2025 Urban Water Management Plan
The City of Upland’s 2025 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) and accompanying Water Shortage Contingency Plan (WSCP) establish the City’s long-term strategy for maintaining a reliable water supply, complying with state conservation requirements, and preparing for droughts or other supply disruptions. Presented to the City Council on July 27, 2026, the UWMP is required under California Water Code and must be updated every five years. It evaluates whether Upland’s available supplies can meet projected community demand over a 20-year planning horizon, supports coordination with regional water and land-use agencies, and preserves the City’s eligibility for certain water-related grants and loans.
The plan evaluates Upland’s water system, historical and projected water consumption, available supply sources, long-term reliability, drought risk, water-use efficiency programs, and procedures for responding to shortages. Future demand is projected using actual consumption by customer type, the number of water connections, rainfall patterns between 2021 and 2025, and anticipated population growth. Historical demand trends are used through 2040, after which the projection transitions to California’s Urban Water Use Objective, or UWUO. The presentation projects that overall demand will decline as water-efficiency requirements take effect and then remain relatively stable through 2050.
A major strength identified in the plan is Upland’s diversified water supply. The City does not depend on one aquifer, imported supply, or regional provider. Instead, it draws upon groundwater from the Chino, Six Basins, and Cucamonga basins; groundwater and surface water supplied through the San Antonio Water Company; purchases from the Water Facilities Authority; and recycled water obtained through the Inland Empire Utilities Agency. This diversity allows the City to shift among sources as weather, groundwater conditions, infrastructure availability, and imported-water reliability change.
The largest individual source is purchased San Antonio Water Company groundwater, accounting for 27 percent of the portfolio. Six Basins groundwater provides 19 percent, Water Facilities Authority purchases provide 15 percent, Cucamonga Basin groundwater provides 13 percent, Chino Basin groundwater provides 12 percent, and San Antonio Creek surface water provides 10 percent. Recycled water purchased through IEUA represents approximately 3 percent. The percentages shown in the presentation total 99 percent because they were presented as rounded figures.
The reliability analysis concludes that Upland’s projected water supplies will remain above anticipated potable-water demand throughout the planning period from 2030 through 2050. The supply chart on page 8 of the presentation shows projected annual supplies of approximately 24,000 acre-feet, while demand is projected to decline from roughly 17,500 acre-feet in 2030 to approximately 14,000 acre-feet by 2040 before increasing slightly through 2050. These figures are approximate readings from the presentation chart rather than separately reported table values. The formal conclusion is that Upland’s portfolio exceeds demand during normal years and remains sufficient under projected dry-year conditions.
The Water Shortage Contingency Plan provides the operational framework the City would use if supplies became constrained. The WSCP is a standalone document that may be amended independently of the UWMP and requires separate City Council adoption. It aligns Upland’s local four-stage shortage system with the state’s six-level framework. Upland’s first stage addresses shortages of up to 10 percent, the second stage generally addresses moderate shortages between 15 and 30 percent, the third stage addresses shortages between 35 and 50 percent, and the fourth stage applies to severe shortages exceeding 50 percent. The plan gives the City Council and staff flexibility to select conservation and operational actions appropriate to the actual severity and cause of a shortage.
The UWMP also documents Upland’s demand-management and conservation programs. These include water-waste prevention ordinances, metering, conservation-oriented pricing, public education, water-loss management, conservation staffing, residential and commercial rebates, and participation in programs offered through IEUA and Metropolitan Water District. The City previously met its SBX7-7 conservation target and, according to the presentation, is positioned to comply with newer statewide water-use efficiency regulations. Continued reporting and American Water Works Association water-loss audits will be used to track performance and identify areas requiring improvement.
Overall, the presentation concludes that Upland has sufficient and appropriately diversified water supplies to meet projected demand through 2050. Risks remain, including climate variability, imported-water uncertainty, regulatory changes, infrastructure failures, groundwater conditions, and unforeseen emergencies. However, those risks are mitigated by the City’s multiple supply sources, ability to shift production among those sources, existing conservation programs, and the shortage-response measures contained in the WSCP.
Following the public hearing and Council consideration, the next steps were to adopt the UWMP and WSCP, incorporate any approved revisions, submit the completed plans to the California Department of Water Resources, publish them on the City’s website, and provide copies to San Bernardino County and the California State Library.
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Disclaimer: The Upland Update is an independent community resource and is not affiliated with the City of Upland. This is my personal initiative to keep residents and businesses informed about key issues, city developments, and community events that impact our daily lives. My goal is to ensure you have clear, transparent, and timely information to stay engaged and involved in shaping Upland’s future.
James Breitling
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