Published: Friday, Jun. 19, 2009
Phil Dirkx: A quick look at who’s pumping groundwater
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closeYou probably don’t associate the Long Branch Saloon in Creston with water.
But in what’s called the 2006 “water year,” the Long Branch pumped 6.9 acre-feet of water from the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin. Also, the nearby Loading Chute restaurant pumped 5.7 acre-feet.
An acre-foot equals almost 326,000 gallons. (I had to look that up.) That’s enough water for two typical Paso Robles households for one year.
I found those Creston pumping figures in that report I discussed in last week’s column. The report is called “Evaluation of Paso Robles Groundwater Basin Pumping, Water Year 2006.” Todd Engineers of Alameda prepared the report.
Reports like this one usually put me to sleep, but I did find interesting tidbits like the Long Branch and the Loading Chute’s pumping. I’m easily amused.
I also know that reports like this often contain some squishy numbers. Many numbers in this report are estimates or calculations.
But I did wonder how much water North County golf courses do use. They rely on their own pumps rather than on urban water systems. The report gave me some calculated figures. In Paso Robles, the Paso Robles Golf Course was listed as pumping 374.5 acre-feet for 2006, the Hunter Ranch Golf Course 448 acre-feet, the Links Golf Course 500.5 and the six-hole River Oaks Golf Course 80.5.
In Atascadero, the Chalk Mountain Golf Course was listed as pumping 80.03 acre-feet in 2006. I was puzzled. It’s a full-size course and yet it pumped less than the six-hole River Oaks. That puzzle was solved for me by John Neil, the general manager of the Atascadero Mutual Water Co.
He said Chalk Mountain also gets about 300 acre-feet per year from the nearby Atascadero sewage treatment plant. Chalk Mountain gets the treated water from an irrigation well near the sewage plant’s discharge ponds. That well doesn’t tap the underground basin. Mr. Neil has also sent a letter to the county planning department questioning some of the estimates and assumptions in this 2006 basin-evaluation report.
The report also lists 61 wineries that pump from the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin. If I added right, their total take for 2006 was calculated to be 56.57 acre-feet.
The report also calculated the gross amount pumped by vineyards that year to be 45,860 acre-feet.
Urban pumping by Atascadero, Paso Robles, San Miguel and Templeton was put at 15,665 acre-feet.
Don’t look for a moral in this story. I just thought the numbers might interest you.
Contact Phil Dirkx at phild2008@sbcglobal.net or 238-2372.
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