Investigation of the ground-water resources of Santa Barbara County was continued during 1961 by the U. S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Santa Barbara County Water Agency. Monthly water-level measurements were made in 190 wells, in 9 of which automatic water-level recorders were operated. Earlier measurements, covering the period 1941 through 1955, have been published in U. S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers (1943-1957); those for 1956 through 1960 have been released locally in duplicated form (Muir and Merritt, 1957; Evenson, 1958; Miller, 1959; Muir, Merritt, and Miller, 1960; and Merritt, 1961). LaRocque, Jr., and others (1950) contains tabulated descriptions of 2,246 wells in existence in 1942 in the several ground-water basins of the county. The same publication also contains many water-level measurements made prior to 1942 by the city of Santa Barbara, Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District, San Joaquin Power Division of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Union Sugar Co., Union Oil Co., and other organizations and individuals.
Comprehensive reports on the geology and ground-water resources of the Santa Ynez River basin (Upson and Thomasson, 1951, and Wilson, 1959), the south-coast basins (Upson, 1951), the Santa Maria Valley area (Worts, 1951), and the Cuyama Valley (Upson and Worts, 1951) have been published as Water-Supply Papers 1107, 1467, 1108, 1000, and 1110-B, respectively. A similar report on the San Antonio Creek Valley is in preparation. A report on stream runoff and ground-water storage capacity of the Santa Ynez River valley (Troxell and Wilson, 1952) was released to the open file on October 1952.
In addition to the water-level measurements made by the Geological Survey in 1961, measurements made by the Santa Maria Valley Water Conservation District are included in this report. Not included in this report are miscellaneous measurements made by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation in wells along the middle reach of the Santa Ynez River between Cachuma Dam and Rucker Crossing.
