Building Upland’s Water Future: What to Expect in the Weeks Ahead

Building Upland’s Water Future: What to Expect in the Weeks Ahead

Over the coming weeks, The Upland Update will be sharing a detailed series explaining the City of Upland’s newly completed Water, Recycled Water, and Wastewater Master Plans—what they found, why they matter, and what they mean for residents.

These plans are some of the most important infrastructure documents the City has adopted in decades. They examine the condition of Upland’s underground systems, assess public safety and regulatory risks, and lay out a responsible, long-term roadmap for maintaining the water and sewer services our community depends on every day.

For context, Upland’s prior master plans were significantly outdated. The wastewater plan dated back to 2006, the recycled water plan to 2008, and the water plan to 2010—well beyond the 5–10 year update cycle considered standard in the utility industry. While systems continued to function, long-term planning had fallen behind, increasing the risk of emergency failures, rising costs, and regulatory exposure.

Rather than waiting for problems to force sudden decisions, the City chose to take a proactive approach. These new master plans were developed using updated hydraulic models, current regulatory requirements, and real-world data to answer fundamental questions:

• Do we have reliable water supplies for the future?

• Where is our infrastructure aging or undersized?

• How do state mandates affect local systems and costs?

• What investments are truly necessary—and which are not?

• How do we protect public safety while being responsible with ratepayer dollars?

This upcoming series is designed to walk residents through those answers in a clear, transparent, and practical way. Each week will focus on a specific topic, breaking down complex infrastructure issues into plain language and explaining how they affect everyday life in Upland.

What We’ll Cover

Over the next several weeks, you’ll see posts explaining:

• Why updated master plans were overdue and necessary

• Where Upland’s water comes from and how reliability is maintained

• Water quality challenges, including PFAS and state mandates

• Fire flow, aging pipes, and public safety impacts

• The wastewater system and why proactive maintenance matters

• Why staffing levels affect service reliability and emergency response

• What all of this means for water and sewer rates—and what it does not

Throughout the series, we’ll include charts and visuals to help explain key findings, along with clear takeaways so residents understand not just what the plans say, but why they matter.

Why This Matters

Water and sewer infrastructure is easy to overlook because most of it is underground. But when these systems fail, the impacts are immediate—on homes, neighborhoods, public safety, and household budgets. Responsible long-term planning helps avoid crisis-driven decisions and sudden rate shocks, protecting both residents and the City’s financial stability.

This series is about transparency, long-term fiscal responsibility, and making sure residents are informed about decisions that affect the community for decades to come.

We invite you to follow along each week, review the information, and stay engaged as Upland works to responsibly maintain and protect the infrastructure that keeps our city running.

Week 1 begins next week.