City Council Memorandum
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: JUNE 6, 2023 FROM: PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT WARDS: ALL
SUBJECT: 2023-2024 Annual water Supply and Demand Assessment ISSUE:
Receive and adopt Riverside’s 2023-2024 Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council receive and adopt Riverside’s 2023-2024 Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment.
BOARD RECOMMENDATION:
On May 22, 2023, the Board of Public Utilities, with all members present, voted 8 “yes” and 1 “no” to approve the Riverside 2023-2024 Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment and recommend that the City Council adopt the Riverside 2023-2024 Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment.
BACKGROUND:
California Water Code Section 10632.1 requires that urban water suppliers prepare an Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment (AWSDA) and submit an Annual Shortage Report to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) by July 1 of every year starting in 2022 and every year after. Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) submitted its first report in June 2022 after the Board of Public Utilities approval on May 23, 2022, and the City Council adoption on June 14, 2022.
The purpose of the Annual Assessment is to:
Evaluate the water supply reliability for the current year and one dry year; and Generate and submit an AWSDA detailing anticipated shortages to DWR by July 1 every year starting July 1, 2022.
The AWSDA and associated Annual Shortage Report was prepared by staff according to the procedures detailed in the RPU adopted Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP) and the recommendations provided by the DWR AWSDA Guidance document, which was published in its final form on April 19, 2022.
DISCUSSION:
The following table (Table 1) summarizes the topics that DWR requires as part of the AWSDA:
Table 1. Elements of the AWSDA Required Submittal
Report Topic
Table 1
Annual Assessment Information
Table 2
Key Data - Demands, containing estimated unconstrained demand from July of 2023 – June of 2024 Table 3
Key Data - Supplies, containing estimated available supplies from July of 2023 – June of 2024 Table 4
Annual Water Shortage Assessment, showing a summary of monthly supply/demand balances, shortages, and results of planned actions Table 5
Planned Water Shortage Response Actions, containing information on planned water shortage response actions (if any) RPU Methodology
Optional attachments to include details on implementing the procedures that took place this year. Information may consist of descriptions of the steps followed, data sources considered, methodologies used, and the decision-making process Riverside’s Available Water Supply Projection for 2023-2024. RPU’s AWSDA reflects the available water supply from groundwater extraction rights in the San Bernardino Basin Area (SBBA), Riverside Basins, and the Rialto-Colton Basin, as shown in Table 2 below.
Table 2. Riverside’s Annual Extraction Rights (in acre-feet) Groundwater Basin
RPU Annual Extraction (AF)
SBBA
55,263
Rialto-Colton
2,728
Riverside North
10,902
Riverside South
16,880
Total
85,773
In addition to the extraction rights shown above, RPU also has access to 21,700 acre-feet per year (AFY) of imported water by agreement with Western Municipal Water District (WMWD) and recycled water for non-potable uses supplied from the City of Riverside's Regional Water Quality Control Plant that satisfies the need of up to 800 AFY. RPU generally produces below its extraction rights and, as of 2023, can meet all water supply demands with local groundwater.
Riverside’s Potable Water Demand for Fiscal Year 2023-2024 The total potable and non-potable monthly water demand projections for RPU from July 2023 to June 2024 are estimated by adding next year’s projected water demand for all customer categories. The estimated demands, represented as the gray line on the graph below, are based on the last four years’ monthly average gallon per capita per day (GPCD), projected population changes, weather and growth.
Projected Water Supply vs. Water Demand)
Based on the calculation method provided in the DWR AWSDA guidebook, supply projections will meet the demand for next year without any planned reductions. However, due to the Governor’s Executive Order N-7-22 Drought Emergency Declaration, DWR requires water agencies to submit an AWSDA and include certain water restrictions, which for RPU corresponds to a Stage 2 WSCP 15% demand reduction represented as the yellow line on the graph below. The graph below shows that RPU's supply projection can meet its demands without demand reduction measures or purchasing imported water.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT:
The AWSDA aligns with the Strategic Priority 4 - Environmental Stewardship and Goal 4.2 - Sustainably manage local water resources to maximize reliability and advance water reuse to ensure safe, reliable, and affordable water to our community.
This item aligns with each of the five Cross-Cutting Threads as follows:
Community Trust – The AWSD assessment identifies the following year’s supply and demand for RPU customers to ensure their water needs are met, thereby enhancing community trust.
Equity – All customers within RPU’s service area will benefit from the assessment of having reliable drinking water to meet demand.
Fiscal Responsibility – The AWSDA will help keep the cost of water affordable to customers by ensuring RPU’s anticipated supplies will meet demand in the near term without purchasing imported water.
Innovation – Riverside is proactively preparing the AWSDA to evaluate water system reliability for the coming year and determine if any current water shortage response actions are needed.
Sustainability & Resiliency – Riverside is committed to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future and ensuring the City’s capacity to persevere, adapt and grow during good and challenging times.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this informational report.
Prepared by: Todd M. Corbin, Utilities General Manager Certified as to
availability of funds: Edward Enriquez, Interim Assistant City Manager/Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer
Approved by: Rafael Guzman, Assistant City Manager
Approved as to form: Phaedra A. Norton, City Attorney
Attachments:
RPU Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment Methodology RPU Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment Tables
Presentation
Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment ● Page 3