[Orange County - Securing a resilient, reliable, and affordable water supply through the implementation of various programs under the theme of sustainability]

▷ Description

The Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) is a wholesale water supplier and resource planning agency whose efforts focus on sound planning and appropriate investments in water supply development, water use efficiency, public information, legislative advocacy, water education and emergency preparedness.

Established in 1951, MWDOC now serves over 3.2 million Orange County residents through 28 retail water agencies. MWDOC’s service area covers all of Orange County with the exception of the cities of Anaheim, Fullerton and Santa Ana.

▷ Scale

3.2 million

▷ Key specs

Local water supplies meet roughly half of Orange County’s total water demand. To meet the remaining demand, The Municipal Water District of Orange County (MWDOC) purchases approximately 70.2 billion gallons of imported water per year - from northern California and the Colorado River - through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan). MWDOC delivers this water to its 28 member agencies, who in turn, provide retail water services to the public.

Water Supply Development

MWDOC is committed to providing a reliable supply of high quality water for Orange County now, and long into the future. Working closely with Metropolitan and our 28 member agencies, MWDOC studies and evaluates opportunities to improve Orange County’s water supply resources and overall system reliability. Understanding local planning challenges and developing regional stakeholder partnerships, MWDOC works to expand Orange County’s water supply portfolio by providing planning assistance and local resource development in the areas of recycled water, groundwater recharge, ocean water desalination and conservation.

Orange County is in a semi-arid desert climate, and we average just over 12 inches a year of rain. With that being said, we do not have sufficient water supplies to meet the needs of our residents and businesses, which requires us to find alternative water supplies. In addition, Orange County itself serves a very diverse and large region, so the north half of the county has much more reliable local supplies (due to the groundwater basin managed by Orange County Water District). On the other hand, the southern part of Orange County does not have the geographical benefits of a bowl shaped aquifer (South Orange County sits over an underground creek that flows into the ocean), so the southern part of Orange County has far more water supply and water reliability challenges from that perspective (currently, north county is about 50-70% dependent on local supply, whereas south county is 80-100% dependent on imported water supply). Additionally, our imported water supply is heavily dependent on annual precipitation (stored in the snowpack), and with changing climate trends, we have been seeing more and more variability in the availability of our imported water supply. Therefore, we are making many investments to diversify our water supply, both locally and statewide.

Securing a resilient, reliable, and affordable water supply is our highest priority, and many of our other programs (listed below) were developed as a way to support our primary goal of securing a sustainable water supply for our community,

Water Use Efficiency

MWDOC has created award-winning programs that target all water users. Through an innovative, multi-agency approach, MWDOC develops, implements, and evaluates water use efficiency programs that provide multiple benefits. Programs include educational classes, performance reporting, water use surveys and consumer incentives for water-efficient devices. Through the development, implementation and evaluation of these programs, Orange County saves more than 17.1 billion gallons of water each year.

Orange County has long been a leader in promoting water use efficiency, and we have been deeply involved with the creation of new state regulations; however, we have a long way to go, as we still have significant opportunities to increase water use efficiency outdoors. We are also facing challenges with unintended consequences of too much indoor conservation, by means of increased collection system maintenance and issues with odor control, higher strength wastewater, less recycled water, and more. Also, homes are still being built with plumbing standards that do not account for the lower flows and higher solids concentrations, so we are starting to see more issues at the residential level, as well.

MWDOC also provides guidance on water audits for our retail agencies, and we recently launched a regional leak detection program. Currently, we are developing a pilot program to evaluate indoor water use practices and collect data at a more granular level than previous efforts.

Emergency Preparedness

The Water Emergency Response Organization of Orange County (WEROC), which is administered by MWDOC, provides mutual aid planning assistance, and effectively trains member agency volunteers throughout the year, to coordinate and deliver skillful emergency response for all Orange County water and wastewater agencies.

WEROC works closely with the County of Orange, the Orange County Fire Authority, the California Department of Public Health and other entities to ensure a thorough and well-coordinated emergency response in the event of a disaster.

Public Information and Outreach

MWDOC is steadfast in its mission to keep Orange County involved and up-to-date on current water news, water-saving opportunities and pending policy matters through its award-winning public information and outreach programs. Every year MWDOC hosts regularly scheduled Water Policy Symposiums, Elected Officials Forums, educational tours, and co-sponsors the annual O.C. Water Summit in order to engage and educate elected officials, community and business leaders, water industry professionals and the general public about water issues affecting Orange County and beyond. Additionally, MWDOC produces public service announcements and educational collateral pieces including videos, presentations, and briefing papers to ensure our stakeholders are equipped and well versed on issues facing the water industry. MWDOC further engages the public by participating in community events, having an active speakers bureau, and a robust award-winning social media presence.

School Program

Educating the water leaders of tomorrow since 1973, MWDOC’s School Program offers one of the most well-recognized water-education curriculums in southern California. Today, working with the Discovery Cube and Inside the Outdoors, MWDOC has provided nearly three million Orange County students with grade-specific lessons that focus on topics like the water cycle, forms of water and water as an environmental resource.

Legislative Advocacy

Through strong leadership and sound representation at Metropolitan, MWDOC works diligently to secure a dependable water future for all Orange County. This includes unwavering advocacy on behalf of the service area on issues such as water resource and infrastructure planning, development of imported water rates and charges, and sponsorship of statewide water policy that supports regional reliability. MWDOC staff and consultants regularly examine pending legislation and provide updates to the Board of Directors monthly. Through this process, the Board of Directors regularly take “official positions” on specific legislative proposals and public policy issues based on MWDOC’s adopted Legislative Policy Principles. The MWDOC Board of Directors, management, staff, and consultants monitor and shape state and federal legislation that impacts the water community and the region as a whole, advocating on behalf of Orange County.

▷ Additional info

www.mwdoc.com