Zone 7 is responsible for providing flood control and water resources to the Livermore-Amador Valley. The district was created by the California Legislature in 1947 and Zone 7 was formed by a vote of local residents in 1957. Of Alameda County's 10 active zones, only Zone 7 has its own elected seven-member board of directors. Zone 7 sells treated water primarily to four retail water agencies - the California Water Service Company, the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton, and the Dublin San Ramon Services District. It also sells untreated water directly to agricultural and other customers.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

38,000 AF of water storage to meet 2014 water demands of 50,300 AF

Source: Zone 7 Flood Control & Water Conservation District
Zone 7 held a Water Resources Committee meeting April 16. Zone 7 has only 38,800 AF of water to supply water demands of 50,300.

A significant fact is that "Zone 7 is expecting no water supply from existing contracts in 2014." This means our water demands are being met by stored water.

The existing contracts where "no water" is coming from include:
  • State Water Project, Feather River water stored in Lake Oroville (1961 contract, up to 80,619 AF per year through 2036, long-term average yield is only 48,400 AF) = 0 AF
  • Yuba Accord, Yuba River water stored in the New Bullards Bar dam reservoir (2008 contract, up to 676 AF during drought conditions through 2025) = 0 AF
  • Byron Bethany Irrigation District, diverted water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (1998 contract, up to 5,000 AF per year through 2030) = 0 AF
  • Arroyo Valle runoff, diverted flows from the Lake Del Valle watershed (water rights shared with the Alameda County Water District, median is 7,100 AF per year since 1913) = 0 AF
 (AF = Acre Foot "As a rule of thumb in U.S. water management, one acre-foot is taken to be the planned water usage of a suburban family household, annually. In some areas of the desert Southwest, where water conservation is followed and often enforced, a typical family uses only about 0.25 acre-feet of water per year.")

That means the entire water supply for 2014 comes from our storage.
  • State Water Project Carryover, unused SWP water from one year to the next when there is available storage in San Luis Reservoir (typically 10,000-15,000 AF per year) = 16,800 AF
  • Del Valle Carryover, Lake Del Valle stored runoff = 0 AF
  • Groundwater, the Livermore Valley Groundwater Basin (126,000 AF operational storage when basin is full at 254,000 AF. The basin is at 2/3 capacity leaving about 40,000 AF operational storage) = 20,500 AF
  • Semitropic/Cawelo, water-banking in Kern County (represent water previously stored from Zone 7’s surface water supplies during wet years) = 1,500 AF

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