BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Government Code § 84308 Applies: Yes ☐ No ☒
(If “YES” Complete Attachment A - Gov. Code § 84308)
SUBJECT: Title
Conduct a Public Hearing on the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency Plan.
End
RECOMMENDATION: Recommendation
A. Open and conduct the public hearing on the Draft 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency Plan; and
B. Close the Public Hearing.
Body
SUMMARY:
Every five years, urban water suppliers in California are required by State law to prepare an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) and Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP). Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) meets the definition of an urban water wholesaler and has prepared its 2025 UWMP and WSCP update. Valley Water’s 2025 UWMP documents current and projected water supplies and demands over the next 25 years during normal and drought years, as well as conservation efforts to reduce long-term water demand. The plan provides an overall picture of current and future water conditions and management in Santa Clara County (County). The WSCP establishes Valley Water’s actions and procedures for addressing water shortages due to droughts and other emergencies. The UWMP and WSCP are required to be submitted to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) by July 1, 2026.
Valley Water’s 2025 UWMP and WSCP were prepared consistent with the Urban Water Management Planning Act, California Water Code Sections 10610 through 10656, and in accordance with DWR guidelines. Key elements of the UWMP include Valley Water’s system, demand projections, existing and future water supply, water supply reliability and drought risk assessment, water shortage contingency planning, and water conservation and demand management programs. In addition, the plan includes an appendix on reduced reliance on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta), consistent with the Delta Plan.
Water Demand Projections
The 2025 UWMP includes current and projected water use in five-year increments from 2025 to 2050. The water use in 2025 was 283,000 acre-feet per year (AFY). For future demand, Valley Water recently completed its Water Supply Master Plan (WSMP) 2050 with two demand projections. The stable demand from the WSMP 2050 was used for this UWMP, which is projected to stay at 330,000 AFY from 2030 through 2050 and assumes meeting long-term water conservation goals. Using the WSMP 2050 demand ensures consistency between Valley Water’s long-range plans. Valley Water’s projected countywide demands are within 1-6% of the combined demand estimates by retailers for the planning period, eleven of them must also complete UWMPs.
Existing and Planned Water Supply
Valley Water maintains diverse water supply sources to meet countywide demands, including local surface water and groundwater, imported water, and recycled water. Water conservation is also an important part of Valley Water’s water resources management to improve water supply reliability. Future supply estimates for this UWMP are based on the WSMP 2050 recommended projects and projected imported water from DWR modeling. With the recommended future projects including Direct Potable Reuse, Delta Conveyance Project, B. F. Sisk Dam Raise, Groundwater Banking, and South County Recharge, Valley Water’s available supplies are projected to increase over time.
Water Supply Reliability
Based on Valley Water’s existing and planned sources of supply, Valley Water will be able to meet countywide demands through 2050 under normal and single dry year conditions for all demand years. Under five consecutive dry year conditions, Valley Water’s diverse water supplies are sufficient to meet demands for most of the planning period, with less than 10% of supply gaps in the last two years of the modeled drought in some years. The supply gaps are within Valley Water’s level of service goal and will be addressed through the combination of supply augmentation from water transfers and exchanges and water use reductions.
If a prolonged drought were to occur in the next five years, the Drought Risk Assessment indicates that Valley Water will be able to meet countywide demands for the first three years of the drought with a combination of local and imported surface water, groundwater, banked supplies in Semitropic storage, and imported water transfer purchases. During the last two years of this drought, Valley Water would expect to experience a supply gap of 14,600 AF in 2029 and 25,000 AF in 2030, which would be addressed through supply augmentation and call for short-term water use reduction.
Water Shortage Contingency Plan
Valley Water’s WSCP establishes actions and procedures for managing water supplies and demands during water shortages due to droughts and other emergencies. For this update, Valley Water adopts the State-prescribed six standard shortage stages and defines actions associated with each stage. In the event of prolonged droughts or other emergency situations, Valley Water considers all available tools to maximize the use of available supplies in order to address potential shortage, including public education and community outreach, coordinating response among the County’s municipalities and retailers, augmenting supplies from supplemental sources, calling for short-term water use reductions, and balancing demands for treatment plants and recharge facilities. The WSCP also summarizes planning for natural disasters, drought-related revenue impacts, and Valley Water’s legal authority to respond to water shortages.
The WSCP was developed in accordance with 2025 UWMP Guidebook. Valley Water continuously seeks to improve its water shortage planning efforts, which may be reflected in future refinements to this WSCP.
Demand Management Measures
Valley Water continues to be a leader in water conservation and has implemented a wide range of Demand Management Measures (DMMs) that help reduce water use. Valley Water’s conservation programs include metering, public education and outreach, rebates for residential and commercial users, landscape rebates for lawn conversion, free water use audits and consultation, and many more. Collectively, conservation and stormwater capture accounted for about 87,000 AF of water savings in 2025 over a 1992 baseline. Valley Water has long-term conservation goals to achieve 99,000 AFY in water savings by 2030, 110,000 AFY by 2040, and 126,000 AFY by 2050.
Reduced Reliance on the Delta
Starting from the 2020 UWMP update, DWR requires the suppliers receiving or planning to receive water from a covered action in the Delta to demonstrate their reduced reliance on the Delta. Valley Water is participating in proposed imported water projects and therefore falls under this requirement. Valley Water, with the support of all its retailers, has made significant investments in demand management and local supplies to increase regional self-reliance and reduce the county’s reliance on the Delta. These investments include conservation and demand management; recycled and purified water; seismic retrofits of local reservoirs; and regional collaborations. With these past efforts and planned investments and water conservation goals recommended in the WSMP, water supply analysis estimates that Valley Water has reduced its reliance on imported water supplies from the Delta by 5.1% in 2015 from the 2010 baseline, and is expected to reduce the reliance by 13.7% in 2050, consistent with the Delta Plan, WR P1.
Coordination and Outreach
The 2025 UWMP was prepared in coordination with the 13 major water retailers in Santa Clara County. Throughout the development of the plan, Valley Water communicated with retailers on issues related to demand and supply projections, reduced reliance on the Delta, reliability analyses, and the WSCP. Staff provided updates to the retailer water supply subcommittee and the Water Supply and Demand Management Committee. In addition, all cities within Santa Clara County, retailers, the County, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, and Bay Area Water Conservation and Supply Agency were notified at least 60 days prior to the public hearing of Valley Water’s efforts on updating its UWMP and WSCP. Valley Water provided the retailers with the draft UWMP and WSCP for review. The draft plans were presented to the Water Supply and Demand Management Committee in June and were available for public review from May 6 to June 9, 2026. The notice of the public hearing and release of the draft plans were published in local newspapers in May, emailed to retailers and local agencies, and sent via newsletter to interested parties.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IMPACT:
The Urban Water Management Plan addresses water supply equity by ensuring a cost-effective, high-quality supply is available for all of Santa Clara County, including disadvantaged communities.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact associated with this item.
CEQA:
CEQA does not apply to the preparation and adoption of UWMPs (California Water Code Section 10652).
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Draft Urban Water Management Plan
Attachment 2: Draft Water Shortage Contingency Plan
Attachment 3: PowerPoint
*Handout 3.5-A: Sierra Club Letter
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER: Manager
Kirsten Struve, 408-630-3138