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News & Media

TID Completes Second Regulating Reservoir

August 22, 2023

Turlock – On August 18, 2023, the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) completed the construction of the Ceres Main Regulating Reservoir.

The regulating reservoir is the second constructed by the District following the success of the Lateral 8 Regulating Reservoir completed in 2016. The new reservoir has an operational storage capacity of 220 acre-feet (AF) and will provide an estimated 10,000 AF of average annual water savings. The Ceres Main Regulating Reservoir, which sits on a 36-acre footprint was designed and built by TID staff. The Ceres Main Regulating Reservoir will capture fluctuations in water flow from the Ceres Main Canal and pump the stored excess water back into the Ceres Main Canal to improve customer service downstream, lessen the need for groundwater pumping, and reduce water loss from the canal
system.

“The Ceres Main Regulating Reservoir is the latest step in modernizing our 100-plus year old irrigation system,” said TID Board President, Ron Macedo. “Its location along the Ceres Main Canal allows improved water efficiency, reliability, and faster response times for nearly 25,000 acres of ag land.”

Regulating reservoirs like the Ceres Main and Lateral 8 regulating reservoirs offer multiple benefits to TID water efficiency and to the growers receiving water within the District’s gravity-fed irrigation distribution system. They support water conservation by stabilizing flow rates in the system downstream and capturing water that is normally lost to surrounding rivers, allowing that water to remain stored for later use. Stable flow rates and increased water supply reliability, coupled with
faster response times to customer demands, provide vast improvements in customer service for growers served by the reservoir. As an example, the Lateral 8 Regulating Reservoir has reduced the need for groundwater pumping in its service area by 90% since 2016.

The Ceres Main Regulating Reservoir Project, which began construction in October 2022, cost approximately $10 million to construct. TID received a $2 million grant from the United States Bureau of Reclamation to assist with the cost of the project due to its potential water savings benefits.

TID has preliminary plans to construct an additional regulating reservoir along its Lateral 5.5 in southwest Turlock in the coming years.

Media Contacts:
Constance Anderson | cjanderson@tid.org | (209) 883-8448
Brandon McMillan | bpmcmillan@tid.org | (209) 883-8539

About the Turlock Irrigation District (TID)

Established in 1887, the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) was the first irrigation district in the state. Today it is one of only four in California that also provides electric retail energy directly to homes, farms, and businesses. TID delivers irrigation water through over 250 miles of a gravity-fed canal system that irrigates approximately 150,000 acres of farmland. TID owns and operates an integrated and diverse electric generation, transmission and distribution system that provides power to a population of 240,000 within a 662 square-mile area. With a drive towards innovation, TID has been a leader in new initiatives and data-driven practices to provide value to its customers. For more information about TID visit TID.org, follow @TurlockID on social media platforms and subscribe to TID Water & Power Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.