Item 27 - Water Supply Assessment for Cabrillo Town Center Project

Home Browse Search

Cabrillo Town Center WATER SUPPLY ASSESSMENT FEBRUARY 13, 2023 20 In April 2015, the Brown Administration announced California WaterFix, as well as a separate ecosystem restoration effort called California EcoRestore (formerly known as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan). Together, the California WaterFix and California EcoRestore would make significant contributions toward achieving the coequal goals of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem. The WaterFix was aimed at making physical and operational improvements to the SWP system in the Della necessary to restore and protect ecosystem heath, south-of-Delta SWP water supplies, and water quality. In May 2019, the Newsom Administration revised their stance on the WaterFix in response to multiple legal challenges. The revised project would include the construction of one tunnel instead of the previously proposed two-tunnel system. At this time, the DWR and the US Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) have withdrawn their water rights petition (the WaterFix Petition) and the project has been postponed indefinitely. Recycled Water The city depends on OCWD for its recycled water supply for non-potable uses such as irrigation. OCWD provided 352 AF of recycled water to the City of Santa Ana in 2015 as part of the Green Acres Project (GAP). OCWD owns and operates the GAP, a water recycling system that provides up to 8,400 AFY of recycled water an alternate source of water that is mainly delivered to parks, golf courses, greenbelts, cemeteries, and nurseries in the cities of Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, in addition to Santa Ana. The City maintains an agreement with OCWD to supply GAP water to customers where available. It is anticipated that recycled water supplied to the City will maintain around 300 AFY through 2040. 3.2 CITY WATER DEMANDS The City’s Water Utility provides water service within a 27.5-square mile service area to a population of approximately 308,459 as of May 2022.9 The City is almost completely built-out and its population is projected to increase by 16 percent by 2045. Approximately 65.5 percent of the City's water demand is residential including single family and multi-family residential units. Commercial land uses, including dedicated landscape, accounts for the remaining 24.5 percent of the total demand. The 2020 UWMP10 highlighted that water demands for the fiscal year of 2019/20 were 33,240 AF. In April 2015 Governor Brown issued an Executive Order as result of one of the most severe droughts in California’s history requiring a collective reduction in statewide urban water use of 25% by February 2016, with each agency in the state given a specific reduction target by DWR. In response to the Governor’s mandate, the City began to track its water wasting prohibition enforcement activities. On June 2, 2015, the City declared a Phase 2 water supply shortage in 9 Center of Demographics Research (CDR) at California State University, Fullerton 10 2020 City of Santa Ana Urban Water Management Plan. Found here: https://www.santa- ana.org/documents/2020-urban-water-management-plan/