BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Public Hearing to Adopt the 2020 Urban Water Management Plan, Water Shortage Contingency Plan, and Reduced Delta Reliance Addendum to 2015 Urban Water Management Plan (Continued from June 8, 2021).
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
A. Conduct Public Hearing on the draft 2020 Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency Plan;
B. Close the Public Hearing;
C. Adopt the Resolution ADOPTING THE 2020 URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN;
D. Adopt the Resolution ADOPTING THE WATER SHORTAGE CONTINGENCY PLAN; and
E. Adopt the Resolution ADOPTING APPENDIX H OF THE 2020 URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN AS AN ADDENDUM (REDUCED DELTA RELIANCE) TO THE 2015 URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN.
Body
SUMMARY:
Every five years, urban water suppliers in California are required by State law to prepare an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP). The plan is a water agency’s long-term water resource planning document to ensure that adequate water supplies are available to meet existing and future water needs within its service area. The UWMP provides an overall picture of a water agency’s current and future water conditions and management over the next 20 to 25 years.
Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) meets the definition of an urban water wholesaler and has prepared the 2020 UWMP update. Valley Water’s 2020 UWMP documents current and projected water supplies and demands over the next 25 years during normal and drought years, as well as water reliability analysis and conservation efforts in Santa Clara County.
As part of the 2020 UWMP, Valley Water expanded its Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP) to establish actions and procedures for managing water shortages due to droughts and other emergencies consistent with new state regulations. The statutory deadline to submit the 2020 UWMP and WSCP to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is July 1, 2021.
Valley Water’s draft 2020 UWMP was prepared consistent with the UWMP Act, California Water Code Sections 10610 through 10656, and in accordance with DWR guidelines. Key elements of the plan include Valley Water’s system, demand projections, existing and future water supply, water supply reliability, water shortage contingency plan, 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
Understanding water demands and how they may change over time allows Valley Water to manage the county’s water supply and appropriately plan infrastructure investments. County-wide demands are projected to increase from 306,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) in 2020 to approximately 345,000 AFY in 2045. The projected demands are significantly lower than what was used in previous UWMPs and the Water Supply Master Plan 2040 (WSMP) based on a recently completed demand study for the county. County retailers have also reduced their projected demands and Valley Water’s demands are within 1- 5% of the demand estimates by retailers from 2025 to 2040, and within 10% for 2045.
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 the water supply mix, helping to keep water rates lower while improving water supply reliability. Valley Water is considering investing in projects to help mitigate potential future supply reductions from climate change and new regulations. Valley Water’s WSMP provides a strategy for meeting future water demands, and the Monitoring and Assessment Program (MAP) annually tracks WSMP implementation. This UWMP is based on WSMP recommended projects per Board direction and DWR’s imported water allocations dataset. With the phased implementation of planned future projects, 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 2045 under normal, a single dry, and five consecutive dry year conditions. If a prolonged drought were to occur in the next five years, Valley Water would employ a range of response actions to meet countywide demands, including water conservation, bringing back water stored in the Semitropic Groundwater Storage Bank, imported water transfers and exchanges, and calling for short-term water use reductions.
Water Shortage Contingency Plan
As part of the 2020 UWMP, Valley Water expanded its WSCP to a standalone document to establish actions and procedures for managing water supplies and demands during water shortages due to droughts and other emergencies. Valley Water uses projected countywide end-of-year groundwater storage as an indicator of potential water shortages and the trigger for WSCP actions. In the event of prolonged droughts or other emergency situations, Valley Water considers all available tools for managing available water supplies, including public education and community outreach, coordinating response among the County’s municipalities and retailers, augmenting supplies by investing in supplemental supply sources, calling for short-term water use reductions, and balancing demands for treatment plants and recharge facilities, to maximize the use of available supplies in order to meet potential shortage. The WSCP also summarizes other planning efforts related to natural disaster, drought revenue impacts, and Valley Water’s legal authority and communication protocol to respond to water shortages.
The WSCP was developed in accordance with 2020 Urban Water Management Plan guidebook. Valley Water continuously seeks to improve its water shortage planning efforts, which may be reflected in future refinements to this WSCP. Under extraordinary circumstances and/or rapidly changing water supply conditions, Valley Water may need to undertake water conservation measures that are stricter than those set forth in 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 75,000 AF of water savings in 2020 over a 1992 baseline. Valley Water has a target to increase these savings to 110,000 AFY by 2040.
Reduced Reliance on the Delta
The 2020 UWMP requires the suppliers receiving or planning to receive water from the Delta to demonstrate their reduced reliance on the Delta. Valley Water receives Delta water from the State Water Project (SWP), Central Valley Project (CVP), and water transfers and exchanges. Therefore, Valley Water 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; stormwater capture; seismic retrofits of local reservoirs; and regional collaborations. With these past efforts and planned expansion of water recycling and long-term water conservation savings recommended in the WSMP, water supply analysis estimates that Valley Water has reduced its reliance on imported water supplies from the Delta from the 2010 baseline, from 5.1% in 2015 to 13.8% in 2040, consistent with the Delta Plan, WR P1. The reduced Delta reliance was also appended to the 2015 UWMP, as required by DWR.
Coordination and Outreach
This UWMP was prepared in coordination with the 13 major water retailers in Santa Clara County. Throughout the plan development, Valley Water had numerous group and individual communications with retailers on issues related to demand and supply projections, reduced reliance on the Delta, reliability analyses, and the WSCP. Regular updates have been provided to various committee meetings. 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 by letter (December, 2020) at least 60 days prior to the public hearing of Valley Water’s efforts on updating its UWMP. Valley Water provided the retailers with the draft UWMP and WSCP for review. The draft plan was presented at the May Water Conservation and Demand Management Committee meeting. The Committee by a roll call vote unanimously approved Staff’s recommendation to take the 2020 Urban Water Management Plan to the June 8, 2021 Board meeting for public hearing and plan adoption.
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: Resolution, 2020 UWMP
Attachment 2: Resolution, WSCP
Attachment 3: Resolution, Addendum to 2015 UWMP
Attachment 4: Draft UWMP
Attachment 5: Draft WSCP
Attachment 6: PowerPoint
Attachment 7: BAWSCA Letter
Handout 2.2-A: Friends of the River
Handout 2.2-B: Sierra Club
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:Manager
Vincent Gin, 408-630-2633