City of Santa Cruz

2020 Urban Water Management Plan, Including Water Shortage Contingency Plan

Final Adopted 2020 Urban Water Management Plan (including Water Shortage Contingency Plan) without appendices

Final 2020 Urban Water Management Plan appendices:

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Appendix E

Appendix F

Appendix G

Appendix H

Appendix I

Appendix J

Appendix K

Appendix L

Appendix M

Appendix N

Appendix O

Appendix P

Appendix Q

Appendix R

Appendix S

Appendix T

Background:

The City of Santa Cruz Water Department has prepared and adopted its 2020 Urban Water Management Plan, including Water Shortage Contingency Plan, in response to the Urban Water Management Planning Act. The Act, which became part of the California Water Code with the passage of Assembly Bill 797 in 1983, requires that every urban water supplier providing water for municipal purposes to more than 3,000 customers or supplying more than 3,000 acre-feet of water annually prepare and adopt an Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency Plan, and to update the plans every five years.

The Act requires water agencies to evaluate and describe their water resource supplies and projected needs over a twenty-year planning horizon and to address a number of related subjects including water conservation, water service reliability, water recycling, opportunities for water transfers, and contingency plans for drought events.

The Act recognizes that water is a limited and renewable resource subject to ever-increasing demands and that conservation and efficient use of urban water supplies is a statewide concern. The Act also states that a long-term reliable supply of water is essential to protect the productivity of California’s businesses and economic climate and, as part of its long-range planning activities, every urban water supplier should make every effort to ensure the appropriate level of reliability in its water service sufficient to meet the needs of its various categories of customers during normal, dry, and multiple dry years.

The Water Shortage Contingency Plan is a detailed proposal for how the City intends to act in the case of an actual water shortage condition. The Water Shortage Contingency Plan anticipates a water supply shortage and provides pre-planned guidance for managing and mitigating a Supplier’s shortage. The Water Shortage Contingency Plan is a document that can stands alone. It is adopted separately from the UWMP and amended, as needed, without amending the corresponding UWMP. The City of Santa Cruz Water Shortage Contingency Plan is comprised of Chapter 8, Water Shortage Contingency Planning, and Appendix O, Water Shortage Analysis and Implementation, of the 2020 Urban Water Management Plan.