REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
SUBMITTED TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
SUBMITTED BY: Travis Hopkins, City Manager
VIA: Chau Vu, Director of Public Works
PREPARED BY: Chris Davis, Senior Management Analyst
Subject:
title
Public Hearing to adopt Resolution No. 2026-12, adopting the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP), which includes the 2020 Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP)
body
Statement of Issue:
The Urban Water Management Planning Act of 1983 requires that all water suppliers who provide over 3,000 acre-feet of water annually or serve over 3,000 connections adopt an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP.)
Financial Impact:
No Financial Impact
Recommended Action:
recommendation
A) Conduct Public Hearing and receive comments on draft 2025 Urban Water Management Plan; and,
B) Adopt Resolution No. 2026-12, “A Resolution of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach Adopting the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan” and Updating the Water Shortage Contingency Plan.
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Alternative Action(s):
Do not adopt Resolution No. 2026-12 and direct staff accordingly.
Analysis:
Every urban water supplier that either provides over 3,000 acre-feet of water annually, or serves more than 3,000 urban connections is required to submit an UWMP.
Within UWMPs, urban water suppliers must include the following:
• An assessment of the reliability of water sources over a 20-year planning time frame
• A description of demand management measures
• A water shortage contingency plan
• A discussion of the use and planned use of recycled water
The UWMP is a comprehensive document that presents an evaluation of a water supplier’s reliability over a long-term horizon, typically 25-30 years. The City supplies water to approximately 200,000 residents over 54,000 metered connections and around 25,000 acre-feet of water annually. The City last updated the UWMP on June 1, 2021. The City must adopt and submit an updated UWMP to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) by July 1, 2026.
For this 2025 UWMP cycle, DWR continues to place emphasis on achieving improvements for long term reliability and resilience to drought and climate change in California. Despite there being no new statutory requirements, urban water suppliers must now report progress on meeting their 2028 Water Loss Standards and state their compliance with Senate Bill (SB) X7-7 2020 Targets. Additional guidance on stored water accounting and recommendations on identifying the need for future or proposed water supply projects are provided by DWR as well.
The City meets all of its demands with a combination of imported water and local groundwater to meet its water needs. The City works together with the Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) and Orange County Water District (OCWD) to ensure a safe and reliable water supply that will continue to serve the community in periods of average, dry and drought hydrologic conditions. MWDOC is the Orange County wholesaler of imported water and one of the Metropolitan Water District (MET) 26 member agencies. MET’s imported water is delivered from the State Water Project (SWP) and MET’s Colorado River Authority (CRA) to Southern California. The City purchases imported water through MWDOC to supplement its local supplies.
Local supplies developed by other entities and retail agencies include groundwater, recycled water, and surface water. Local sources presently account for 87 percent of the City’s water supplies, whereby groundwater is the major source of local supply. The primary source of groundwater originates from the Orange County Basin (OC Basin), which is located in the middle portion of MWDOC’s service area and is managed by the OCWD. The Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) is a joint project between OCWD and the Orange County Sanitation District (OC San). Using advanced treatment purification, recycled wastewater is transformed into a high-quality water supply for groundwater replenishment.
The City’s main source of water supply is groundwater from the OC Basin. Imported water makes up the rest of the City’s water supply portfolio. In FY 2024-25, the City relied on approximately 87 percent groundwater and 13 percent imported water.
In 2025, MWDOC developed a water demand forecast model for its participating water agencies that statistically correlates municipal and industrial (M&I) water use with demographic, socioeconomic, conservation and weather variables-as reported in the 2025 Orange County Water Demand Projection Model TM (MWDOC, 2025). Since the model isolates weather, future water demand projects can be estimated under single and multiple-year droughts and under future climate change scenarios.
Water Shortage Contingency Plan
The Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP) is a strategic planning document designed to prepare for and respond to water shortages. This WSCP complies with California Water Code (Water Code) Section 10632, which requires that every Urban Water Supplier (Supplier) shall prepare and adopt a WSCP as part of its Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP). This level of detailed planning and preparation is intended to help maintain reliable supplies and reduce the impacts of supply interruptions.
The WSCP provides the steps and water shortage response actions to be taken in times of water shortage conditions. WSCP has prescriptive elements, such as an analysis of water supply reliability; the water shortage response actions for each of the six standard water shortage levels that correspond to water shortage percentages ranging from 10 percent (%) to greater than 50%; an estimate of potential to close supply gap for each measure; 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.
UWMP Adoption
The Water Code requires the Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) to be adopted by the City of Huntington Beach’s (City) governing body. Before the adoption, the City must hold a public hearing allowing members of the public to provide input on the UWMP. Prior to the public hearing, the City must notify the public and surrounding cities, counties and water agencies within its service area of the scheduled public hearing. Upon completion of the public hearing, the City’s governing body shall vote to adopt the UWMP. Post adoption, the City submits the UWMP to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) while also making it available for public access.
Environmental Status:
Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5), administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment do not constitute a project.
Strategic Plan Goal:
Non Applicable - Administrative Item
For details, visit www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/strategicplan.
Attachment(s):
1. Resolution No. 2026-12
2. 2025 Urban Water Management Plan
3. 2025 Water Shortage Contingency Plan
4. Public Hearing Notice
5. PowerPoint Presentation