This page is brought to
you by the Woodbridge Irrigation District, its
staff and Board of Directors.
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NOTICE
The Woodbridge Irrigation District will begin to
fill Lodi Lake beginning on Friday, March 4, 2011 in
the afternoon and continuing through the weekend.
Property owners are urged to protect their property
as levels begin to increase. WID plans to
maintain the JSA flow requirement downstream through
the period as the Lake increases. The current level
is approximately 30' which will increase up to 40'
MSL.
The
salmon numbers are in according to East
Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD)
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS) and California Department of
Fish and Game (CDFG) Biologists who
state, “the final salmon count on the
Mokelumne River was 7,196 fish as
compared to an average of 4072 fish that
is up 177% of average”. The Mokelumne
River’s performance in this comparison
was higher than any other Delta river
system including the Feather River
(123%) and the Yuba River (101%).
Several contributing factors of higher
salmon numbers was EBMUD’s storage and
release of attraction flows (up to 2,000
cubic feet/second…measured at WID)
during the fall run (Queues) that
allowed salmon to find the Mokelumne
River instead of straying to other river
systems and the extended use of the
counting facilities at Woodbridge Dam
after WID agreed to keep Lodi Lake full
until February 1, 2011.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW STATS
A Wet
Year on the Mokelumne River
Current
flows on the Mokelumne River are 3,400
Cubic Feet/Second as measured at EBMUDs
Mokelumne River Gage below WID’s Dam in
Woodbridge, CA. The 3,400 CFS rate is
equivalent to filling an Olympic sized
swimming pool every 23.59 seconds and
could spell flooding for adjacent farm
lands. EBMUD reports that November and
December were recorded as the 7th
wettest months in recorded history while
January and February were some of the
driest on record. The period of late
February through March are bringing the
water shed to above average. Growers
can sign up their contracts for water
anytime and take the water when needed.
The District has already filled the
upper reaches of the Main Canal through
Woodbridge in anticipation of the 2011
water season.
The Woodbridge Irrigation District will be
installing several new drip irrigation
screens for irrigation of grapes and tree
crops. The screen program provides a
concrete stainless steel screened take out
structure to allow growers to irrigate with
canal water. The screen takes out much of
the debris that can prematurely blind off a
canned sand media filter system and allowing
longer filtration runs between backwashes.
The District has over 6,000 acres on these
systems. The drip irrigation metered rate
applies to vines and orchard crops only and
a District owned Micrometer meter is
required for this rate.
District
members may apply to District for this
service that can still be installed this
year prior to the irrigation season. The
District will provide the concrete structure
and stainless steel screen(s) as needed.
The District has screened systems up to
2,500 gallons per minute or as small as 100
gallons per minute. During the
construction, WID will work with the
grower’s drip contractor in sizing the
system, including low suction cut off
switches, mounting pumps on the pump boxes,
and connections. Please call us if you are
considering drip irrigation and your land is
near or adjacent to a District canal.
GROWERS
BLOCK
WID’s
Flood and Furrow Metering Program-Phase II
Water users
served by the West Main Canal and the North
West Main Canal will have their water
metered in 2011. The metering program is
intended to promote water conservation and
efficiency and complies with the State’s
SB-7 that requires water districts to sell
water based on volume delivered rather than
the old flat rate/acre basis. WID’s
customers will purchase the water based on
the water they actually use and will be
reward for conservation but penalized for
water waste.
WID crews have been
busy installing metering vents and modifying
gated structures to allow the metering. The
vents will be used to measure the amount of
water being applied crops and growers will
be charged for the water they actually use.
Flood and furrow customers may pay for
additional amounts above the duty rate per
acre or may be eligible to receive a refund
of not more than 50% of the duty
amount/acre. Last year, approximately
$19,000 in conservation refund checks were
mailed back to growers who conserved water
on the South Main canal.
The
Board of Directors has adopted a water rate
schedule for 2011 which remains unchanged
from the rates charged in 2010.
