Bitterwater Creek (Buena Vista Lake) should not be confused with Bitterwater Creek.
| Bitterwater Creek | |
| Name Other: | Bitter Creek |
| Name Etymology: | Spanish |
| Map Size: | 250 |
| Pushpin Map: | USA California |
| Pushpin Map Size: | 250 |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Bitterwater Creek (Lake Buena Vista) |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | United States |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | California |
| Subdivision Type3: | Region |
| Subdivision Name3: | San Luis Obispo County, Kern County |
| Source1: | source |
| Source1 Location: | just southwest of the southern extreme of the Elkhorn Hills, 6.3 miles southwest of Maricopa, California., San Louis Obispo County |
| Source1 Coordinates: | 34.9964°N -119.4808°W |
| Mouth: | mouth |
| Mouth Location: | dissipates in the dry lake bed of Buena Vista Lake, 3.7 miles north of Pentland., Kern County |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 35.1139°N -119.3503°W |
| Mouth Elevation: | 420feet |
Bitterwater Creek, formerly Arroyo de Amargosa (Bitter Creek), is a stream with its source just southwest of the southern extreme of the Elkhorn Hills, just west of and inside the San Luis Obispo County boundary, 6.3 miles southwest of Maricopa, California. The creek flows northwest to dissipate in the dry lake bed of Buena Vista Lake, 3.7 miles north of Pentland, Kern County, California. In years of heavy rainfall it would be a tributary to Buena Vista Lake, which has been dry for many years due to agricultural diversion.
Arroyo de Amargosa was a stream that provided a camping and watering place on El Camino Viejo at its "sink" near Maricopa, southwest of Buena Vista Lake, between Arroyo San Emigdio to the southeast and Aguaje de La Brea 20 miles to the northwest near McKittrick, California.[1]