Replenishment Assessment Act

Authority

Under the authority of the Replenishment Assessment Act of the Alameda County Water District, ACWD charges operators of water production facilities an assessment based on the quantity of groundwater produced.  Replenishment assessment revenue helps pay for ACWD's work to replenish and maintain the Niles Cone Groundwater Basin.  Replenishment assessment fees apply only to water producing facilities in the ACWD-managed Niles Cone Groundwater Basin.  Water wells, dewatering wells, and chemical investigation extraction wells are considered water production facilities.

Download a copy of the Replenishment Assessment Act.

Replenishment Assessment Rates 

Replenishment Assessment (RA) rates are reviewed annually; currently, the assessment is $8.00/acre-foot for agricultural and municipal-recreation uses (the maximum allowed under the Replenishment Assessment Act) and $557/acre-foot for all other uses.  

Revenue from the RA helps ACWD offset its costs to replenish and maintain groundwater supplies for the benefit of the users of the groundwater basin.  On April 8, 2025, the Board of Directors adopted the RA rate for uses other than municipal-recreation and agricultural for Fiscal Year 2025/26 with no change from FY 2024/25. Therefore, effective July 1, 2025, the rate is to remain $557 per acre-foot of groundwater extracted.  Only property owners with a well, well owners, and operators of wells (or other groundwater extraction facilities) within the ACWD-managed Niles Cone Groundwater Basin are affected by the rate. 

On April 8, 2025, the Board of Directors adopted Resolution No. 25-018, Levying a Replenishment Assessment and finding the Replenishment Assessment exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). A Notice of Exemption was submitted to both the Alameda County Clerk and the State Clearinghouse CEQAnet Web Portal.