The City of Folsom is continuing its ongoing planning effort to guide the management of the city’s water resources over the next 50 years with its second water workshop coming up in which the public is urged to attend.
The second public workshop will be April 16 at 6:30 p.m, in the Folsom Police Department’s Training Room at 46 Natoma Street in Folsom. The focus topic of this second meeting in the series is “learn about the health of our exisiting water supply.”
Currently, the city gets its drinking water almost exclusively from Folsom Reservoir. The Folsom Water Vision project is intended to help the city evaluate other water supply alternatives to proactively plan for increased droughts, flood events, rising temperatures, and other challenges.
Understanding the community’s needs and priorities for water resource management is vital to the success of this planning effort and the city invites residents with interest to attend its monthly series of public meetings.
At the meetings, attendees will learn more about the project and have the opportunity to share their concerns, interests, and more for creating what they want to be a resilient water future for the City of Folsom.
While Folsom Lake and the city’s historic water rights have provided a high degree of water reliability, warmer winters, more intense droughts, and evolving environmental regulations, amongst other factors, are driving the city to evaluate its water supplies and supply infrastructure.
The city cites that there is no immediate risk to the city’s drinking water supply, as the city has sufficient water rights to supply water into the future, but Folsom’s leaders are being proactive by starting this long-term planning effort now.
To develop this long-term plan to manage its water resources, the city will undergo a rigorous technical analysis coupled with an open stakeholder input process. This process includes the following key steps:
- Evaluate the city’s existing water system and supplies (and identify its risks and opportunities)
- Screen potential new water supply sources.
- Develop and evaluate several new supply portfolios designed to enhance long-term drinking water reliability and resiliency
- Define the recommended future water supply portfolio and develop a flexible roadmap to outline when and how this future portfolio will become the reality
- Include stakeholder input throughout this process
The April 16 workshop is expected to last 90-120 minutes. Those wanting to learn more about getting involved can contact Environmental and Water Resources Director at myasutake@folsom.ca.us.
Photo: California Department of Water Resources