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Sierra Madre council accepts 2025 water-management plan, seeks minor clarifications on climate model and recharge
Summary
The council reviewed the city’s 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and drought contingency chapter, which finds the city’s current water supplies can meet demands through 2050. Council asked staff and the consultant to clarify certain climate‑model language and consider additional local infiltration strategies for the Raymond Basin.
Sierra Madre — The City Council on Tuesday reviewed the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) and its companion Water Shortage Contingency Plan, concluding the city’s current supplies and demand-management tools are sufficient to meet normal, single-dry and five-consecutive-year drought scenarios through 2050.
Consultant Jeff Heasley of Stetson Engineers told the council the statutory review shows the city “can meet those demands,” and outlined the plan’s reliance on local groundwater (the Raymond Basin and main San Gabriel Basin) and treated imported replenishment water purchased through the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District.
The council’s questions focused on how climate inputs were described in the plan and whether the text accurately reflected the Cal‑Adapt/RCP scenario modeling used for projections. Heasley said the team used the State Department of Water Resources’ Cal‑Adapt outputs for the local watershed and that the model projects higher temperatures and reduced Sierra‑Nevada snowpack locally, while noting an expectation of more rainfall and less snow in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Why this matters: The UWMP is a five‑year statutory update that the city must submit to the Department of Water Resources to remain eligible for certain state grants and loans. It also provides the operational framework the city will use in short-term water-supply assessments and during declared statewide shortages.
Council members pressed staff on two operational items: whether the city’s reductions in system leakage had been credited in the per‑capita usage statistics, and whether the plan should more explicitly document active infiltration strategies to raise the Raymond Basin’s elevation above the 500‑foot threshold that reduces the city’s pumping allocation. One council member said maintaining the basin above that level can save roughly $600,000 a year in water purchases, and asked staff to make those recharge opportunities clearer in the plan.
The presentation also covered compliance with Senate Bill targets and the city’s 2020 per‑capita usage, which the plan reports met or exceeded the state target. Heasley and staff recommended a handful of small textual clarifications for accuracy in the climate and drought sections; council members directed staff to incorporate those edits and move the plan forward.
Next steps: Council approved the plan with direction to staff for the clarifications; the plan will be submitted to the Department of Water Resources per statutory timelines.
