Niles Cone facts for kids
The Niles Cone is a special underground area in Alameda County, California. Think of it as a huge natural sponge filled with water deep below the ground. This underground water, called groundwater, is super important because it provides drinking water for many people living in the East Bay area.
This underground water basin covers about 103 square miles. To give you an idea, that's like a big square, roughly 10 miles on each side! The Niles Cone is bordered by the Diablo Range mountains to the east and the San Francisco Bay to the west.
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What is the Niles Cone?
The Niles Cone is essentially a large aquifer. An aquifer is an underground layer of rock or sand that holds water. It's like a natural reservoir hidden beneath the surface of the Earth. This water is a vital resource for the communities nearby.
How Does the Niles Cone Get Water?
The Niles Cone gets its water mainly from surface runoff. This means when rain falls or snow melts, the water flows over the land. A lot of this water comes from the Alameda Creek catchment basin. A catchment basin is an area where all the water drains into a single river or body of water.
As this water flows, some of it soaks into the ground. This process is called "recharge." It's how the underground aquifer gets refilled. Imagine pouring water onto a sponge; the water soaks in and fills it up. That's what happens with the Niles Cone.
Managing Our Water Supply
The Alameda County Water District (ACWD) is in charge of looking after the Niles Cone aquifer. Their job is to make sure there's enough clean water for everyone. They manage this important natural resource carefully.
Water Treatment and Delivery
The ACWD has built special water treatment plants. These plants clean the water from the Niles Cone, making it safe to drink. After cleaning, the water travels through a network of pipelines. These pipelines carry the water directly to homes and businesses in the urban areas.
Keeping Water Quality High
The Alameda County Water District also regularly checks the quality of the water in the Niles Cone. They monitor for things like total dissolved solids. These are tiny bits of minerals or salts that are dissolved in the water. By checking these levels and other factors, they ensure the water remains clean and healthy for everyone to use. This monitoring helps protect our drinking water supply for the future.
