Regional Water Facilities Optimization and Master Plan Update

The Water Authority's Regional Water Facilities Optimization and Master Plan Update is a comprehensive evaluation of infrastructure requirements needed to meet the Water Authority's mission of providing a safe and reliable water supply to its member agencies. The master plan includes recommendations on new pipelines, treatment plants, and storage facilities, as well as improvements to existing facilities, needed to assure the Water Authority's mission is achieved in a cost-effective manner through a 2035 planning horizon.

The Water Authority is currently updating its 2003 Regional Water Facilities Master Plan, the agency’s guiding document for new infrastructure development and investments. The master plan update is anticipated to be complete by early 2014.

The update is a region-wide planning effort incorporating projections for future water demands and water supplies from the 2010 Urban Water Management Plan. Both the UWMP and the master plan update use a scenario planning approach to assess supply and demand. This approach evaluates potential risks to supply reliability and stress-tests the ability of the Water Authority’s existing aqueduct system and drinking water treatment plants to meet future operating conditions. The master plan update considers infrastructure alternatives that include development of new local supplies or increased imported supply reliance to close the projected gaps between future demands and supplies. The master plan update process is iterative in nature, and computer simulations are employed to model and assess the performance of the different facility alternatives that could augment the Water Authority's current system.

Preparation of the master plan update will follow the same planning principles as the Water Authority’s earlier 2003 document, and will help define the Water Authority’s capital improvement program. In addition to the master plan document, a Program Environmental Impact Report and a Climate Action Plan will be prepared to address potential environmental and cumulative impacts comprehensively in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB32). The Water Authority will accept written comments on the Notice of Preparation regarding scoping of the Program Environmental Impact Report until May 15, 2013. For instructions on submitting written comments, view the Notice of Preparation. A public scoping meeting will be held on April 29, 2013 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Water Authority Kearny Mesa headquarters in the Board Room (4677 Overland Ave. San Diego, CA, 92123).

2013 Master Plan Update Fact Sheet