Lake County Board renames drought group, creates ad hoc committee and shifts lead to Community Development to meet SB 552

The Lake County Board of Supervisors voted to reorganize its drought work group into the Lake County Drought and Water Shortage Task Force, establish an ad hoc advisory committee to draft a drought resiliency plan, and transfer lead agency responsibility from the Watershed Protection/Water Resources program to the Community Development Department to support compliance with Senate Bill 552.

Board members and county staff said the changes are intended to align the drought resiliency planning effort with ongoing long-range planning efforts such as Lake County 2050 and to use technical assistance from contractor Stantec to prepare a draft plan for public review and state certification. "We are comfortable with assuming the lead in this, and even more comfortable knowing that water resources won't desert me," said Maria Turner, Community Development Director.

Why it matters: Senate Bill 552, adopted in 2021, requires drought resilience planning for certain small water suppliers and domestic well communities. County staff said the reorganization and the ad hoc committee will structure the stakeholder process…