PALMDALE – The Palmdale Water District (PWD) Board of Directors voted Monday night to adopt new and updated plans that detail
water supply planning for the future and describe implementation of conservation guidelines.
After a presentation by consultants Kennedy Jenks, the Board approved PWD’s 2020 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP), 2020 Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP) and updates to the 2015 UWMP.
The WSCP, previously part of the UWMP, is now a separate document. As an urban water supplier, PWD is required by the California’s Urban Water Management Act to prepare and adopt an UWMP at least every five years.
“The UWMP is our plan for evaluating and comparing our water supply and reliability to existing and projected water demands,” said PWD
Resource and Analytics Director Peter Thompson Jr. “We have been working on the plans for a year. They will serve as our blueprints moving forward.”
To meet state requirements, PWD’s UWMP details water supply planning in five-year increments for the next 25 years, more than the state’s required 20 years. The plan also identifies and quantifies existing and projected water supplies and water supply opportunities, including
use of recycled water, for existing and future demands.
According to the 2020 UWMP, PWD’s current water demand is about 17,200 acre-feet annually for a population of about 126,000. By 2045, population is expected to rise to about 153,000 with water demands at 26,250 acre-feet. A big change that is expected to take place in
the water supply in the next 25 years is the substantially increased use of recycled water. This will help reduce reliance on imported water, particularly in drought years.
By adopting the WSCP, the Board has a new set of water shortage stages that address the need for conservation during drought conditions. At its next meeting on June 28, the Board will consider adopting Stage 2 of the WSCP, which will implement mandatory reductions of 15% for all customers. The implementation would trigger a drought factor that reduces the Tier 2 outdoor allocation to 85% of normal. Water use that exceeds Tier 2 would fall into the more costly Tiers 3-5.
To view the plans and for more information about water-saving tips, visit PWD’s website at palmdalewater.org.
[Information via news release from the Palmdale Water District.]
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Marta Metters says
Wow! those salaries for the General Manager are pretty nice for a small water district and the other staff are getting high pay too. I wonder how well the board of directors are being paid to raise our rates so much?
Pipe it in says
What I don’t understand is if we can pipeline oil why can’t we pipe water from these states that are always flooding? The could put in large drainage openings so that instead of flooding the water just drains and is pumped here to CA and no water would be wasted there. It could help those states that have flooding problems
William says
During an earlier drought I wrote that after we’ve all put in low-flow showerheads, toilets, tore up our lawns, etc. then the water companies, who are still supplying new housing, can raise their rates as high as they want.
By then, WE WON’T BE ABLE TO CUT BACK FURTHER AND SAVE ANY MORE WATER UNLESS WE QUIT SHOWERING AND DOING LAUNDRY.
Are they still growING rice up near Sacramento by flooding the fields and using a gallon of water to grow 1 almond?
If all the homeowners in California stopped using water altogether, it would only be a 5-10% savings on the total. So, build more homes here in the desert. Remember Centennial, that new city to be built near Fort Tejon? Is that still on during this drought?
bull s*$t says
Its a damn desert. Ive lived here 40 years and we always have a good rain season or two then 6 to twelve years of drought. you cant blame the farmers, the green lawns, the trees blame yourself for moving to an area that has 100 yeras of history recorded of more time with drought than ample water supply. you can keep increasing water prices, its not going to help bring us more or save any extra water. its California, if we say we have a crisis we can over charge and get away with it. look at gas they charge us higher then any other state to so call mentally keep you from driving, but our roads are crap, the other forms of transportation are crap. electricity, we have a shortage, guess what were going to charge you more, turn off your power when its really needed, yet we live in a valley covered in solar farms that are not giving us any relief.
Save the water says
The underground AV water supply has been undergoing depletion for decades now. Conservation is imperative in normal times and even more so during drought . Nothing promotes conservation more quickly & certainly than making a commodity more expensive.
Better get a grip on the problem now than when there’s zero flexibility in the future.
Water department takes my money says
Any excuse to raise the water bill. Do these so called tiers apply to everyone or are they only being enforced on hard working paycheck to paycheck folk?
Jesse Salas says
Well, As we all know, The PWD will always be in need of more revenues for the salaries of their Board of Directors….
Here is some info that can be found on the following websites:
https://www.palmdalewater.org/governance/transparency-center/
“Water revenues were increased by 8.1% annually for five (5) years, starting on January 1st, 2020 through December 31st, 2024. The revenue adjustment will allow PWD to manage and upgrade aging infrastructure, including water meter and pipeline replacement so that customers will continue to receive high quality water.”
Nice paycheck for the PWD Board of Directors and the Employees:
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/palmdale-water-district/
Hard to understand their salaries…
Joe Sage says
Another series of rate hikes coming to Palmdale and it’s already the most expensive water in AV. These are the same politicians that partnered with Lancaster and supported the solar that destroyed our AV Westside. Sad here it’s local politics that doesn’t represent the people anymore they only support the elected officials.