PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE 2025 URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a resolution to:
Adopt a resolution to approve and adopt the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan with any amendments adopted at the hearing and authorize transmittal to the California Department of Water Resources:
Adopt the Water Shortage Contingency Plan as a separate resolution; and It is also recommended that the City Manager be authorized to take appropriate and necessary actions to carry out the purpose and intent of this resolution. ..body
Summary
Urban water suppliers are required by the Urban Water Management Plan Act to update and submit Urban Water Management Plans (UWMPs) to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) every five years. UWMPs are prepared by California’s urban water suppliers to support their long-term water resources planning and ensure adequate water supplies are available to meet existing and future water demands. The UWMP is required to assess the reliability of its water sources over a 20-year planning horizon. The UWMP is required for a water supplier to be eligible for State water management grants and loans. The plan does not commit the City to additional expenditures, it serves to affirm and track water efficiency and conservation measures, which the City has already instituted.
The 2025 UWMP discusses and documents the latest water supply planning and water conservation information over the past five years and provides projections into future years. The 2025 UWMP considers projected water supplies and demand projections in normal, single dry and multiple dry years. This allows the City to reliably meet its customers’ water needs now and in the future.
Furthermore, Water Shortage Contingency Plans (WSCP) are updated during the development of Urban Water Management Plans. The City’s WSCP describes the City’s strategic plan in preparation for and responses to water shortages with a goal to proactively prevent catastrophic service disruptions. It includes water shortage levels (also called “stages”) and associated shortage response actions that will be implemented in the event of a water supply shortage.
If approved, the City Council’s action will adopt the 2025 UWMP (Exhibit 1 to the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan Resolution) and the WCSP (Exhibit 1 to the Water Shortage Contingency Plan Resolution).
A draft copy of the report, including appendices, was made available in the City Clerk’s office on April 12, 2026. The Draft report has also been available on the City’s website since April 12, 2026.
DISCUSSION
Background
The Urban Water Management Planning Act (Water Code Div. 6, Pt. 2.6, et seq.) requires urban water suppliers providing over 3,000 acre-feet of water annually or serving more than 3,000 or more connections, to prepare and submit an UWMP to the DWR every five years. The Act was adopted in 1983 to promote water conservation and efficient water use and has been amended several times since then. Urban Water Management Plans are intended to provide a guide to manage urban water demands and the efficient use of water and to provide long-term water resource planning to ensure adequate and reliable water supplies over a 20-year planning horizon considering normal, dry and multiple dry years. Urban water suppliers are required to hold a public hearing (Water Code §10642) to provide the public an opportunity to provide input to the UWMP before it is adopted.
In 2018, the California State Legislature (Legislature) enacted two policy bills, ((Senate Bill (SB) 606 (Hertzberg) and Assembly Bill (AB) 1668 (Friedman)) to establish a new foundation for drought planning to adapt to climate change and the resulting longer and more intense droughts in California. The 2018 Water Conservation Legislation set new requirements for water shortage contingency planning.
On September 8, 2025, the City of Stockton entered into an agreement for Professional Services with Verdantas to prepare the City of Stockton’s 2025 UWMP.
Present Situation
With the assistance of Verdantas, the City completed preparation of its 2025 UWMP in accordance with the requirements of the California Water Code and Urban Water Management Planning Act. The 2025 UWMP addresses current regulatory requirements and reflects changes in the City’s water supply and water reliability that occurred since 2020. Additional recent changes to the Urban Water Management Planning Act require that water suppliers incorporate a description of all water supply projects and programs, including groundwater projects and water quality impacts on water supply reliability.
As required by the Urban Water Management Planning Act, the 2025 UWMP is organized as follows:
Introduction and Plan Preparation
System Description and Service Area
Customer Water Use and Target Compliance
System Supplies
Water System Reliability and Shortage Contingency Planning Demand Management Measures
Plan Adoption, Submittal and Implementation
Water Shortage Contingency Plan (Appendix I)
Additionally, the 2025 UWMP discusses and documents the latest water supply planning and water conservation information over the past five years and provides projections for future years. It is a valuable long-range planning document for water supply and is the foundation document for Water Supply Assessments (Senate Bill 610), Written Verifications of Water Supply (Senate Bill 221), and one of many building blocks for an Integrated Regional Water Management Plan in San Joaquin County.
The long-range water supply outlook for a normal year to the year 2050 for the City is described in the following table.
Normal Year Supply and Demand Comparison (acre-feet/year) Water Supply
2030
2035
2040
2045
2050
San Joaquin River
24,800
25,000
25,000
25,000
25,000
Groundwater
15,400
15,400
15,400
15,400
15,400
Woodbridge Irrigation District
6,500
9,500
9,500
9,500
9,500
Stockton East Water District
20,000
20,000
20,000
20,000
20,000
Supply Total
66,700
69,900
69,900
69,900
69,900
Demand Total
29,768
30,233
30,704
31,183
31,670
Supply Minus Demand
36,932
39,667
39,196
38,717
38,230
The table demonstrates that for normal water supply years through 2050, the water supply available to the City significantly exceeds the demand.
The majority of the City’s water supply comes from the Delta Water Treatment Plant (San Joaquin River) for a normal year. The 2025 analyzes single dry and multiple dry year water supplies and demands for the City.
Fourth Consecutive Dry Year Supply and Demand Comparison (acre-feet/year) Water Supply
2030
2035
2040
2045
2050
San Joaquin River
19,500
19,500
19,500
19,500
19,500
Groundwater
15,400
15,400
15,400
15,400
15,400
Woodbridge Irrigation District
4,500
4,500
4,500
4,500
4,500
Stockton East Water District
6,600
6,600
6,600
6,600
6,600
Supply Total
46,000
46,000
46,000
46,000
46,000
Demand Total
29,768
30,233
30,704
31,183
31,670
Supply Minus Demand
16,232
15,767
15,296
14,817
14,330
In the event of a fourth consecutive dry year condition, the water supplies available to the City exceed the water demands for the population projections from 2030 to 2050. Once more the Delta Water Treatment Plant supplies the majority of the water supply for this particular event and can be supplemented with groundwater.
The City’s WSCP has been updated to be consistent with the 2018 Water Conservation Legislation requirements. The 2018 Water Conservation mandates that water suppliers plan for six standard water shortage levels that correspond to progressive ranges of up to 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 percent, and greater than 50 percent shortage levels from the normal reliability condition. The table below indicates the six levels:
Shortage Level (Stages)
Target Conservation (Water Savings)
Shortage Response Actions
1 Up to 10%
Voluntary Conservation
2 Up to 20%
Mandatory Conservation
3 Up to 30%
Water Shortage Emergency
4 Up to 40%
Water Shortage Emergency
5 Up to 50%
Water Shortage Emergency
6 50%+
Water Shortage Emergency
In accordance with Water Code §10621(b):
A 60-day notice of the preparation of the 2025 Plan was provided to all applicable agencies on March 13, 2026.
A 60-day notice of the preparation of the WSCP was provided to all applicable agencies on March 13, 2026.
The 2025 Plan and the WSCP was made available for public inspection prior to consideration for adoption.
A notice of the time and place of the public hearing was provided in the Stockton Record on May XX, 2026.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
This action has no impact on the General Fund or any other unrestricted funds.
Attachment A