19E - LETTER WATER SUPPLY RELIABILITY RPT

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• R-2, Each Orange County retail and wholesale water agency should affirm its responsibility to develop new, additional, innovative public outreach programs, beyond water conservation and rationing programs, to expose the larger issues surrounding water supply constraints facing Orange County. The objective should be to connect the public with the problem. The outreach effort should entail a water emergency exercise that simulates a complete, sudden break in imported water deliveries. The exercise should be aimed directly at the public and enlist widespread public participation on a recurring basis beginning by June 30, 2010. This recommendation may be satisfied by amulti-agency exercise but the inability to coordinate such an event should not preclude the individual agency's responsibility. This recommendation has already been implemented. "A complete sudden break in the imported supplies" was a component of the statewide Golden Guardian exercise in 2008 in which 20 of Orange County's water and wastewater utilities participated. The City of Santa Ana participated in the Golden Guardian exercise. This type of exercise, or variations of it, are repeated periodically. It should be noted here that, in the event of a sudden break in imported water deliveries, the City of Santa Ana has the capacity to supply 100% of the City's demands from local groundwater supplies for an extended period of time. • R-4, Each Orange County retail and wholesale water agency should affirm its commitment to a fair-share financial responsibility in completing the emergency water supply network for the entire County. The entire County should be prepared together for any conditions of drought, natural or human-caused disaster, or any other catastrophic disruption. WEROC should commence meetings of all parties, to facilitate consensus on an equitable funding/financing agreement. This recommendation is already being implemented through MWDOC. The Water Emergency Response Organization of Orange County (WEROC) has been established to conduct emergency planning and preparedness at the regional level and response to disaster-type events that impact the water and wastewater agencies within the County. WEROC participates with Regional and statewide forums as well. The City of Santa Ana participates in WEROC. The City of Santa Ana also has an emergency plan and conducts activities to be in a state of emergency preparedness. The financial level of commitment and specific limits of emergency conditions would need to be further defined prior to the City of Santa Ana's involvement in the development of any funding/financing agreement. The timeframe for committing the City's financial participation in this effort will depend on the process coordinated by WEROC. 19E-7