06-04-2015 BPU RPT 05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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=- RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES Board Memorandum PUBLIC LITILITIES BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: JUNE 4, 2015 ITEM NO: 5 SUBJECT: PUBLIC HEARING - CONSIDER ADOPTING THE 2015 UPPER SANTA ANA RIVER WATERSHED INTEGRATED REGIONAL WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN ISSUES: The issue for Board of Public Utilities consideration is to conduct a public hearing and adopt the 2015 Upper Santa Ana River Watershed Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (2015 IRWMP). RECOMMENDATIONS: That the Board of Public Utilities: 1. Conduct a public hearing for review of the 2015 Upper Santa Ana River Watershed Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (2015 IRWMP); and 2. Recommend that the City Council adopt the 2015 IRWMP. BACKGROUND: In 2002 the Integrated Regional Water Management Planning Act was signed into law adding part 2.2 (commencing with Section 10530) to Division 6 of the Water Code: Conservation, Development and Utilization of State Water Resources. In it, a "regional water management group" is authorized to prepare and adopt a regional plan that addresses programs, projects, reports or studies relating to water supply, water quality, flood protection or related matters, over which any local public agency that is a participant in that group has authority to undertake. These plans often cross jurisdictional, watershed and political boundaries, involving multiple agencies, stakeholders, individuals and groups, and attempt to address the issues and differing perspectives of all entities involved through mutually beneficial solutions. In addition to the benefits associated with this collaborative planning process, regions that complete an IRWMP can compete for specific state funding when the state approves its IRWMP. The region also becomes part of a statewide network of integrated regional water management planning regions. In December 2007 the Upper Santa Ana Watershed Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWMP) was completed and developed through an open public process that involved sixteen different public agencies including Riverside Public Utilities (RPU). During development of the original IRWMP, it was decided to review and update the document every five years. One accomplishment of the 2007 IRWMP was that it created the Basin Technical Advisory Committee (BTAC) for collaborative management of the Bunker Hill Basin. Since the creation of BTAC, RPU has been actively involved with the advisory committee to ensure RPU and plaintiff's interests are represented. In June 2013 the BTAC Engineering Subcommittee began to hold meetings to discuss updating the IRWMP. For the 2015 IRWMP, two update approaches were considered: 1) a consultant led effort; and 2) a staff led effort. The staff led approach was selected by the group to minimize the cost of the update. Once the staff -led update of the IRWMP was completed, the agencies selected the consulting firm RMC through a competitive process to do a peer review for compliance with the IRWMP guidelines and to finalize the document. RPU staff assisted in the update of the 2015 IRWMP and RPU contributed its share of $4,615.80 towards the consultant's fees.