Item Coversheet
  COUNCIL COMMUNICATION
CC #: 1550
File #: 0800-02
Title:Draft Water Shortage Contingency Plan – Public Hearing for Consideration of Adoption
Contact:

  Trevor Joseph 916-746-1708 tjoseph@roseville.ca.us

 

Meeting Date: 6/16/2021

Item #: 10.4.

RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL

Staff recommends City Council hold a public hearing and consider the adoption of the Draft Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP). If found acceptable, City Council shall adopt a resolution approving the plan and authorize staff to include the WSCP as Chapter 8 in the 2020 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP).

As described above, the WSCP is ultimately included in Chapter 8 of the UWMP but must be presented and considered separately from the UWMP; however, it is staff’s recommendation that this agenda item should be considered with and presented concurrently with a public hearing to review and consider the adoption of a Draft 2020 UWMP. For this reason, the Draft 2020 UWMP has been placed as a separate agenda item as documented in a separate Council Communication (CC).

Staff recommend ordering these items as follows:

            

    1. Public Hearing – Draft 2020 UWMP (described within a separate CC)

    2. Public Hearing – Draft WSCP (described within a separate CC)

    3. Adoption Hearing – Draft WSCP (described within this CC)

    4. Adoption Hearing – Draft 2020 UWMP (described within a separate CC)

 

Specifically these public hearings allow for 1) community input regarding the urban retail water supplier’s implementation for complying with the requirements of the California Water Code (CWC), 2) consider of the economic impacts of the urban retail water supplier’s implementation plan for complying with the CWC, and 3) City provided information on their baseline values, water use targets and compliance, and implementation plan.

After the public hearing, the WSCP may be adopted as prepared or as modified after the hearing or hearings.


 
BACKGROUND

Beginning in 1985, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has required water purveyors delivering water to at least 3,000 customers to prepare an UWMP and update the plan at five-year intervals. The last plan was developed and approved for 2015 and included all City boundaries as they existed at that time.

With ongoing and recent updates to the DWR Guidebook for Urban Water Suppliers, it was determined that City staff would collaborate with a consultant, Waterworks Engineers, Inc., on the development of the 2020 document update. Effort began in December 2020 with collection of significant quantity of information, continuing through a staff review process, and resulting in the proposed plan.

Following the severe drought of 2012-2016, the State of California Legislature sought to expand the water shortage contingency analysis under former law and mandated that a WSCP be adopted by suppliers. The California Water Code recognizes WSCPs as a critical tool during a drought emergency and grants that the State defer to locally adopted WSCPs, to the extent practicable.

The WSCP is the City of Roseville Water Utility’s operational plan in the event of a water shortage. Water shortage would occur when available water supplies are insufficient to meet normal customer water demands. Various causes can bring about a water shortage including, population growth, climate change, drought, natural disasters, and catastrophic events.

The WSCP shall address the ten following elements:

 

  • Water supply reliability assessment analysis
  • Annual assessment procedures
  • Six standard shortage stages
  • Shortage response actions
  • Communication protocols
  • Compliance and enforcement
  • Legal authorities
  • Financial consequences of WSCP
  • Monitoring and reporting
  • WSCP refinement procedures


 
FISCAL IMPACT

Conservation programs are a condition of City water contracts, regional agreements, and a matter of State law with the passage of SB X7-7 in 2009. Planning continues to be done on an annual basis and is included in all rate analyses and proposed budgets.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW

The proposed activity is statutorily exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA does not apply to the preparation and adoption of Urban Water Management plans (California Water Code §10652). The proposed plan would not affect water supplies for fish and wildlife, or expand or add water supplies, and therefore no further environmental review is required.
 

CITY COUNCIL STRATEGIC PLAN/OVERARCHING GOALS

Goal F - Invest in well-planned infrastructure and growth


 
Respectfully Submitted,

Trevor Joseph, Hydrogeologist

Richard Plecker, Environmental Utilities Director 
 


_____________________________
Dominick Casey, City Manager


ATTACHMENTS:
Description
Resolution 21-281
Attachment A – Draft Water Shortage Contingency Plan