Nov 2, 2008 2:45 pm US/Pacific
South Bay 'Banks' Water For Drought Years
SAN JOSE (CBS 5 / KCBS) ―
Despite all the wet weather we're getting this weekend, the state's water outlook is still very grim.
But for one Bay Area water agency, an innovative idea is leaving them better off than most.
The Bay Area collected a couple of inches of rain this weekend, but unless this keeps up for several more weeks, California is still looking at serious drought conditions for the foreseeable future.
In fact, state water managers announced plans last week to divert only 15 percent of normal water deliveries this year.
That has spelled bad news for many water agencies, but the Santa Clara Valley Water District is looking a little better, thanks to some forward thinking.
"When we had a lot of rain here in Silicon Valley we've been able to take extra water and store it in a water bank in Kern County. That way we know it's available for the dry years," said Spokeswoman Susan Siravo.
The water bank she's talking about is the SemiTropic Water Storage District, which is an underground piggy bank for H2O.
General Manager Will Boschman says it works on the credit system, with the State Department of Water resources acting like the bank.
"In a wet year, they simply use the state system to move water into our area," said Boschman. "And when we return water, we simply pump it back into the aqueduct and then the state leaves a like amount for the Bay Area folks in the South Bay aqueduct."
And when deliveries are cut short, Siravo says it's nice to know that water they didn't use in years past can be added, via credit, to their supplies for when they really need it.
Last year the district brought up about 20,000 acre feet.
Siravo says they anticipate withdrawing a little more than that in the months ahead.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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