Water Study Trickle-down Effect

San Andreas, CA – The Calaveras County Water District (CCWD) could help Tuolumne County’s water woes, but that aid will not come anytime soon.

The CCWD plans on conducting a study regarding its water rights on the Stanislaus River.  The study would develop a model showing water amounts and use in the river.  CCWD General Manager Mitchell Dion says that would give them a significant tool to calculate what to expect in times of plenty and drought.

Dion says it would give them the ability “to answer the question of whether we can you move some water to Tuolumne County” in the future.  However, he says being able to sell water or help neighboring counties facing shortages is not the focus of the study; it is an added bonus.

“So ultimately we need to take all these variable and competing needs and get them into a single model so that we can actually see whose water is where on the Stanislaus at what time of year,” says Dion.  “By doing that, that’s going to help us make some assumptions as to whether or not there is more water available at different times of the year or if there is water that might be available to help out other low water challenged communities in the foothills.”

Dion stresses the study could take up to six months to get some conclusive results.