Water level at Los Vaqueros Reservoir rises to a new high

The 100,000 acre-foot Los Vaqueros Reservoir

Los Vaqueros Reservoir. courtesy of CCWD.

After leaning on Los Vaqueros Reservoir for supply during the drought, the Contra Costa Water District (CCWD) is pleased to announce that the reservoir is now holding more water than it ever has for its customers.  The reservoir is doing its job and the filling underway is good news for serving customers now and into the future.

This week, the reservoir’s storage level rose above 133,000 acre-feet, surpassing the high reached in 2013.  CCWD will continue to fill while conditions are favorable, depending on Delta water quality and energy costs.

“Los Vaqueros continues to serve CCWD customers well, especially during this drought,” said CCWD Board President Lisa M. Borba. “Customers responded tremendously to the call for conservation, and we were able to save conserved water in the reservoir, positioning us well if dry years continued. Now we are adding to our water saving account.”

CCWD owns and operates Los Vaqueros Reservoir primarily to manage water quality for the 500,000 residents of central and eastern Contra Costa County.  Water from the Delta is pumped into the reservoir when water quality is good and then is used to keep water quality delivered to its customers high when salinity levels rise in the Delta.  The off-stream reservoir located near Brentwood was originally constructed in 1998 with the ability to store up to 100,000 acre-feet of water.

An expansion of the reservoir was completed in 2012 increasing the capacity to 160,000 acre-feet.  Stores of water in the off-stream reservoir reached a then high of 132,900 acre-feet in 2013 and was then drawn upon, as designed, to meet water supply demands during the past few years of drought.

With strong and steady storms this winter supplying fresh water to the Delta, CCWD has turned on its pumps to move high quality water into Los Vaqueros for future use.

Learn more about CCWD and Los Vaqueros Reservoir at www.ccwater.com.


the attachments to this post:


The 100,000 acre-foot Los Vaqueros Reservoir


No Comments so far.

Leave a Reply