TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THRU: Jarad Hildenbrand, City Manager
FROM: Christopher Cash, Public Works Director
1. Subject
title
Public Hearing to consider adoption of the City of Orange 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan and Introduction and First Reading of Ordinance No. 10-26 updating regulations to prohibit potable water from being used to irrigate non-functional turf areas
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2. Summary
The City’s Urban Water Management Plan was initially adopted in 1985 and must be updated every five years to satisfy the Urban Water Management Plan Act of 1983 and the California Water Code requirements (Sections 10610 - 10656). The comprehensive Urban Water Management Plan assesses the City’s current and future water consumption demands, availability and reliability of its water supplies, various water demand management measures to facilitate customer water use efficiency, water supply contingency plan, and future water supply programs. Additionally, the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan also includes the 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan designed to prepare for and respond to water shortages.
3. Recommended Action
recommendation
1. Conduct and close the Public Hearing.
2. Adopt Resolution No. 11692. A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Orange adopting the City of Orange 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan.
3. Introduce and conduct First Reading of Ordinance No. 10-26. An Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Orange prohibiting potable water from being used to irrigate areas of non-functional turf.
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4. Fiscal Impact
None.
5. Strategic Plan Goals
Goal 5: Improve Infrastructure, Mobility, and Technology
6. Discussion and Background
Resolution No. 11692
Water Code Sections 10610 through 10656 and the Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) Act require every urban water supplier providing drinking water to more than 3,000 customers or supplying more than 3,000 acre-feet (AF) of water annually to prepare, adopt, and file an UWMP with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) every five years.
UWMP is a comprehensive document that presents an evaluation of a water supplier’s long-term reliability. The 2025 UWMP provides an assessment of the present and future water supply sources and demands within the City’s service area. It presents an update of the City’s water resource needs, water-use efficiency programs, water reliability assessment, and strategies to mitigate water shortage conditions. It also presents an updated 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP) designed to prepare for, and respond to, water shortages. The 2025 UWMP contains all elements to meet compliance with the new requirements of the UWMP Act as amended since 2020.
The WSCP is a strategic planning document designed to prepare for and respond to water supply shortages. The WSCP has prescriptive elements, including:
• An analysis of water supply reliability
• The water shortage response actions for each of the six standard water shortage levels
• Potential solutions to close water supply gaps
• Protocols and procedures to communicate identified actions for any current or predicted water shortage conditions
• Procedures for an Annual Assessment
• Monitoring and reporting requirements to determine customer compliance; and
• Reevaluation and improvement procedures for evaluating the WSCP.
This level of detailed planning and preparation is intended to help maintain reliable supplies and reduce the impacts of supply interruptions. Although the WSCP is an appendix to the UWMP, DWR requires the WSCP to be treated as a stand-alone document.
Ordinance No. 10-26
California Assembly Bill 1572 (AB 1572), signed into law on October 13, 2023, prohibits the use of potable water to irrigate non-functional turf located on local government, commercial, industrial, institutional properties, and HOA common areas throughout the State of California. To meet the State’s requirements, it is necessary for the City to update its regulations to enforce the State-mandated prohibitions by adopting Ordinance No. 10-26 amending Section 7.02.030 and adding Section 7.02.160 to the Orange Municipal Code.
7. ATTACHMENTS
• Attachment 1 Resolution No. 11692
• Attachment 2 Ordinance No. 10-26
• Attachment 3 City of Orange 2025 UWMP
• Attachment 4 City of Orange 2025 WSCP