The Folsom City Council voted Tuesday to adopt the city’s 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency Plan, a state-mandated update that outlines how Folsom will manage water supplies, meet future demand and respond to potential drought conditions over the coming decades.
The action keeps the city in compliance with California law, which requires urban water suppliers to update their water management plans every five years and submit them to the California Department of Water Resources and the California State Library by July 1.
According to the staff report prepared by Utilities Director Marcus Yasutake, the Urban Water Management Plan serves as a comprehensive assessment of current and projected water supplies, anticipated customer demand, water conservation efforts and the reliability of water resources under varying hydrologic conditions, including prolonged drought.
“The 2025 UWMP demonstrates that the City is meeting its 2020 target gallons per capita per day as of December 31, 2020,” Yasutake wrote in the report.
The report noted that Folsom’s 2020 urban water use target was 352 gallons per capita per day. Actual water use measured 256 gallons per capita per day, allowing the city to exceed state conservation requirements established under the Water Conservation Act of 2009.
State law requires all water suppliers serving more than 3,000 customers or delivering more than 3,000 acre-feet of water annually to prepare and adopt an Urban Water Management Plan. Maintaining an approved plan is also necessary for eligibility to receive state grants, loans and drought assistance programs administered by the Department of Water Resources.
A major component of the updated document is its long-range assessment of water supply reliability. The plan compares available water supplies against projected demand over the next 25 years under normal, single-dry-year and multiple dry-year scenarios. According to the report, the analysis found that the city will maintain sufficient water supplies to meet anticipated demand through full build-out of its service area.
“As shown in the 2025 UWMP, the City will have adequate supplies to meet demands through build-out conditions,” the report states.
The plan also includes an updated Water Shortage Contingency Plan, which details how the city would identify and respond to both foreseeable and unforeseen water shortages. The contingency plan establishes procedures for annual water supply assessments, defines six levels of water shortage conditions and outlines response measures ranging from conservation efforts and operational changes to mandatory restrictions during severe shortages.
According to the report, a water shortage may occur when available supplies are insufficient to meet normal demand or when state-mandated conservation measures require reductions regardless of local supply conditions. The contingency plan is intended to provide predictability and accountability for city staff, elected officials and residents during drought emergencies and other water supply disruptions.
The Urban Water Management Plan also addresses climate change considerations, future population growth, demand management measures and strategies designed to balance water supply and demand conditions throughout the planning period.
The city previously adopted its 2020 Urban Water Management Plan in June 2021. Officials said adoption of the updated 2025 documents ensures continued compliance with state requirements while providing a roadmap for water reliability and drought preparedness in the years ahead.
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