From snowflake to the bay
EBMUD captures snowmelt from 575 square miles of mostly undeveloped public and private watershed lands of the Mokelumne River and collects it at Pardee Reservoir, 90 miles east of the Bay Area. EBMUD has water rights for up to 325 million gallons daily from the Mokelumne River watershed. Pardee Reservoir has a capacity of 203,795 acre-feet, which is equivalent to a 10-month supply for EBMUD's 1.4 million water customers.
Ten miles downstream from Pardee Reservoir, Camanche Reservoir stores water to meet the needs of fisheries, riparian habitat and downstream water-rights holders, and it provides flood control. Camanche Reservoir has a capacity of 417,120 acre-feet of water.
Local runoff is stored in several East Bay reservoirs for treatment and delivery to customers and to assure emergency supplies are available locally. In a year of normal precipitation, EBMUD uses an average of 21 million gallons per day (MGD) of water from local watershed runoff.
In dry years, enough water can be lost through evaporation to completely offset any water gained from local runoff. EBMUD can store up to 151,670 acre-feet of water in the East Bay reservoirs. Typically, EBMUD stores a six-month emergency supply in local reservoirs.
EBMUD now also has a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for a supplemental water supply from the Sacramento River. EBMUD has rights to up to 100 MGD from the Sacramento River in dry years. When needed, the water is conveyed through the Freeport Regional Water Facility jointly owned by EBMUD and Sacramento County.