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Truckee Meadows Water Authority posts draft 2025 water resources plan; public comment period open
Summary
Truckee Meadows Water Authority (TMWA) presented its draft 2025 Water Resources Plan (WRP) covering through 2045, including demand projections, climate-model stress testing, aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) expansion scenarios and new recommended actions; TMWA is accepting public comments and will host outreach sessions in June.
Truckee Meadows Water Authority on May 7 briefed the Northern Nevada Water Planning Commission on its draft 2025 Water Resources Plan, which updates TMWA’s planning through 2045, restates the utility’s approach to conservation, examines climate-model stress tests, and analyzes how an expanded aquifer storage and recovery program could reduce future shortages.
Cara Steelen, presenting for TMWA, said the draft plan is out for public comment after an April board presentation and emphasized that the WRP is updated every five years. The plan includes a 20-year demand projection (to 2045), scenarios using climate-model ensembles and representative concentration pathways, and a long-range look at resource portfolios that include groundwater, reclaimed water and advanced purified water. The draft plan also includes a shorter, online-ready executive summary to aid public understanding.
TMWA’s demand modeling shows relatively stable system production despite steady population growth, reflecting per-capita demand declines. The utility’s 20-year projection indicates roughly 7,000 acre-feet of demand by 2045 for TMWA service territory. In stress tests using downscaled climate models and a range of emissions scenarios, TMWA reported that limited shortages appear in worst-case long-term projections but that expanding ASR capacity would mitigate those shortages in model runs.
The plan incorporated a paleohydrologic exercise drawing on multi-century reconstructions of Lake Tahoe elevations and river inflows; TMWA ran paleoclimate results through its operations model to examine historic variability over the last 500 years and to test planning assumptions.
TMWA added two new recommended actions based on board workshop feedback: (1) an explicit statement about TMWA’s role in regional influence and (2) recognition of wastewater utility consolidation as a regional issue meriting ongoing involvement. The draft plan also notes potential future resources (including advanced purified water and water banking) and preserves a menu of conservation and operational strategies.
Public outreach for the draft plan includes an online comment period (link: tmwa.com/wrp2025), a presentation at Smart About Water Day, two in-person public sessions in June at regional libraries and a webinar. TMWA expects to finalize and seek board approval of the plan in October 2025.
