September Update

Dear Member:

September temperatures were close to normal with a couple of rainy days at mid-month which brought us exactly the average rain fall for the month of .12 inches. 

It seems everyone as heard the many predictions of an El Nino year with plenty of rain throughout the state. A few climatologists are less than enthusiastic about a coming El Nino because recent climate change disrupts the long range models making predictions with any degree of confidence more difficult.  

As of October 1, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the six key Central Valley Project (CVP) reservoirs – Shasta, Trinity, Folsom, New Melones, Millerton, and the federal share of San Luis Reservoir – hold 24 percent of their total carrying capacity and just 47 percent of the 6.12 million acre feet the lakes should have in them at this time of the year.  Storage on Oct. 1 was 200,000 acre feet less than what the CVP began the 2014-15 water year with.  Lower releases for the coming year will mean more ground water pumping.

Water Usage

Usage in September was better compared to August.  September usage was 1% behind the target and 7% better than last September. Year to date, we are still 10% better than last year and only 3% behind the target usage.  If you have a seasonal adjustment on your lawn sprinkler controller, you should be dialing it back to 60-70% of normal. 

The water depth of our well was checked in mid-September. The level dropped 3 feet from the check in May.  It is also 3 feet lower than the same time last year.

Cost Comparison

Henderson Nevada draws water from Lake Mead.  Backed up by the Hoover Dam, it supplies water to Southern Nevada, Arizona, and Southern California.  Southern Nevada,along with the surrounding area including the Colorado River watershed, is in the midst of a multi year drought which has forced water savings by all means including increased water rates.  Henderson rates are now tiered with heavy users paying much higher rates.  As you can see in the following graph, monthly household usage costs would be dramatically higher there than here.  Also included in the graph is an estimate of the monthly cost if we were purchasing water from the City of Fresno, also much higher than the BWC current rates.