|
News
Stockton East Water District Ag-Water Report for Fall-Winter 2008/2009 Click to jump to an article:
Stockton East Water District Announces Availability of Water Supply Advisory Notice Stockton East Water District (SEWD) has updated its website www.sewd.net to include a link to a Water Supply Advisory (Advisory) for all of its agricultural, municipal and urban customers. The intent of the Advisory is to keep water disctrict customers informed of the current status of our water supply, and describe ways eash customer may help us stretch this supply through the current dry spell. The water district provides surface water to agriculture irrigation customers located to the east of the City of Stockton, and through its drinking water treatment plant to the City of Stockton, California Water Service Company, and the Colonial Heights and Lincoln Village service areas of San Joaquin County. The Advisory requests the cooperation of our customer to voluntarily conserve for their own benefit. The Water we conserve this year will result in more water available to us next year. Without all of us doing our part to conserve this precious resource, an extended drought could ultimately result in water supply shortages and outages, as well as water quality degradation and other undesired negative environmental consequences (further groundwater overdraft and contamination of groundwater with saline water intruding from under the Delta). For more information on the Water Supply Advisory, call (209) 948-0333, or visit our website at www.sewd.net. We just experienced two dry springs in a row. Spring is normally the season when New Hogan and New Melones Reservoirs fill for the irrigation season. A third dry spring will result in surface water shortages in our region. Most of our customers will have an adequate supply from New Hogan Reservoir in 2009, but restrictions may be put in place to stretch this surface water supply. This is our RED FLAG WARNING to all of our customers.If you rely only on surface water deliveries from New Melones Reservoir, we recommend that you secure a redundant source as an insurance policy to assure a full water supply for the 2009 irrigation season. Water district staff is available to help you plan and prepare for any surface water shortage. Dr. Joe Waidhofer Drinking Water Treatment Plant Plant Expansion The recently completed Efficiency Enhancement Projects resulted in SEWD receiving a permit from the Department of Public Health to increase production of the water treatment plant from 50 million gallons per day (MGD) to 60 MGD. SEWD has hired consultants to prepare a study to confirm long term reliable water supplies to the drinking water treatment plant and provide a basis of design report to expand this facility to 72 MGD. 60th Anniversary Celebration Street Dedication Ceremony On Friday, June 6, 2008, SEWD celebrated its 60th anniversary. The celebration acknowledged SEWD's 60 years of service to agriculture and the 300,000 residential, commercial and industrial residents in the City of Stockton. The highlight of the celebration was a street dedication ceremony honoring two former Board Members who passed away (Al Bonner and Paul Polk). First Street was renamed to Al Bonner Drive and Second Street was renamed to Paul Polk Trail. SEWD is creating a water bank to store water in average and wet years, then provide this stored water to our Urban Contractors (City of Stockton, California Water Service Company and the Colonial Heights and Lincoln Village service areas of San Joaquin County) and possibly others in dry years. The plan is to create a 230-acre recharge facility that would allow available surface water to percolate into the acquifer when supplies are plentiful and then have a stored water source that can be pumped from when surface water is scarce. This would benefit the entire district by helping to replenish the groundwater basin as well as providing a more reliable source of drinking water for our Urban Contractors. It is anticipated this proposal will be well received by our Urban Contractors and that an agreement can be reached allowing SEWD to begin construction in the 2009 calendar year Most Stockton elementary schools offer some type of structured after school care for students, and the coordinators for these programs are always looking for worthwhile activities to educate and entertain the students. The Stockton Area Water Suppliers (SAWS) sees this as an excellent opportunity for water education: large groups of kids in our communities spend one to four hours daily in after school programs, and with a serious water shortage looming, these after school programs present the perfect venue and atmosphere for reaching out to our youth, their families and ultimately the community at large about water conservation and drought awareness. With this in mind, our outreach staff developed a hands-on water awareness presentation for use in the after-school arena. The SAWS “H20lympics” uses colorful visuals, facts, figures, and hands-on water activities organized into a game format to teach after school students about water science and deliver our message about conservation. These concepts are related to both the California Content Standards and students’ daily lives, making this a valuable learning experience both academically and personally. Most importantly, our five to twelve year old target audience is eager to take our message home, where they are likely to share their learning with family, friends and neighbors, making this program an effective tool in preparing our communities for the possibility of drought and water shortages. In the 2008/2009 school year, the SAWS H20lympics Program is scheduled to visit all 38 Stockton Unified School District after school sites as well as sites in the Lincoln and Lodi districts. Any school in the Stockton metropolitan area is eligible to participate in this free program. For more information, please contact SAWS Water Education Coordinator Kristin Coon at kcoon@sewd.net or (209) 444-3126. 2008 Irrigation Season Pump Efficiency Test & Irrigation Evaluation Sign up now to receive your 2009 irrigation season pump efficiency test & irrigation evaluation at no cost. Limited funding is available. For more information visit the district’s website www.sewd.net or call (209) 948-0333 |
Stockton East Water District (209) 469-3335 Ag Call-In |
