Item 28 - Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency Plan

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Santa Ana 2020 Urban Water Management Plan arcadis.com 3-1 3 SYSTEM DESCRIPTION Governed by a non-partisan seven-member City Council, the City is one of the oldest cities in Orange County, incorporated in 1886 and became an original member agency of the MET on February 27, 1931. The City’s water service area covers 27.5 square miles and includes the City of Santa Ana and a small neighborhood in the City of Orange, near Tustin Avenue and Fairhaven by the northeast corner of Santa Ana. The City operates ten reservoirs with a storage capacity of 49 million gallons (MG), seven pumping stations, 21 groundwater wells, four pressure regulating stations and seven import water connections and manages 510.1-mile water mains system with 45,037 service connections. Lying in the South Coast Air Basin (SCAB), its climate is characterized by Southern California’s “Mediterranean” climate with mild winters, warm summers and moderate rainfall. In terms of land use, the City is a predominantly single and multi-family residential community. Moving forward, the City will continue planning for its Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation and future planned developments beyond 2020 will primarily be multiuse projects, in the ‘focus areas’ listed in the General Plan of the City. The current population of 335,086 is projected to increase by only 2.9% over the next 25 years. Agency Overview This section provides information on the formation and history of the City, its organizational structure, roles, objectives and relationship to MET. 3.1.1 Formation and Purpose The City is one of the oldest cities in Orange County incorporated in 1886. The City was, for many years, a ranching community with some farming. To serve this growing agricultural and domestic community, a municipal water system was formed in 1886. The original source of water supply for the City was from shallow irrigation wells. As the City continued to grow and change from agriculture to an urban community, the need for additional sources of water was recognized if economic development were to continue. To tap into water sources from outside the area, the City joined with 12 other Southern California cities to form and be an original member agency of the MET on February 27, 1931. MET, as a regional wholesaler, supplies imported water to Southern California from the Colorado River and from the State Water Project from Northern California. MET’s primary purpose is to develop, store and distribute water at wholesale rates to its member public agencies for domestic and municipal uses. The City’s location is shown on Figure 3-1. In 1933, the OCWD was formed by a special act of the State Legislature to manage Orange County’s groundwater supply and protection of the County’s rights to water in the Santa Ana River. In 1953, the City became a member of OCWD.