SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY'S DROUGHT MANAGEMENT PLAN

In 2005, the San Diego County Water Authority (Water Authority) retained Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. to assist with development of a Drought Management Plan (DMP) for the San Diego region. To encourage stakeholder involvement, the Water Authority formed a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) composed of representatives from its member agencies. Development of the DMP involved a facilitated process through which TAC members provided input. Key elements of the DMP process included:

1.Development and distribution of a detailed questionnaire on drought related issues. This allowed member agencies an opportunity to identify and prioritize various aspects of drought planning, and provide general comments and concerns. 2.Review of historic drought material including: other water agency's drought management plans, and local and regional actions taken during the 1987-1992 drought. This provided the participants an understanding of lessons learned from past experience. 3.Development of drought management principles based on the results of the survey and lessons learned from the past. This established core guidelines for development of DMP policies and strategies. 4.Construction of a matrix of actions to be taken prior to and including the implementation of an allocation plan. This linked the appropriate actions for each stage identified in the DMP. 5.Development of a drought allocation methodology and an associated allocation computer model. The model allowed various allocation methodology scenarios, based on TAC recommendations, to be analyzed. 6.Production of a regional communication strategy for a range of supply conditions (from normal water supplies, through the individual supply shortage stages). This established a coordinated message to during the various stages of supply conditions.

The collaborative effort between the Water Authority, its member agencies and Malcolm Pirnie staff was essential to the production of a DMP supported by all parties. This facilitated stakeholder approach represents a successful process that can be utilized by other water agencies for development of drought management plans.