore, Public Works Director

Answer: Fillmore is located in the Santa Clara Aquifer system which extends from the Pacific Ocean to Aqua Dulce. There are multiple interconnected basins under the river and the Fillmore basin is the largest of them all. It is approximately 8,000 feet deep and contains about 7,300,000 Acre Feet of water. The Fillmore basin begins near the Fish Hatchery and extends downstream almost all the way to Santa Paula.

The City of Fillmore draws its water out of the Sespe sub-basin in north Fillmore. The Sespe sub-basin has the best water quality of all the water basins in the Santa Clara River system. It is recharged by the Sespe Creek and receives flow off of San Cayetano Mountain. The majority of the Sespe Creek watershed is located in the Los Padres National Forest and is essentially undeveloped. The Sespe Creek has been designated as a natural and scenic river.

The Fillmore basin has provided an abundant supply of groundwater to municipal and agricultural users for about 100 years and remains in good health. About 46,000 acre-feet are pumped out of the Fillmore basin each year: 43,700 acre-feet by agriculture and 2,300 acre-feet by the City of Fillmore.

The City water wells draw from the top 300 feet of the basin or upper 4% of the basin depth. The water quality below this level quickly deteriorates becoming higher in salts and minerals. It is believed the deeper water is ancient ocean water when the area was submerged below sea level.

The City has an allocation of 848 acre feet/year of State Water through United Water Conservation District. United Water takes delivery of this allocation when it is available, stores it in Lake Piru and releases it in the fall to refill the Fillmore Basin. The money to buy the State Water comes from the property taxes on Fillmore properties and from the United Water Pump Tax paid by City and agricultural pumpers in the valley. If a State Water pipeline is ever installed down the Santa Clara River valley the City would have the option of improving the quality of potable water by blending with the State Water.

From 1917 until 1978 Fillmore had very hard water with about 1,100 mg/L of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) which came primarily from wells located near the Santa Clara River. In 1978 with help of United Water the City got its first taste of the good Sespe Sub Basin water from Well #5 located near 4th Street and Goodenough Road. This water has a TDS of 800 mg/L, a big improvement over Santa Clara River portion of the basin. As the wells wore out near the Santa Clara River the City replaced them with wells in the Sespe Sub Basin, which is where we get our water today.

This is the first in a series of articles about the City water system. If you have any questions about City of Fillmore Public Works or the water system you may call Bert Rapp at (805) 524-1500 ext. 231 or e-mail at brapp@ci.fillmore.ca.us