The DREAM Project is a visionary interregional pilot groundwater banking effort that improves water supply reliability and resiliency in both San Joaquin County and the East Bay, while also providing San Joaquin County with an additional water source and funding to protect the Eastern San Joaquin (ESJ) Subbasin. DREAM is being conducted by San Joaquin County, North San Joaquin Water Conservation District (NSJWCD), Eastern Water Alliance (EWA), and EBMUD.
Condors Involvement: Condor was contracted by San Joaquin County Department of Public Works to support their role in the Demonstration Recharge, Extraction, and Aquifer Management (DREAM) pilot project. The DREAM project is a groundwater banking effort involving East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD), North San Joaquin Water Conservation District, San Joaquin County, and the Eastern Water Alliance, where surface water may be used for irrigation in lieu of groundwater, thereby “banking” groundwater for future use. The results of the DREAM pilot will be used to evaluate larger-scale use of groundwater banking with the goal of improving EBMUD’s water supply reliability while benefiting the Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin. Part of the DREAM monitoring plan is to evaluate whether extraction of banked groundwater would have an adverse effect on surrounding groundwater elevations. Transducers with remote-monitoring capability were placed in selected wells to monitor groundwater levels every hour. Condor worked with stakeholders to develop groundwater drawdown thresholds; managed the remote monitoring software and hardware; collected field data from several key wells prior to, during, and after extraction; evaluated groundwater elevation data over the duration of the project; and presented the collected data during planning and stakeholder meetings.
