Santa Monica commission backs 2025 urban water management plan; staff outline path to local self-sufficiency
May 18, 2026 | Santa Monica City, Los Angeles County, California
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The Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice and the Environment voted May 18 to support forwarding the city's 2025 Urban Water Management Plan to City Council for formal adoption and compliance filing.
Sunonny Way, the city's water utilities manager, told commissioners the UWMP is a regulatory requirement for any supplier serving more than 3,000 acre-feet per year and that Santa Monica currently provides about 10,000'1,000 acre-feet annually. "This is to really support long-term water planning," Way said, adding the plan uses a 2010'2020 baseline to define normal and dry years and to test whether supplies meet demand.
Why it matters: Way said projected demand to 2045 ranges from roughly 10,000 to 13,000 acre-feet depending on conservation outcomes, while the city's available supply in modeled scenarios is between about 15,000 and 18,000 acre-feet. The Sustainable Water Master Plan update identifies a potential supply gap (as large as about 4,500 acre-feet in some scenarios) and lays out a portfolio for closing it: expand conservation programs, maximize recycled water reuse, pursue local groundwater opportunities, pursue regional partnerships, and consider desalination if needed.
Near-term recommendations: Way said the commission should support the UWMP and the near-term portfolio already incorporated into the city's rate study. The city plans to present the UWMP to City Council on June 23 and to file with the Department of Water Resources by July 1, 2026. The near-term set of measures the master plan favors includes the conservation program (additional staffing to expand outreach and rebates) and Alternative 2A: maximizing local reuse by linking the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP) and SMURF facilities into the drinking-water train for indirect and, potentially, direct potable reuse.
Technical and operational context: Way described improvements the city has delivered since 2018: SWIP began operations in late 2022/early 2023, the Olympic wellfield restoration was completed last summer, and the city deployed automated metering infrastructure (AMI) citywide to detect leaks and provide real-time demand signals. She said some wells are being replaced and that the Arcadia treatment plant completed a reverse-osmosis retrofit that increased production efficiency.
Regulatory and feasibility constraints: Direct potable reuse will need to meet state treatment standards put in place at the end of 2023 that call for very high pathogen and virus removal (multi-log removal targets). Way said the city already has many of the treatment steps in place at Olympic and Arcadia and is studying the missing pieces such as a recycled-water booster pump and roughly 200 feet of underground pipeline to connect the systems; cost estimates for that connection are not yet available.
Longer-term options and concerns: Way listed options that depend on outside partners: (1) an airport wellfield that is under investigation for contamination (work involving Boeing and regulators); (2) regional exchanges or buying into Metropolitan Water District's and Los Angeles'Pure Water projects; and (3) seawater desalination. On desalination she warned of tradeoffs: subsurface intakes reduce marine impacts but can induce groundwater drawdown, energy and concentrate-disposal pose environmental and cost challenges, and full-scale facilities require long lead times. "Anything could be done with engineering; it's how much it's going to cost you," Way said.
Questions and vote: Commissioners pressed Way on per-capita use trends (indoor targets of roughly 45'60 gallons per person per day are benchmarks), whether the UWMP accounts for daytime population increases, and how emergency coordination with regional suppliers would work. After discussion the commission moved, seconded by Commissioner David Pettit, and voted unanimously to support forwarding the UWMP to City Council.
What happens next: The commission's support will be transmitted to City Council for formal adoption; staff will continue study-session work on the Sustainable Water Master Plan, refine alternatives analysis and cost estimates, pursue grant and funding options, and report back as projects progress.
Sunonny Way, the city's water utilities manager, told commissioners the UWMP is a regulatory requirement for any supplier serving more than 3,000 acre-feet per year and that Santa Monica currently provides about 10,000'1,000 acre-feet annually. "This is to really support long-term water planning," Way said, adding the plan uses a 2010'2020 baseline to define normal and dry years and to test whether supplies meet demand.
Why it matters: Way said projected demand to 2045 ranges from roughly 10,000 to 13,000 acre-feet depending on conservation outcomes, while the city's available supply in modeled scenarios is between about 15,000 and 18,000 acre-feet. The Sustainable Water Master Plan update identifies a potential supply gap (as large as about 4,500 acre-feet in some scenarios) and lays out a portfolio for closing it: expand conservation programs, maximize recycled water reuse, pursue local groundwater opportunities, pursue regional partnerships, and consider desalination if needed.
Near-term recommendations: Way said the commission should support the UWMP and the near-term portfolio already incorporated into the city's rate study. The city plans to present the UWMP to City Council on June 23 and to file with the Department of Water Resources by July 1, 2026. The near-term set of measures the master plan favors includes the conservation program (additional staffing to expand outreach and rebates) and Alternative 2A: maximizing local reuse by linking the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP) and SMURF facilities into the drinking-water train for indirect and, potentially, direct potable reuse.
Technical and operational context: Way described improvements the city has delivered since 2018: SWIP began operations in late 2022/early 2023, the Olympic wellfield restoration was completed last summer, and the city deployed automated metering infrastructure (AMI) citywide to detect leaks and provide real-time demand signals. She said some wells are being replaced and that the Arcadia treatment plant completed a reverse-osmosis retrofit that increased production efficiency.
Regulatory and feasibility constraints: Direct potable reuse will need to meet state treatment standards put in place at the end of 2023 that call for very high pathogen and virus removal (multi-log removal targets). Way said the city already has many of the treatment steps in place at Olympic and Arcadia and is studying the missing pieces such as a recycled-water booster pump and roughly 200 feet of underground pipeline to connect the systems; cost estimates for that connection are not yet available.
Longer-term options and concerns: Way listed options that depend on outside partners: (1) an airport wellfield that is under investigation for contamination (work involving Boeing and regulators); (2) regional exchanges or buying into Metropolitan Water District's and Los Angeles'Pure Water projects; and (3) seawater desalination. On desalination she warned of tradeoffs: subsurface intakes reduce marine impacts but can induce groundwater drawdown, energy and concentrate-disposal pose environmental and cost challenges, and full-scale facilities require long lead times. "Anything could be done with engineering; it's how much it's going to cost you," Way said.
Questions and vote: Commissioners pressed Way on per-capita use trends (indoor targets of roughly 45'60 gallons per person per day are benchmarks), whether the UWMP accounts for daytime population increases, and how emergency coordination with regional suppliers would work. After discussion the commission moved, seconded by Commissioner David Pettit, and voted unanimously to support forwarding the UWMP to City Council.
What happens next: The commission's support will be transmitted to City Council for formal adoption; staff will continue study-session work on the Sustainable Water Master Plan, refine alternatives analysis and cost estimates, pursue grant and funding options, and report back as projects progress.
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