​WATER-01

Support Efforts to Evaluate Vulnerabilities of Water Supply Systems and Networks and Develop Strategies to Improve Resilience

Implementation

  • S​upport the Regional Water Authority’s (RWA’s) efforts to evaluate the vulnerability of the local water supply systems and networks to climate change–related impacts, and develop strategies to add resilience to these systems. Resilient water supply systems must be able to deliver services during disruptive events (e.g., storms, drought).

  • Work with local water providers to adopt municipal codes to enforce standards of resiliency for water-related infrastructure for all future development. Municipal codes may include, but are not limited to, standards related to elevation of electrical generators and/or tanks and containers of hazardous materials, increased capacity of water storage tanks, and improved deployment of backflow preventers to impede contamination of drinking water following an extreme weather event (e.g., storms).

  • Continue to participate in and support the efforts of the Sacramento Water Forum to promote collaborative water management and support aquatic ecosystem protection for the Lower American River.

  • Collaborate with experts and other agencies to identify potential hazards (e.g., floods, drought) in sites of new infrastructure, assess the vulnerabilities associated with identified hazards, and use appropriate materials and establish adequate capacities for new infrastructure.

  • Support the projects of the Sacramento River Watershed Program aimed to improve water quality, streamflow, flood management, and watershed stewardship in the Sacramento River and the Lower American River watersheds.

  • Encourage and support efforts of local water agencies to conduct ongoing maintenance of existing water supply–related infrastructure to identify potential weaknesses and deterioration.

Benefits: Resiliency improvements made to Sacramento County’s water supply systems and networks would also serve to improve the County’s resiliency to flooding.

Timeframe: Near term​


​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Started

The efforts for this measure have started. 

Status of Implementation

The Sacramento County Water Agency (SCWA) continually monitors Water Supply System vulnerabilities. This can come in the form of political/legal issues, structural issues, contamination issues, or climate issues. SCWA, with the help of West Yost, has developed a tool to better predict water supply availability into the future using CalSIM as a base. SCWA is developing another RFP to update its Master Plan where outputs from this tool will be implemented into overall project delivery.

On a regional level, SCWA (one of 26 purveyors in Sacramento County) works with the Regional Water Authority (RWA) to ensure water supply sustainability. Through RWA, SCWA is working with the State on the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (formerly Voluntary Agreement) process. RWA has developed the Regional Water Reliability Plan (RWRP) and Regional Drought Contingency Plan (RDCP) which are closely related planning efforts to evaluate the vulnerabilities of the water resources of the region and to identify the most promising opportunities to improve long-term water supply reliability at the agency, sub-regional, and regional levels.

Two outcomes of the RWA's planning efforts are the Groundwater Bank and the RiverArc project. SCWA participates in each of these projects to help ensure water supply resilience.

The RiverArc project is described here: RiverArc Project
The Groundwater Bank is described here: Sacramento Regional Water Bank​

Additionally, SCWA and the Planning and Environmental Review Division of the Community Development Department are collaborative partners representing the County in the Water Forum 2.0 Project.  This is the successor effort to the existing Water Forum Agreement and seeks to develop the next agreement which considers water supply constraints related to climate change and adaptation.  

Updated 09/17/24.

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