TRACY — While more than a million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties are being stung by water rationing imposed by the East Bay Municipal Utility District, the city of Tracy is "looking pretty good" with its water supply, city officials said.

Steve Bayley, the city's deputy director of public works, said he's always encouraged residents to conserve water, but the city has an adequate supply to meet this year's needs.

With the city drawing water from the Delta Mendota Canal, the South San Joaquin Irrigation District — which pumps water to Tracy from the Sierra via the Stanislaus River — and groundwater, Bayley doesn't anticipate putting restrictions on water usage.

"Because of our diverse supplies of water, we should have no trouble meeting the city's demand for water,'' Bayley said.

But because so many variables can affect the water supply — such as annual rainfall, the quality of the snowpack, reservoir capacity and limitations because of endangered species — the city has also begun banking water just outside Bakersfield for, well, those dry days.

In 2006, a wet year, the city struck an agreement with Semitropic Water Storage District in Kern County, to pass on the delivery of 1,000 acre-feet of water from the Central Valley Project and allow it to travel south via the Delta-Mendota Canal and the California Aqueduct.

Over the next several years, the city will request 900 acre-feet

Advertisement
to be returned, according to city documents.

Bayley said they received 100 acre-feet last year, and expect to receive a similar amount this year.

He said the ultimate goal would be to deposit upward of 10,500 acre-feet of water, enough to supply the city for half a year.

"It's a pilot project where we have a small amount stored in Kern County,'' Bayley said. "We wanted to determine the feasibility of the project on a larger scale to provide a water supply during dry years. Water rationing during a drought, that's the last thing I want. I want to avoid it as much as possible. We've got a diverse supply and would like our customers to use it beneficially.''

Other customers of Semitropic include the Santa Clara Valley Water District, Alameda County Water District and the Zone 7 Water Agency.

Reach Mike Martinez at 209-832-3947, or by email at mike.martinez@bayareanewsgroup.com.