Casino Well Problem, San Diego County, CA

The Problem: Building a casino on top of a mountain in a rural area off the grid presents a challenge in locating a sufficient, commercial-grade volume of water. The casino operations needed 300 gallons per minute (gpm) of water output. The developer picked the casino location for the view.  They assumed groundwater from the valley below would be the supply source. The developer budgeted for a multi-million dollar private well-to-pump-to-piping system up the mountain to the casino holding tank. The water supply was needed to gain the loan to fund the casino construction.

Our Solution: According to the developer’s concept plan, our team first drilled a well into the Elsinore Fault within the valley below the casino-based mountain. This well water production was not sufficient at a meager 15 gpm. Another drill location was needed.

Our team restudied the local geology. We determined that the lateral movement of the Elsinore Fault, which created Lake Henshaw, simultaneously occurred with another lateral-shifted fault in another valley flanking the casino-based mountain. In our theory, the mountain between the two lateral-shifted faults should be super shattered to create a high-capacity groundwater storage, and high gpm output.

We took a calculated risk. We drilled the next well on top of the mountain adjacent to the casino location. Groundwater production was 400 gpm. The mountain itself served as the well water reserve.

Benefits: We discovered adequate commercial-grade water supply for operating the casino. Our well’s location negated the need of the proposed piping transport system.  This saved the developer millions of dollars. The water discovery resulted in the approval of the construction loan. The casino was built.