MUNICIPAL CUSTOMERS

ABWC provides utility services to a population of 2,500 people in the Agate Bay community of Lake Tahoe. 

The CCSD provides services to  approximately 2,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers within its boundaries in the Castroville area, serving a portion of Monterey County. Services provided include water, sewer, storm water, street lighting, and recreational facilities.

The Colusa Groundwater Authority is responsible for implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in the Colusa County portion of the Colusa Sub-basin and the county portion of the Butte sub-basin outside of Reclamation District 1004.

The Department of Water Supply is a semi-autonomous agency, which is responsible for management, control and operation of the waterworks of the County and all property thereof. 

The FGWC provides clean water to 67 members in our private mutual water system.  

The MDT Mutual Water Company provides utility services to a population of 45 people in the Salinas area. 

MDT provides utility services to a population of 90 people in the Carmel Valley area. 

The Water Management District serves approximately 112,000 people within the cities of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Del Rey Oaks, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Seaside, Sand City, Monterey Peninsula Airport District and portions of unincorporated Monterey County including Pebble Beach, Carmel Highlands and Carmel Valley. 

Monte Vista Water District (MVWD), a county water district formed in 1927, provides retail and wholesale water supply services to a population of over 135,000 within a 30-square mile area, including the communities of Montclair, Chino Hills, portions of Chino and the unincorporated area lying between the cities of Pomona, Chino Hills, Chino and Ontario. 

The Orchard Heights Water Association is a utility company that provides electricity, natural gas, water, and sewer services for Salem residents.

Founded in 1866, San Jose Water is an investor owned public utility, and is one of the largest and most technically sophisticated urban water systems in the United States. We serve over 1 million people in the greater San Jose metropolitan area with high quality, life sustaining water with an emphasis on exceptional customer service. 

Wausau Water Works provides municipal water and wastewater service to approximately 16,000 customers, maintains over 250 miles of water mains, over 16,000 service connections, more than 1,700 fire hydrants, 10 booster stations, and 7 water storage tanks totaling 5,750,000 gallons of water storage. The water treatment facility treats and distributes 1.5 billion gallons of water each year; about 4.2 million gallons per day.

The Well Bubbler is an automated monitoring system for municipal and agricultural wells, tanks, and reservoirs. Compressed air is forced through an airline to accurately measure liquid level. The standing and pumping level is then recorded and shown on the display or sent to your smartphone. Flow rate, discharge pressure, and pump power are measured simultaneously to calculate specific capacity and overall pumping efficiency. The Well Bubbler is designed and built in the United States. Read more.

 California was hit by some torrential rain in January. In our last post, we explored how that rain had affected soil moisture. In some cases, the water percolated right through and left the soil dry again. In other cases, the rain filled the soil to field capacity. It all depends on the soil’s water holding capacity. The rain we get now probably won’t have much of an effect on the coming season. By the time we get shoots pushing, even heavier soils will most likely need some water. That is assuming we don’t get some rain in the early Spring, when it really matters. Heavy rains can fill ponds as well as underground reserves of water. That’s where winter rain becomes important. Soil moisture in the early part of the season helps establish a canopy. At some point though, you may need to irrigate. It’s hard to do that if you don’t have any water. Last year Advanced Viticulture started an exciting partnership with The Well Bubbler. This device measures well depth in real-time using a flexible airline (sounding tube) as opposed to a transducer. It can be integrated with most telemetry devices or you can use the Well Bubbler dashboard on its own to set alerts and monitor your well level. Let’s take a look at what the recent rain did to the well level at different locations. Read more.

Groundwater levels continue to drop in response to drought conditions! The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires that water levels come into balance by 2040. Lowered water levels can also substantially decrease the efficiency of irrigation pumps, costing growers more money to irrigate their crops. How are growers to monitor their changes in groundwater levels and associated changes in pumping costs? Read more.

Well depth sensors have been around for a long time and usually have  involved dropping a pressure sensor down the well. This is expensive because  of the long cable needed, which must be vented to the atmosphere so that  barometric pressure does not influence the measurement. Also, if that cable gets cut, you’ve lost your expensive sensor down the well forever. We’ve recently started working with The Well Bubbler, a company based in  San Luis Obispo, Calif. Their system works on air pumped through a small  tube that is run down the well and left there permanently. The tube is cheap and won’t harm the well pump if, for some reason, it gets cut loose. The unit pumps air into the tube and computes the air pressure needed to clear the tube—bubbling air into the water column above it. The higher the column, the more pressure that is needed. A simple concept used by well management professionals for a long time, but now its automated. The units can also measure power supplied to the pump so that the user and automation system know when the pump is running. You can save your pump if you  know if water drops too low in the well while the pump is running. Pumps  will overheat and be damaged if run dry, so this can be a good investment.  Read more.

Air tube measurement principle keeps electronic sensor accessible at surface. Bubbler has separate solar panel and battery for air compressor. Read more.

Fixing a well is quick, easy, and cheap...Said no one, ever. California is getting drier and drier. Monitoring your ground water is essential to ensure you make it through next season. Did you also know that running your pump with insufficient water can severely damage the pump and possibly melt your well casing?! You might not even know you're doing it. Take a look below at the readout from the Well Bubbler, AV's newest partner in well-monitoring and water management. The water in this well drops down to 240 feet and then sucks air for 36 hours! If the farmer continues to over-draft the well like this, he/she may need to make major repairs to his/her well...most likely in the middle of the growing season. The Well Bubbler uses a flexible airline to cheaply and effectively monitor your well. There's no risk of clogging your pump with a metal transducer and less noise than with an acoustic sensor. The Well Bubbler can easily be paired with a flow meter, pressure sensor, and pump-power sensor. Monitor your well from your mobile device or computer. Receive real-time alerts if water levels or flow rates reach critical levels. The Well Bubbler can also be integrated into valve automation systems including Ranch Systems and Wiseconn.  Read more.

In the Salinas Valley, irrigation tends to involve groundwater, and with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in force, Alex Bugrov may find himself with more business. He's the brains behind Well Bubbler, which he describes as a type of smart meter for irrigation wells. The system tracks well level, flow rate, discharge pressure and pump power. "By looking at those things, you can monitor long-term trends in groundwater in this area," Bugrov said. "You can look at the performance of a specific well, look at things like a specific drawdown and the overall pumping efficiency of your pump, which are both primary indicators of their health." Users also can see "who else is drinking from this same aquifer and what effect all this combined withdrawal is having on the water table," he added. As he spoke, the Well Bubbler started humming. "It's taking a well-level sample," Bugrov said, noting the system gathers data every 15 minutes on well level, flow rate, pressure and power, recorded locally and sent to a dashboard in the cloud. Norm Groot, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, said meters such as this will be crucial to groundwater management. "I think where it's going to become most important is cooperating with your neighbors on when you're extracting, so that you're not creating an unnecessary imbalance in the basin," Groot said. Read more.