By: Walter Cotter
Being a water district located in the foothills, we are blessed with elevation. And with our source water at the upper end (read higher elevation) of the District, we can take advantage of that elevation to assist in the delivery of water. It is that change in elevation that allows us to have pressurized pipelines (without pumps and the required energy charges) and also allows for opportunities to generate electricity. Since 1983, we have been producing electricity as a byproduct of our primary mission to deliver agriculture water to the water users within our District. While generation is secondary for us to the delivery of water, we do view our generator as part of our delivery system and an asset to the District. The revenues from generation supplement the District’s other income sources and reduce the water tolls for all of our water users.
Our generator is rather small (1 megawatt), but does add power to the grid. In fact there are many small generators just like ours that are spread along the hills of California that extract energy from water as it is being sent to be used for either irrigation or even drinking water. Together, we produce a significant amount of power year in and year out. We collectively create this power while not adding any byproducts to the environment or impacting the water itself (other than to tap the energy in the water). While it may seem obvious, hydroelectric generation is a renewable resource in that with each winter’s storms, our reservoir is refilled so that we can deliver water (and generate electricity) during the next irrigation season. It is for all of these reasons that hydroelectric generation truly is green and clean.
Walter Cotter is the general manager of the Browns Valley Irrigation District, a public agency that serves water to more than 50,000 acres on the north side of the Yuba River and at the toe of the Yuba County foothills. Prior to joining Browns Valley I. D. in January 2001, Walter worked for 5 years as the assistant manager and watermaster of Del Puerto Water District in central California and has been involved in the water industry since 1976. Walter has a B. S. in Business Administration from California State University, Sacramento. He resides in Yuba City and is a northern California native.
