Agua Caliente Spring

Project Chief: John Izbicki

Agua Caliente Spring is the only known hot spring in the Palm Springs area and one of only a handful in southern California. The spring is owned by the Agua Caliente Band of the Cahuilla Indians. Agua Caliente Spring has been used for recreation and medicinal therapy for hundreds of years. The source, age, and sustainability of flow of the hot spring water are a "mystery". How much the discharge, temperature, and chemical characteristics of the spring naturally vary, both seasonally and during wet and drought periods of several years, is not known. The hydraulic connection with cool-water aquifers and the susceptibility to impacts of ground-water development also is not known. Because the temperature of the Agua Caliente Spring is several tens of degrees cooler than the hot ground water found a depth in the Palm Springs area, the spring probably discharges a mixture of waters from different sources. There is concern that a substantial quantity of spring flow is leaking from the water-collector tank into lateral subsurface drains constructed beneath Indian Canyon Avenue, west of the spring orifice.

The objectives of the study are (1) to define the geologic structure associated with the Agua Caliente Spring; (2) to define the source(s), and possibly the age(s), of water discharged by the spring; (3) to define the seasonal and longer-term variability of the natural discharge, water temperature, and chemical characteristics of the hot spring water; and (4) to estimate the quantity of thermal spring water that leaks out of the water-collector tank at the spring orifice.

The study will develop a greater understanding of the hydrology of the warm spring and allow the Cahuilla Indians to better manage and utilize the resource.

In this study, geophysical data will be used to help define the geologic structure associated with the Agua Caliente Spring, chemical and isotopic data will be used to determine the source (local versus regional ground-water flow systems) and age (time since recharge) of water discharged by the spring, and temperature data will be simulated to estimate the amount of spring water that leaks from the water-collector tank. Seasonal differences in chemical and isotopic composition of the spring waters also will be evaluated to determine if recent recharge from local ground-water flow systems is a significant component of the spring discharges and to help determine whether the spring is susceptible to drought or climatic change. Measurements of spring discharges, specifically the discharge recession, will be used to characterize the hydraulic properties of source aquifer(s).

Contact Information

John Izbicki
Office phone: 619-225-6100

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