2025 Urban Water Management Plan

Section 4 2025 Urban Water Management Plan Water Use Characterization City of Pleasanton Public Draft | May 2026 4-10 EKI Environment & Water, Inc. 4.5.4 Water Use by Lower Income Households Passed in 2005, SB 1087 Chapter 727 amended CGC §65589.7 and CWC §10631.1, requiring that local governments provide a copy of their adopted Housing Element to water and sewer providers. Additionally, it requires that water providers grant priority for service allocations to developments that include housing units for lower income families and workers. The UWMP Act requires that water providers estimate water demands by lower income single and multi-family households. Health and Safety Code 50079.5 defines a lower-income household as a household that earns less than 80% of the area median income. Based on Pleasanton’s 2023-2031 Housing Element (Pleasanton, 2023), about 20% of Pleasanton’s dwelling units in 2023 housed residents earn less than 80% of Alameda County’s area median income. The 2023-2031 Housing Element also identifies the number of low-income dwelling units needed through 2031. If future development in the City is realized as depicted in the 2023-2031 Housing Element , about 24% of the City’s future residential water demand will be associated with lower income households. Water demand associated with these households were included in the total potable water demand projections described above. Water demands associated with lower income households are included in the water use projections shown in Table 4-5 (indicated in Table 4-4). 4.5.5 Characteristic Five-Year Water Use In accordance with CWC §10635(b)(3), UWMPs must provide a five-year DRA (see Section 7.5). As a first step, DWR suggests that water suppliers estimate their unconstrained water demand for the next five years (2026-2030). Unconstrained water demand is water use in the absence of drought water use restrictions. These numbers can then be adjusted to estimate the five-years’ cumulative drought effects.  CWC §10631.1 (a) The water use projections required by Section 10631 shall include projected water use for single-family and multifamily residential housing needed for lower income households, as defined in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code, as identified in the housing element of any city, county, or city and county in the service area of the supplier. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the identification of projected water use for single-family and multifamily residential housing for lower income households will assist a supplier in complying with the requirements under Section 65589.7 of the Government Code to grant a priority for the provision of service to housing units affordable to lower income households.  CWC §10635 (b) Every urban water supplier shall include, as part of its urban water management plan, a drought risk assessment for its water service to its customers as part of information considered in developing the demand management measures and water supply projects and programs to be included in the urban water management plan. The urban water supplier may conduct an interim update or updates to this drought risk assessment within the five-year cycle of its urban water management plan update. The drought risk assessment shall include each of the following… (3) A comparison of the total water supply sources available to the water supplier with the total projected water use for the drought period. (Emphasis added). (4) Considerations of the historical drought hydrology, plausible changes on projected supplies and demands under climate change conditions, anticipated regulatory changes, and other locally applicable criteria.