Item 21 - Water Supply Assessment for the Warner - Red Hill Mixed Use Development Project

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T HE W ARNER P ROJECT W ATER S UPPLY A SSESSMENT A UGUST 21, 2020 F USCOE E NGINEERING , I NC. 18 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 as 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-square mile service area to a population of approximately 335,299 as of 2015.9 . The City is almost completely built-out and its population is projected to increase only 0.9% by 2040. Approximately 67% 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 33% of the total demand. The 2015 UWMP10 highlighted that water demands throughout the City were 36,656 AF from July 2014 to June 2015. The 2010 UWMP anticipated water demands in 2015 to be much larger at 47,800 AF. As mentioned, the difference is likely because of the mandatory water restrictions from the Governor’s Executive Order and the fact that UWMPs are typically developed in a conservative manner and tend to overestimate future water demands. In April 2015 Governor Brown issued an Executive Order as a 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 Resolution No. 2015-025 by formally requiring all water consumers to reduce use by 12% relative to their 2013 consumption. Additionally, on August 4, 2015, a water wasting penalty rate was established by Resolution No. 2015-047. This new penalty rate permits City staff to penalize those users not meeting their water use reduction targets of 12%. The City of Santa Ana as a whole met its State mandated target; and as a result the City did not have to impose any monetary penalties on any of its users. As of April 7, 2017, Governor Brown ended the drought State of Emergency in most of California, while maintaining water reporting requirements and prohibitions on wasteful practices such as watering during or right after rainfall.11 The City continues to promote water use efficiency and currently has a goal to continue to reduce water demands by 3% compared 9 Center of Demographics Research (CDR) at California State University, Fullerton 10 2015 City of Santa Ana Urban Water Management Plan. Found here: https://www.santa- ana.org/sites/default/files/Documents/urban_water_management_plan.pdf 11 SWRCB Water Conservation Portal – Emergency Conservation Regulation, accessed on 10/01/2019. Found here: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/conservation_portal/emergency_regulation.shtml