Lake Davis Fisheries Management

Lake Davis Well Testing Program

During the 1997 rotenone treatment of Lake Davis there was public concern that water from Lake Davis might migrate to local wells.  To ensure the safety of well water, Plumas County began a monitoring program funded by the State of California.  This program monitors well levels and analyzed groundwater quality in about 80 wells near Lake Davis for 10 years (1999-2008).  To date, the results of over 1400 samples show no contamination related to the 1997 treatment in any of the wells.   In 2006, the Lawrence Livermore National Lab wrote a report about the Plumas County well testing program and made recommendations to improve future testing: View Report (3.2 MB PDF).

As part of the current pike eradication project, DFG has committed to continued well  monitoring.  This includes water source determination (isotope test), water level measurements, and water quality testing of wells that are found to have potential to contain water from Lake Davis.

DFG is currently working with Plumas County to conduct isotope testing for any interested well owner in the Lake Davis area to determine if water in the well has a potential link to a surface water source such as Lake Davis or Big Grizzly Creek.  For more information, download our Fact Sheet (PDF).
Additional information on the isotope test and its uses around the state can be found on the Lawrence Livermore National Lab Web site.

In addition to the well water quality testing, DFG is funding a well level monitoring project by the Department of Water Resources (Northern District).  This project is mapping well locations and well levels in order to identify any wells around the lake that have a water level (“hydraulic head” or “pumping head”) lower than the lake, and to identify any wells along Big Grizzly Creek that have a water level lower than the creek.