Opinion: Woodward’s water vision
The completion of Woodward Reservoir 114 years ago has been a godsend to South San Joaquin Irrigation District as well as the cities of Manteca, Lathrop, and Tracy. It has played a key role as an in-district safety net to help SSJID to weather droughts in much better shape than many other water purveyors in California including Tri-Dam Project partner, the Oakdale Irrigation District. The reservoir that holds 36,000 acre feet of water or enough for just over three complete districtwide irrigation runs is off stream as opposed to Tri-Dam reservoirs at Goodwin, Tulloch, Beardsley, and Donnells as well as the Bureau of Reclamation’s New Melones Reservior. New Melones holds up to 600,000 acre feet for OID and SSJID as the result of the original Melones Reservoir built by the two districts being inundated to build it.
-Written by Manteca Bulletin editor Dennis Wyatt.