Manteca in 2023 treated 2.94 billion gallons of wastewater.
All of that, except for 177.4 million gallons — or 3 percent of the total — was returned to the San Joaquin River via an outfall just west of the Oakwood Shores gated community.
The 3 percent that wasn’t dumped back into the river was recycled to irrigate landscaping and for construction use such as dust control.
In doing so, it avoided using treated potable drinking water that was the equivalent of the daily per capita use of 137.6 gallons for 3,532 Manteca residents for all of last year.
Roughly 50 percent of that per capita use is for outdoor purposes such as residential and commercial landscaping, parks, expansive grass at schools, general landscaping, and construction.
It is why recycled wastewater — along with rethinking/replacing landscaping — is slowly emerging as a critical piece of Manteca’s long range plan to meet water needs.
It is in addition to surface water from the Stanislaus River watershed via the South San Joaquin Irrigation District as well as well water.
The wastewater that is treated and recycled is one step below being 100 percent suitable for human consumption.
Manteca’s wastewater is treated to a level that it is safe to irrigate a wide array of food crops.
The city’s recycled water has been applied for years on land leased by a farmer at the treatment plant to grow corn to produce silage to feed dairy cattle.
Other treatment plants in California send recycled and treated wastewater to farmland as well.
To underscore the quality, take a stroll by the city’s outfall where all but 3 percent of 2.94 billion gallons of water was returned to the river.
The water falling from — and near — the outfall is visibly cleaner that what it is mixing into that is already flowing in the San Joaquin River.
Several fishermen who cast from the nearby banks say it is a great place to fish. That’s because the mixture of river and treated wastewater has a higher oxygen level that fish thrive in.
The 177.4 million gallons of wastewater recycled for landscaping and such in 2023 would have been enough to cover close to 80 percent of the overall water consumption the entire city had last month.
Manteca’s February waster consumption was 233.6 million gallons.
The city used less water overall in 2023 despite growing.
Water use last year dropped 6 percent to 4.523 billion gallons from 4,821 billion gallons in 2022.
Meanwhile, population increased by roughly 1,500 people or 2 percent to 90,000 residents.
The numbers reflect the city’s consistent message that wiser use of water is a must is being heeded.
The 2023 water use is also lower than in 2021 when 4.708 billion gallons of water was used.
The city relied on wells for 40.7 percent of its water in 2023.
That’s down from 46.6 percent in 2021 and 46.1 percent in 2022.
That bodes well for its efforts to adhere to a state mandated requirement that eventually all jurisdictions using groundwater can’t pump more water from underground sources than is replenished in 12-month period.
The balance of the city’s water was from the South San Joaquin Irrigation District’s water treatment plant that uses surface water from the Stanislaus River basin.
Water users will be getting a new tool in the coming months to further manage their water use.
The Manteca City Council in November approved a three-year $2.6 million agreement with Badger Meter that will make it possible for customers to monitor water use on an hourly basis using an app on their smartphone or a webpage.
It will allow customers:
*To opt for readings in gallons used instead of the current hundred cubic feet used. They can still use the cubic feet measurement, if they desire.
*To get a rough estimate of how much water they use for certain tasks. For example, if the only water they use between 6 and 7 p.m. on a specific day is for outside irrigating, they will get a clear reading on the amount used.
*To also detect if they have leaks if data shows they are using water during certain hours when they have not turned on faucets, flushed toilets, taken showers or baths, watered outside, or used washing machines or dishwashers.
*To set water usage alarms. It will send them an email and/or push notification to their connected smartphone if the alarm is triggered or water flows continuously for more than 24 hours.
The $874,717 annual cost covers water meters that may need replacing along with software to utilize the Beacon Advance Metering Mobile service to read city meters.
The software is designed to communicate with Badger water meters and their electronic communicator.
New connections from housing and commercial growth will get new meters.
Most existing meters are functioning property. If they are found to be faulty, they will be repaired or replaced.
Manteca currently has roughly 26,000 water connections.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
