Roseville groundwater program is expanding. Through the use of Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) technology the city can inject and later extract stored drinking water from the groundwater basin. This is vitally important to enhance water supply reliability, maintain groundwater as a sustainable resource and meet regional conjunctive use program goals consistent with local water management agreements. ASR complements our other water supply resources both now and into the future. groundwater graphic

Roseville’s primary water source is Folsom Lake, through a water service contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Central Valley Project (Reclamation) and partnerships with nearby water agencies. During the last drought, we experienced fluctuations in water supply when Folsom Lake was at its lowest level on record.

Emerging from the 2015 drought, Roseville has focused on developing a flexible and reliable  water supply future for our thriving economy and growing population  through  the  expansion  of our groundwater program.

In addition to securing an indefinite term water service contract with Reclamation, we are bolstering our groundwater program through expansion of ASR technology. This will allow us to coordinate the use of surface water and groundwater so we have a go-to water resource regardless of weather conditions.

Projecting climate change impacts on our watershed

Roseville and several regional partners are participating in a local study on watershed impacts from climate change. Study shows changes to:
What is clear is that ensuring water reliability for Roseville will require us to do even more to increase water supply diversity. ASR is one component to build water infrastructure under the city’s control to minimize changes in weather patterns.

How aquifer storage and recovery works


How ASR works

ASR is the injection (or recharge) and storage of water in an aquifer through specially designed groundwater wells during times when water is available and extraction (or recovery) of water from the same well during times when it is needed. The major source of water for our ASR wells will come from excess surface water supplies such as flood flows that would have otherwise gone to waste or through the transfer of surface water from other entities.

Watch the video below to learn how this works!

Growing our groundwater program

Work is underway to accelerate the number of ASR wells in our community. Already, there are six groundwater wells in service and plans to more that double that amount. Doing so will allow for increased replenishment of the groundwater basin and increase groundwater drinking water usage system-wide.

Our goal is to construct two new wells by mid-2022 and four additional wells between 2022 and 2026. Click on the map to see where existing well houses are and where we plan to add either a monitoring well, production well or both.

groundwater expansion map

Groundwater program benefits

Our groundwater program provides operational flexibility based on water supply conditions and that flexibility creates local, regional and statewide benefits.