Urban Water Management Plan

What is an Urban Water Management Plan?

In 1983, California Legislature enacted the Urban Water Management Planning Act (Division 6 Part 2.6 of the Water Code §§10610 - 10656). The Act requires every urban water supplier that provides water to 3,000 or more customers, or provides more than 3,000 acre-fee of water annually, complete long-term water planning and ensure reliability to meet the needs of its customers during normal, dry, and multiple dry years. Plan updates are required every 5 years.

In 2009, the State legislature enacted SBx7-7 which requires all water suppliers to increase their water use efficiency. This law, sometimes called 20 by 2020, requires urban water use per capita (per person) be reduced 20% by 2020. To ensure this required target is met, urban water suppliers must establish and include in their UWMPs baseline water use (per person per day), as well as 2015 and 2020 targets, to ensure the goal is met. 

The plan is an evaluation of whether a water supplier can meet the water demands of its water customers projected over a 20-year span. The evaluation investigates the current/projected water supply and demand for normal and average conditions. Below is a list of sections and appendices the plan evaluates:

• Plan development and public participation
• Service area descriptions, including population projections and climate
• Water supply sources, water system description, and water rights
• Reliability of water supply, including the factors that might contribute to inconsistency of supply, as well as transfer and exchange opportunities
• Water demands, describing water diversion for the last five years, as well as projected water demands through year 2025
• Comparisons of water supply and demands for a normal, single dry, and multiple dry years
• City water demand management measures (DMMs), describing water conservation programs implemented and cost analyses for other possible program
• A Water Shortage Emergency Plan including estimates of minimum supply and preparation actions for a catastrophe
• Planned water supply projects, including the Gauntlett/Fitch Water Treatment Facility to restore temporarily impaired Russian River supplies and potential use of recycled water

For more information, please visit the State's Urban Water Management webpage.