City Council Memorandum
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DATE: May 5, 2026
FROM: PUBLIC UTILITIES DEPARTMENT WARDS: ALL
SUBJECT: 2026-2027 Annual water Supply and Demand Assessment ISSUE:
Receive and adopt Riverside’s 2026-2027 Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment.
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council receive and adopt Riverside’s 2026-2027 Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment.
BOARD RECOMMENDATION:
On April 13, 2026, the Board of Public Utilities with all members present unanimously voted to recommend that the City Council approve and adopt the Riverside 2026–2027 Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment.
BACKGROUND:
California Water Code Section 10632.1 requires urban water suppliers to 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 each year, beginning in 2022. Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) submitted its Fourth report in June 2025, following Board of Public Utilities approval on May 12, 2025, and City Council adoption on June 10, 2025.
The purpose of the Annual Assessment is to:
Evaluate water supply reliability for the current year and for one dry year; and Prepare and submit an AWSDA to DWR that identifies anticipated shortages by July 1 of each year, beginning on July 1, 2022.
The AWSDA and associated Annual Shortage Report were prepared by staff in accordance with the procedures outlined in RPU’s adopted 2020 Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP) and the recommendations provided in the DWR AWSDA Guidance document, initially released in April 2022, with subsequent guidance addendum issued on May 10, 2023, and updates released on April 23, 2024.
DISCUSSION:
Table 1, shown below, 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 2026 – June of 2027 Table 3
Key Data - Supplies, containing estimated available supplies from July of 2026 – June of 2027 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 2026-2027. 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 its extraction rights, Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) has access to a maximum of 21,700 acre-feet per year (AFY) of imported water via an agreement with Western Municipal Water District (WMWD), and up to 800 AFY of recycled water for non-potable use provided by the City of Riverside's Regional Water Quality Control Plant. RPU's production generally remains below its extraction rights, and projections indicate that, as of 2026, it will be able to meet all water supply demands using local groundwater. RPU also has access to additional water available for pumping under the City’s various storage accounts including 2,459 AF in Riverside’s Holding Account, 8,509 AF under Basin Mitigation Account (accumulated account), and 10,293 AF under the New Conservation Storage Account for the period between 1998 to 2012.
Riverside’s Water Demand for 2026-2027
The total potable and non-potable monthly water demand projections for RPU from July 2026 to June 2027 are estimated by adding next year’s projected water demand for all customer categories. The estimated Potable demands are based on the last five years’ monthly average gallon per capita per day (GPCD), projected population changes, weather, and growth.
Projected Water Supply vs. Water Demand)
Following the DWR AWSDA guidebook methodology, supply projections indicate RPU can meet next year's demand without planned reductions. This is visually represented in the graph below, demonstrating RPU's ability to meet demands without demand reduction measures or imported water purchases. These demand figures are projected to decrease in future years as the newly adopted Urban Water Use Objective, within California's 'Making Conservation a California Way of Life' framework, will progressively tighten water conservation requirements through 2040. This will enable the City to accommodate growth during normal years and reduce the necessity for implementing emergency water use reductions during drought periods. .
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this informational report.
Prepared by: Robin Glenney, Utilities Assistant General Manager/Water Approved by: David A. Garcia, Utilities General Manager Certified as to
availability of funds: Julie Nemes, Interim Finance Director Approved by: Gilbert Hernandez, Interim Assistant City Manager Approved as to form: Rebecca McKee-Reimbold, Interim City Attorney Attachments:
2026-RPU Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment (Methodology and Tables) AWSAD- Reporting tables
Presentation
Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment ● Page 3