Despite the recent wet weather, water needs were addressed at last week’s Ripon City Council meeting.

During his final meeting before taking his newly-elected seat on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, Mayor Chuck Winn believes the City of Ripon should look for additional water sources.

“The City and its residents have been fortunate with a well based supply of water,” he said.

Not too long ago, Winn, City Administrator Kevin Werner and South San Joaquin Irrigation District General Manager Jeff Shields discussed the possibilities of connecting the City of Ripon with SSJID.

“There will be a cost initially but, in the long run, it will help save on water usage,” Winn said.

City officials are looking to stay on top of the situation before it becomes a problem.

“The issue was never about the quantity of well sites but the quality,” Werner said. “The nitrate levels are the main issue – how does the City extend the life of our ground water wells?”

One option could be to use surface water to help supplement the ground wells.

How does it work?

“Tracy and Roseville have been working with the state on aquifer storage projects, where you take surface water and pipe it in to a city’s ground water basin and have it available for use when needed,” explained Werner.

Projects like this, he added, are being reviewed.

Winn, meanwhile, indicated that the recently passed legislation will cause local ground water ramifications at the state level.

What does that mean?

“There will be increases in water rates,” said Winn.

He added: “The City of Ripon has an opportunity to be proactive and look at options of how to be efficient in water usage and storage.”