Pesticides that have widespread use in California also have the same effect. California as a state has been is water crises for decades, particularly in Southern California. The closest, most convenient resource is Northern California. The geography of Northern California is a water haven for the southern part of the state. With lakes, rivers and reservoirs, there are abundant water sources. Unfortunately these resources are not sufficient for the entire state. They are perfect for the surrounding area, but not for the southern, dry part of the state.

Although one state, the North and the South have set up trade agreements over water. The South is given a set amount each year and the remaining water is kept by the North. This is not a problem if the water resources are at a secure level for the year.

Ironically, Fountain Valley, California, is responsible for managing the groundwater basin under north and central Orange County, an area covering about 350 square miles south of LA. The groundwater supplies more than 20 cities and retail water agencies, which in turn serve more than 2 million Orange County residents.

Activities to maintain water quality include managing the groundwater basin, water recycling efforts, purifying lesser quality groundwater to make it usable, advancing purification technologies, and monitoring the quality of water in wells and in the Santa Ana River, the main source for refilling the groundwater basin.

Routine tasks by staff, such as creating graphical charts of river water flows and reporting water quality trends in wells and displaying their location on maps, are simpler today than they were in the past. This is due in large part to new Microsoft.NET software that many hydration agencies are using as part of modernizing and the new Water Resource Management System, or WRMS (pronounced...

To better manage this data, the agency started computerizing its information collection processes and historical records in the early 1990s.
Today the OCWD uses an Oracle relational database management system, a geographic information system (GIS) used for mapping and spatial analyses, computer-aided design (CAD) software used for creating technical drawings, and other specialized graphing and analytical software for creating charts and reports.

After meeting with DCSE, a firm specializing in software for water, utility, and environmental organizations, the water agency found the technology that it was looking for: software from DCSE called Mapplet.NET.

Mapplet.NET is software that provides the necessary functions that are required for hydrogeologists who use maps and related data to study water flows and quality, create reports, and perform other activities. The new technology is even helping scientists and other employees at OCWD work faster because they don't have to master the intricacies of using a database.