Risk Management Professionals Urban Water Management Plans

Urban Water Management Plans

Pursuant to the Urban Water Management Planning Act (Water Code Sections 10610 – 10656), water agencies that provide water to over 3,000 customers (or 3,000 acre-feet of water annually) are required to develop an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) in the state of California. An UWMP includes water supply and demand projections over the next twenty years, as well as an assessment of the water supply reliability during normal, dry, and multiple-dry years. In addition, the UWMP emphasizes water conservation, monitors the implementation of Demand Management Measures, describes planned water supply programs, investigates opportunities for utilizing recycled or desalinated water, addresses catastrophic supply interruption (earthquake, regional power outage, terrorism), and includes public participation and agency coordination.

The catastrophic supply interruption plan completed as part of the Urban Water Management Plan identifies actions to be undertaken by the water agency to prepare for, and implement during, a catastrophic interruption of water supplies. This plan is used as the basis for water supply emergency operations plans because it identifies the vulnerability, consequences, and mitigation features for each catastrophic scenario.