Notice To Private Pool Owners :
We are Currently under Stage IV Critical Watering Restrictions, and no fill or refilling of a private pool is allowed during this time.
Understand our Aquifers:
Aquifers are not underground lakes. They are areas where water resides in cracks, crevasses, and voids in the underground substrata. If the aquifer is fairly porous, (think sand) water migrates freely among the strata to the well pump. If the aquifer is not very porous, (think BRRWSC’s aquifers) water resides in cracks and voids in solid limestone, and water migrates very slowly. This ability to migrate determines the pumping capacity of a well.
Undisturbed by pumping, over time the aquifer reaches its “natural” level throughout the aquifer (See figure). If a lot of rain falls in the recharge zone, that “natural” level is high. Without rain, the “natural” aquifer level drops as water is pumped from it. That has been the case for the past two years and appears to be likely to continue through 2014.
When water is pumped from the aquifer, the aquifer water level drops in the area of the pump in the shape of a cone, called the “cone of depression”. If water is pumped from the aquifer at a rate faster than water can migrate through the substrata to the pump, the well could run “dry”. Since the substrata beneath our wells are is not very porous, this cone develops quickly and our water pumping capacity also drops quickly. That is the “Aquifer Level Active Pumping”. It is literally the level of the bottom of the “cone of depression” above the pump suction while it is pumping. It’s indicative of how close the well is to running “dry”.
One last fact: As the “natural” aquifer level drops and the “cone of depression” drops with it, the pump must pump water higher to get to the surface tanks. That causes the capacity of the pump to decrease and our supplies become more and more limited. This drought has dropped the “natural” level of our aquifers significantly, plus the growth in the number of Members served puts more demand on our limited supply.
That is why we have conservation restrictions of various levels of severity. None of us want our wells to run dry! We have no alternative source to draw from. So everyone, PLEASE help conserve water!
Something to Think About:
Your BRR Water is a bargain! Don’t believe it? Here are some amusing facts to consider:
A standard bottle of water is 1 pint or 1/8th of a gallon. That standard bottle of water usually costs about $1.25 at a convenience store. So a gallon of bottled water costs 8 X $1.25 = $10.00! (Almost 3 times as much as gasoline!!)
The average BRRWSC customer used 6,458 gallons of water in June. The average bill was $78.79.
If you paid the per bottle rate the average customer’s bill would be: 6,478 gallons X $10.00/gallon = $64,780.00!! That’s over 800 times as expensive as the actual bill of $78.79!! YIKES!
A gallon of BRRWSC tap water costs $78.79/6,458 gallons or $0.0122 per gallon. That’s 1.2 cents/gallon. Another way to look at it: 1.2 cents/8 pints per gallon = $0.001525. That’s 0.1525 cents for that pint of bottled water if you filled it from your tap.
“Ah.” you say, “That’s not a fair comparison. The bottled water is so much more convenient.” That’s true, but you’re paying a BIG price for that convenience. Fill up a few bottles with tap water and freeze them (leave a little air space so the bottle won’t burst). When you leave the house, take one with you. As it thaws, you’ll have ice-cold refreshing drinking water almost for free!