The Niles Cone is a

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

basin in

Alameda County, California Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Al ...

, United States which is the source of

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

for a sizeable human urban population in the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

. The land area corresponding to this groundwater basin is approximately 103 square miles; (California, 1998) the Niles Cone Basin is bounded on the east by the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley are ...

and on the west by

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

Surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...

in the Alameda Creek

catchment basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

accounts for much of the recharge of the Niles Cone. (Niles Cone, 2007) The

Alameda County Water District The Alameda County Water District (ACWD) is a public agency in Alameda County, California, United States, which has responsibilities for managing and protecting certain groundwater resources within Alameda County. While most of the county is serv ...

is responsible for management of the Niles Cone

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...

and has developed water treatment plants and pipelines for the conveyance of its waters to urban users. (Earth Metrics, 1990) The Alameda County Water District also performs

water quality Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water based on the standards of its usage. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance, generally achieved through tr ...

monitoring of the Niles Cone Basin for

total dissolved solids Total dissolved solids (TDS) is a measure of the dissolved combined content of all inorganic and organic substances present in a liquid in molecular, ionized, or micro-granular ( colloidal sol) suspended form. TDS concentrations are often repor ...

and other parameters. (California, 2001)

References

Alameda County Water District: Niles Cone aquifer
* California State Groundwater Bulletin 118: Niles Cone Aquifer (1998) * Earth Metrics Inc., '' Negative Declaration for Water Treatment Plant Number Two of the

Alameda County Water Agency An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santia ...

'', prepared for the Alameda County Water Agency and the

State of California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Clearinghouse, Sacramento. Report number 10445.001, October 26, 1990
State_of_California_groundwater_monitoring_reports:_Total_dissolved_solids
_in_the_Niles_Cone_(2001).html" ;"title="Total dissolved solids">State of California groundwater monitoring reports: Total dissolved solids
in the Niles Cone (2001)">Total dissolved solids">State of California groundwater monitoring reports: Total dissolved solids
in the Niles Cone (2001) Aquifers in California Bodies of water of Alameda County, California {{AlamedaCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References