Sweetwater Authority

This 2025 Urban Water Management Plan for Sweetwater Authority evaluates the reliability of its water supplies and aims to ensure a safe and reliable water supply for its customers. The plan focuses on diversifying water sources, maximizing local resources (including groundwater, desalinated water, and surface water), and implementing aggressive water conservation and efficiency programs to meet existing and projected demands through 2050. Key strategies include assessing supply reliability under normal, single dry, and multiple dry water year conditions, maintaining compliance with urban water use reduction targets, and outlining a comprehensive Water Shortage Contingency Plan to manage potential shortfalls through demand reduction measures and supply augmentation.

This Water Shortage Contingency Plan outlines Sweetwater Authority's detailed proposal for responding to actual water shortage conditions. The plan details annual water supply and demand assessment procedures, six standard water shortage levels, specific shortage response actions, and communication protocols. It also addresses compliance, enforcement, legal authorities, financial consequences, and monitoring and reporting to ensure water supply reliability and manage demand effectively.

The Board conducted a public hearing regarding the Urban Water Management Plan and the Water Shortage Contingency Plan, including the adoption of related resolutions. Key action items included reauthorizing professional services contracts for engineering and inspection services, approving easement quitclaims, and awarding a contract for design services for the Perdue Clearwell. The Board also reviewed the FY 2026-27 budget, considered financial policy updates, discussed a renewable energy manager update, and held a closed session regarding labor negotiations and the performance evaluation of the General Manager.

This Site Facilities Master Plan Update for the Sweetwater Authority's Perdue Water Treatment Plant aims to identify necessary future infrastructure to meet anticipated regulatory requirements and ensure operational reliability. The plan includes a comprehensive regulatory review, analysis of raw and treated water quality, and a detailed facility condition assessment. It evaluates specific projects such as optimizing chemical systems, refurbishing the intake tower, implementing a dechlorination system, upgrading the sewage lift station, and improving the clear well, culminating in a prioritized capital improvement plan for future development.

The proposed Property Operations and Maintenance Plan aims to streamline permitting processes through a programmatic approach, covering various operational activities and selected projects. Key focus areas include the maintenance of defensible space, field facilities, roads, trails, recreation facilities, water transfers, and lake and dam infrastructure, alongside new projects such as dam and dike improvements, reservoir capacity recovery, and the installation of new water distribution and monitoring facilities. This plan seeks to obtain programmatic permits by 2028, thereby enhancing operational efficiency and ensuring long-term regulatory compliance.