Tracking The Tap Supply

Sonora, CA — T.U.D. officials say we have started off the year with a better water supply than last year, but the tap troubles are far from over as we enter the fourth year of a drought.

At Tuesday’s T.U.D. meeting, Engineer Glen Nunnelly told the board, “We have more reservoir storage in Pinecrest, almost double what we had last year.  Lyons [Reservoir] storage is just about double what we had last year.  The number to watch now is the snowpack.  The county is reliant on a certain amount of snow every year.”

The district is working closely with PG&E to manage and slow the reservoir storage drop, according to  Nunnelly, who says rain will of course be the key.  “We’re about 10” of rainfall accumulated from a water year standpoint since October and normal is 32 [inches] so even if we got half of that normal we’d be in good shape from our supply.”

Another key will be customers continuing to conserve on water.  Nunnelly boasts the community is “a star” when it comes to tap conservation, with current residential water use down by 21%.