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City of Pleasanton <br />Final Water Supply Assessment <br />Stoneridge Drive Specific Plan Amendment and Staples Ranch Project <br />4.0 Water Agency Background <br />and is used more as a drought supply of water and less for an annual regional supply due to <br />Zone 7's groundwater management efforts, including the importation of surface water from the <br />SWP. <br />Amador Sub -Basin <br />The Amador sub -basin is located in the west central portion of the groundwater basin and is <br />bounded to the west by the Pleasanton Fault, to the east by the Livermore Fault, to the north <br />by a permeability barrier of inter fingering of alluvial deposits and partly by the Parks <br />Boundary, and to the south by the drainage divide and partly by contact with non- water- <br />bearing formations. This sub -basin is host to the majority of high production wells and has <br />both unconfined and confined aquifers. Waters from this sub -basin are of good to excellent <br />quality, characterized by sodium bicarbonate, magnesium bicarbonate, and calcium <br />bicarbonate with few instances of elevated levels of boron and nitrate. <br />This sub -basin of Quaternary alluvium has a maximum thickness of approximately 800 feet <br />and overlies the Livermore Formation, which may be up to 4,000 feet thick. Well production <br />(primarily by Zone 7 and the City of Pleasanton) in this sub -basin ranges from 42 to 2,820 <br />gpm and specific capacities of 1.1 to 217 gpm per foot of drawdown. <br />Mocho II Sub -Basin <br />The Mocho sub -basin has been divided into two distinct areas, Mocho I and Mocho II, by a <br />line of very low hills thought to be exposures of the Livermore Formation. The basins are <br />further distinguished by a change in aquifer characteristics from a sodium bicarbonate <br />(Mocho 1) to a magnesium bicarbonate water type (Mocho II). <br />Of the entire Mocho sub basin, only a portion of the Mocho 11 sub -basin is in the Main Basin. <br />This portion of the Mocho II sub -basin is located in the east central portion of the groundwater <br />basin and is bounded to the west by the Livermore Fault, to the east by thinning young <br />alluvium and exposed Livermore Formation, to the north by the Tassajara Formation that is <br />not hydraulically connected to the sub -basin and the Parks Boundary, and to the south by the <br />Livermore Uplands and contact with non water bearing marine formations. Both unconfined <br />and confined aquifers exist in the water bearing sediments. Waters from this sub -basin are of <br />fair to excellent quality sodium bicarbonate (Mocho I) and magnesium bicarbonate character <br />(Mocho II), with some instances of elevated boron and sodium ions. The recent alluvium <br />ranges in thickness from approximately 10-50 feet in Mocho I and up to 150 feet in Mocho II. <br />In both sub basins the alluvium overlies the Livermore Formation, both conformably and <br />unconformably. The silty /clayey overburden is mostly missing. The Upper Aquifer is exposed <br />at the surface in much of the area. Mocho I and Mocho II appear to be hydraulically connected <br />only in the shallow alluvial deposits. Well production in this subbasin (primarily by CWS) <br />ranges up to 950 gpm with specific capacities of 2 to 50 gpm per foot of drawdown. <br />Groundwater Levels and Storage <br />Historically, much of the Main Basin experienced artesian conditions. In the late 1800s, the <br />pre- development groundwater levels in the basin created a gradient, causing groundwater to <br />flow from east to west and naturally exit the basin as surface flow In the Arroyo de la Laguna. <br />In the early and mid- 1900s, groundwater began to be extracted in appreciable quantities, <br />causing groundwater levels to drop throughout the basin. As a result, groundwater levels <br />dropped below the point where groundwater would naturally rise into Arroyo de la Laguna and <br />exit the basin via streamflow. Water levels continued to drop in the Main Basin through the <br />1960s. The trend began to reverse in 1962 when Zone 7 Water Agency began importing <br />water from the State Water Project (SWP) and later in the 1960s when Zone 7 began <br />capturing and storing local runoff in Lake Del Valle. <br />The first imports were utilized in an oft stream recharge facility called Las Positas Pit. This <br />facility was operated from 1962 until the late 1970s and again, briefly, in the 1980s. Thus, <br />after experiencing historical groundwater lows in the 1960s, Main Basin water levels stabilized <br />in the late 1960s and started to rise in the early 19708 with the advent of regional groundwater <br />management programs. Groundwater levels approached the "historic low" again during the <br />vwra s WP odN I1S2O1 aerie. Rauh WWWWAFInd WeWa.o <br />5 -9 <br />