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Council conducts public hearing and advances 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and water shortage contingency plan
Summary
City staff presented the five‑year Urban Water Management Plan update and water shortage contingency plan, reporting Sacramento is about 29% below the 2020 conservation target, outlining groundwater banking and redundancy between two treatment plants, and advising adoption; council closed the hearing and moved the item forward for adoption.
City of Sacramento utilities staff presented the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and associated Water Shortage Contingency Plan at Monday’s council meeting, outlining the city’s supply portfolio, conservation progress and contingency measures for drought and catastrophic treatment failures.
The Department of Utilities supervising water supply engineer (unnamed in the transcript) said the plan is a required five‑year update under state law, projects demand to 2050, and integrates with groundwater sustainability planning. Staff reported the community remains responsive to conservation: the city is about 29% below the 2020 reduction targets and maintains a legal portfolio that exceeds current annual use by roughly three times.
Councilmembers asked whether the plan accounts for growth outside city boundaries and how large housing projects (for example a theoretical 10,000‑unit increase) would be covered. Staff replied the plan considers wholesale place‑of‑use constraints and that major new developments would still require project‑level water supply assessments. On emergency readiness, staff described redundancy between two treatment plants and groundwater resources, noting River Ark and Water Plus projects aim to increase storage, treatment options and operational flexibility to respond to drought or catastrophic outages.
On data centers and other large users, staff said any materially sized project must complete its own Water Supply Assessment and that the utilities department does not pick winners; impact fees and policy direction from council govern the service decisions.
There were no public speakers on the item. Council closed the public hearing, moved the item, and directed staff to proceed with the plan adoption and submittal steps to the state as required.
