Just a couple of water questions with some answers:

Question 1:
Is the City’s current water inventory sufficient to meet the projected demands of the City’s entire Growth Management Area?
Response:
No. The Utilities’ current water supply portfolio is not sufficient to meet projected demands within the Utilities service area or the entire Growth Management Area (“GMA”).

Question 2:
If not, how would this capability be expanded by:
1. Increasing water storage at Halligan Reservoir?
Response:
Enlarging Halligan beyond what is needed for Utilities would likely help meet some future demands, but most likely would not provide sufficient storage to meet all future demands within the GMA. In addition, the permitting process for Halligan has progressed beyond the ability to add project participants or increase the requested storage capacity.

2. Implementing water conservation practices throughout the entire GMA?
Response:
Achieving water conservation could potentially reduce future demands in the GMA, but not to the point where additional water rights and storage capacity won’t be needed to meet all projected water demands.

3. Adding raw water shares to City’s current inventory?
Response:
All three water providers are adding raw water shares to their water rights portfolios to meet future demands within the GMA, either by dedication or by utilizing cash-in-lieu and directly purchasing needed water shares.

Utilities, ELCO, and FCLWD are also actively exploring opportunities, through the Regional Water Collaboration Committee, to consider ways to leverage each entity’s current and future water rights portfolio to meet projected water needs for the entire GMA. This work is ongoing and is a multi-year planning effort. Staff anticipates that this more collaborative approach to water supply planning for the entire GMA will likely be a key focus of the update to the City’s Water Supply and Demand Management Policy, which is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2019.