What is an Urban Water Management Plan? Urban Water Management Plans (UWMP) are prepared by California's urban water suppliers to support their long-term resource planning and ensure adequate water supplies are available to meet existing and future water demands. Every urban water supplier that either provides over 3,000 acre-feet of water annually or serves more than 3,000 or more connections is required to assess the reliability of its water sources over a 20-year planning horizon considering normal, dry, and multiple dry years. This assessment is to be included in its UWMP, which are to be prepared every 5 years and submitted to the Department of Water Resources. DWR then reviews the submitted plans to make sure they have completed the requirements identified in the Urban Water Management Planning (UWMP) Act (Division 6 Part 2.6 of the Water Code §10610 - 10656).

Recent Law Changes
In addition to some changes in the Urban Water Management Planning Act since the last UWMPs were submitted in 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger in his 20x2020 Plan determined that for California to continue to have enough water support its growing population, it needs to reduce the amount of water each person uses per day (Per Capita Daily Consumption, which is measured in gallons per capita per day). This reduction of 20 percent per capita use by the year 2020 is supported by legislation passed in November 2009 SB X7-7 (Steinberg). Water conservation. Has amended and repealed some sections of the Water Code and may affect your reporting requirements under the Urban Water Management Planning Act and other government codes.

2010 Urban Water Management Plans
The 2010 UWMPs must be adopted by July 1, 2011 and submitted to DWR by August 1, 2011. Usually, UWMPs are due on December 31 of years ending in 0 and 5, but a 6-month extension has been granted for submittal of the 2010 UWMPs to provide additional time for water suppliers to address the SB X7-7 requirements.

The 2010 UWMP Guidebook to support water suppliers in UWMP preparation is available on the Guidebook and Files site.

In addition to preparing the Guidebook and conducting workshops, DWR has an urban planning assistance program to assist urban water suppliers to meet the requirements of the Act. Program staff assists urban water suppliers with preparing comprehensive and useful water management plans, implementing water conservation programs, and understanding the requirements of the Act.

DWR has designed its urban planning assistance program to assist urban water suppliers to meet the requirements of the Act. Program staff assists urban water suppliers with preparing comprehensive and useful water management plans, implementing water conservation programs, and understanding the requirements of the Act.

Updates to this website
Over the next couple of months, DWR will be updating this website with more information as the Guidebook and other important UWMP information becomes available. Until then, if you have any questions, please send an e-mail to the UWMP address at UWMP@water.ca.gov or Peter Brostrom, brostrom@water.ca.gov, if you would like additional information.