City Of Roseville Drawing On Water It Stored In Underground Aquafers During Years Of Plenty
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) - The City of Roseville is going underground to tap into drinking water as its primary source dries up during the drought.
They have a plan to supply water to more than 50,000 homes. For years, Roseville relied almost exclusively on surface water from Folsom Lake for drinking water. But that can be tricky and near impossible, considering previous and current droughts -- plus studies showing the impacts of climate change.
So, one way the city has been able to reduce its dependency on surface water during these dry years is using what's called Aquifer Storage and Recovery technology, or ASR.
Basically, during the years of normal or above-normal rainfall and snowpack, excess surface water is stored or banked in an underground aquifer. This summer, they then activated multiple wells to meet water supply demands and reduce reliance on Folsom Lake.
"Obviously this is a year, a drought year, where we're able now to call upon that water that we've stored underground and put it to beneficial use," said Trevor Joseph, a City of Roseville hydrogeologist. "We've been investing in this technology and this is a year we can actually use it."
Just a couple of years ago, the city was able to store 600 million gallons of extra surface water from Folsom Reservoir in aquafers beneath the city.