Water resources ‘in pretty good shape’ in Atascadero
John Neil from the Atascadero Mutual Water Company gave a report on the conditions of the water resources for Atascadero at the Tuesday night Atascadero City Council Meeting. Photo by Skye Ravy.
– At Tuesday night’s Atascadero City Council meeting, a water resource update was given by John Neil from the Atascadero Mutual Water Company.
Atascadero was, “blessed with good geology,” according to Neil. The water table is easily recharged, and the Atascadero basin is separated from the Paso Robles basin –which is faring worse in the drought and suffering declining water levels– by the Rinconada Fault.
These graphs depict the levels of the Atascadero basin (top) and the rainfall recorded (bottom).
For contrast, Neil provided a similar graph with levels of the Estrella area basin as compared to rainfall.
Atascadero residents have done well as cutting their water use levels to comply with state mandates. As shown in the graph below, residents have been surpassing the conservation required in most months:
The amount of water being used by citizens is reducing, and because of that, so is revenue. This means that the cost for water in Atascadero may go up, Neil said. Atascadero currently has the most affordable water rates in the county, as shown in the graph below.
Atascadero gets its water from three sources: the Salinas River underflow, the Atascadero Basin, and most recently, the Lake Nacimiento project. Lake Nacimiento is a very effective water storage and delivery system, according to Neil. Below average rainfall this year, just 10 inches, filled up Nacimiento by 30,000 acre feet. about twice as much as the project takes from the lake to provide to Atascadero, Paso Robles, Templeton and San Luis Obispo.
Part of the state mandate required that water districts also use recycled water. In areas such as San Luis Obispo, this means installing an expensive and expansive “purple pipe system.” Atascadero already re-charges its wastewater into percolation basins. It takes 10 days for the water to travel from the percolation pools into the city’s wells.
A map of the projected water levels in 2040. Note that Atascadero basin water levels are actually expected to rise.
Atascadero is currently pumping at 1970 levels, according to Neil. Water levels, especially thanks to the Nacimiento project, are actually expected to rise in Atascadero. “Moving forward, we are in in pretty good shape,” said Neil.
The council also authorized Director of Public Works Nick DeBar to be the representative for the City of Atascadero on the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin Advisory Committee, and for the deputy director of public works to be the alternate. The proposed boundaries of the water district do exclude the Atascadero area.
