The Truckee Meadows Water Authority obtains its water supply from surface water and groundwater. Surface water is treated at Chalk Bluff and Glendale Treatment Plants before distribution into the system, and the groundwater is pumped from wells throughout the service territory.

Surface Water

Surface water sources and storage provide between 85 and 95 percent of the TMWA water supply. The surface storage areas are:

• Lake Tahoe: 744,600 acre feet of total storage
• Boca Reservoir: 40,800 acre feet of total storage
• Independence Lake: 17,500 acre feet of total storage
• Donner Lake: 9,500 acre feet of total storage
• Prosser Reservoir: 29,800 acre feet of total storage
• Stampede Reservoir: 226,500 acre feet of total storage
• Additional storage under the terms of the 2015 Truckee Operating Agreement includes a contract with the Bureau of Reclamation allowing TMWA to store a significant amount of drought supplies in Lake Tahoe, Stampede, Boca and Prosser reservoirs.
• The operation of the river and use of river water by TMWA is also governed by the Truckee River Operating Agreement, a brief summary of which can be found by clicking on link above.

Note: an acre foot is 325,851 gallons.

Groundwater

Groundwater sources and storage provide between 15 percent of the TMWA water supply. TMWA owns 82 production wells that have a capacity of 90 million gallons per day. The wells are used for summer peak times and provide off-river reliability. In winter months, the wells are used to recharge treated water.