This document summarizes a presentation given at an ASCE July luncheon about water issues facing the Santa Margarita Water District. It notes that California's snowpack and rainfall have declined significantly in recent years. It also discusses the competing demands of population growth and state-mandated water use reductions, and Santa Margarita Water District's plans to address both through water conservation programs and developing new water supplies such as groundwater storage, desalination, and recycled water. The presentation emphasizes the need for a new way of thinking about water that focuses on hardening demand and views wastewater and stormwater as resources through practices like indirect potable reuse.

1. Santa Margarita Water District:
ASCE July Luncheon
June 26, 2015

2. We’re in this Together . . .
24%

3. March 2011 March 2012
March 2013
March 2014March 2015
CA Snowpack24%

4. Rainfall
Annual Precipitation Trends
24%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Lawn LWU
Plants
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Inches
Plant Choices and Rainfall in OC
* Data from CIMIS station #75, Irvine, CA
Average Annual
Rainfall: 13”
Drought?
Without wet years,
8” Average: What
we need to plan for

5. Competing Public Policy
 Orange County is expected to grow by 313,000
people over the next 50 years
 40,000 in SMWD over the next 20 years
 State of California has to cut water demand by
25% between June 2015 and February 2016
 24% in SMWD
 Incongruent issues?

6. Conservation AND New Supplies
 SMWD Conservation Plan:
 Behavioral Science
Approach
 Change the way we think
about water
 WaterSmart
 Recycle Conversion Projects
 Recycle Distribution &
Storage Expansion
 Advanced Metering
Infrastructure for Irrigation
 Water Budget Billing
Structure
 SMWD Supply Plan
 Cadiz Groundwater
Conservation, Recovery and
Storage Project
 Underutilized resource
 San Juan Basin Optimization
 Impaired water quality and
underutilized basin
 Ocean Desalination
 Poseidon Huntington Beach
 Doheny Desalination
 Recycled Water Expansion
 Trampas Reservoir

7. Keys to the Future
 We have to think differently
 Focus on demand hardening
 What is a reasonable amount of water to use, how do you
define it, how do you pay for it
 Wastewater, urban runoff, stormwater are resources
 MS-4 permits
 Indirect and Direct reuse
 Recharge
 Interagency coordination
 Flood control, cities and water districts

8. www.smwd.com/landscape
Thank You.
Questions?
7/23/15