Paper Water*

b. However, for water agencies overlying or tributary to the groundwater basin there should be equal access to the basin. The City continues to push for annexation of the eastern-most portion of its jurisdiction into OCWD, yet this has been delayed for a number of years. While it is understandable that different areas of the county have different water rights and access to the groundwater basin, there should be no disparity among agencies served by OCWD for equal access to the basin. Response to Finding F.4.b: The City of Anaheim disagrees partially with this finding. Water agencies throughout Orange County have worked well together to develop solutions for improving supply reliability for the benefit of the entire County. Some examples of this collaboration with OCWD and water agencies include: OCWD Groundwater Replenishment System - The Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) is a regional water recycling facility that produces a new drought-proof water supply for the County. As an OCWD groundwater producer, the APU has participated in the development of the GWRS project. In addition, a significant amount of land within the City of Anaheim is used by OCWD to recharge GWRS and Santa Ana River water. These facilities in Anaheim provide groundwater recharge and water availability benefits for the entire basin area. OCWD Storage Agreement - OCWD has entered into a storage agreement with the MWD to allow it to store up to 66,000 acre-feet (AF) of imported water in the groundwater basin for the benefit of south Orange County and all of MWD's service area. This agreement allows MWD to withdraw as much as 20,000 AF of water out of storage in any one year. Emergency Services Program - In February 2006, the Emergency Services Program Agreement was developed with OCWD that allows emergency water supplies from the groundwater basin to be exchanged with south Orange County. This program is currently being used to allow conveyance of water to south Orange County during emergency situations. In addition, Anaheim has made significant investments in its water supply reliability, which provides auxiliary benefits to south Orange County, such as: Emergency Water Storage - Stored imported water in Anaheim's 920 million gallon Walnut Canyon Reservoir can be used in an emergency to free up imported water and capacity in the imported water transmission mains for south Orange County. Joint Well Field with IRWD – Anaheim and the Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) • completed a study in January 2008 to evaluate the feasibility of a joint well field project to improve supply reliability for both Anaheim and IRWD. The joint well field concept would include conveyance of groundwater through the Allen McColloch pipeline, where it would benefit IRWD and potentially other south County water agencies during an emergency. Anaheim and IRWD will further evaluate costs and permitting requirements for a joint well field to provide both agencies adequate information to make a decision on whether to implement this project. Recommendation R.1: Each Orange County municipal planning agency, in cooperation with its respective water supply agency, should prepare for adoption by its city council, a dedicated Water Element to its General Plan in conjunction with a future update, not to exceed June 30, 2010. This document should include detailed implementation measures based on objective- based policies that match realistic projections of the County's future water supplies. These objectives, policies and implementation measures should address imported supply constraints, including catastrophic outages and incorporate the realistic availability and timing of "new" water sources such as desalination, contaminated groundwater reclamation and surface water recycling. (Findings F1 a & b, and F2 a & b) Response to Recommendation R.1: The City of Anaheim is already implementing this recommendation. The land use/water supply relationship is already adequately addressed in the Anaheim General Plan which was comprehensively updated in 2004. The General Plan, coupled with the environmental impact report that was approved in conjunction with the update program, comprehensively examines and addresses future growth in the context of future water supplies. Both the General Plan's Public Services and Facilities Element and Green Element contain goals and policies aimed at ensuring a reliable water supply system, including measures that support various water conservation and recycling programs and the protection of the local groundwater table. Therefore, there is no apparent benefit in preparing and adopting a separate, stand-alone Water Element. Such an endeavor would be a costly and time consuming exercise that would result in no net benefit to the community. Rather than adopting a new Water Element, the City will continue its practice of reviewing and updating (as necessary) its existing General Plan to ensure that the supply assumptions, goals and policies remain current and reflect any significant changes to the water supply picture. Also, as described in the response to Finding F.1.a, above, water agencies are already required to prepare an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) every 5 years. Anaheim's Urban Water Management Plan, in concert with its General Plan and MWD's Regional UWMP, Integrated Resources Plan (IRP), and Water Surplus and Drought Management Plan (WSDM), collectively address the same issues that the Grand Jury suggests would be addressed by a stand-alone Water Element. Recommendation R.2: Each Orange County retail and wholesale water agency should affirm its responsibility to develop new, additional, innovative public outreach programs, beyond water conservation and rationing programs, to expose the larger issues surrounding water supply constraints facing Orange County. The objective should be to connect the public with the problem. The outreach effort should entail a water emergency exercise that simulates a complete, sudden break in imported water deliveries. The exercise should be aimed directly at the public and enlist wide-spread public participation on a recurring basis beginning by June 30, 2010. This recommendation may be satisfied by a multi-agency exercise but the inability to coordinate such an event should not preclude the individual agency's responsibility. (Findings F2 a & b) Response to Recommendation R.2: The City of Anaheim is already implementing this recommendation. We also believe the response to this question should be separated into two points, the first associated with public outreach programs and the second with respect to emergency planning. Public Outreach In addition to promoting the City's water conservation programs and incentives through our public outreach campaign discussed in F.2.b, Anaheim is in agreement with developing new, innovative programs that are beyond water conservation and rationing programs to better communicate issues surrounding water supply constraints facing Orange County. Some examples of Anaheim's recent efforts include: Orphaned Parkway Program - Through this program the City is replacing landscape in • street median and parkway sites with artificial turf to beautify the areas and reduce water use. The City is able to showcase the installation of artificial turf at these sites and through our communication efforts educate the public on how the City is realizing water savings; essential to our overall water conservation effort. Through the installation of 3,382 square feet of artificial turf in four street median/parkway sites, the City is expected to save approximately 150,000 gallons of water per year. Water Recycling Demonstration Project - The City is in process of constructing a Water Recycling Demonstration Project (Project) in downtown Anaheim to showcase the latest in water recycling technology and to increase the public's understanding and awareness of water recycling as a new drought-proof supply. The Project will consist of a 100,000 gallons per day (gpd) water recycling demonstration facility adjacent to City Hall. This facility will be constructed in a visible and accessible location that will provide an educational opportunity to increase the public's understanding and awareness of using recycled water for various uses. The treated recycled water from this Project will be used for toilet flushing in City Hall West, landscape irrigation around City Hall and in nearby parks, and could potentially be used for toilet flushing and landscape irrigation in future developments in downtown Anaheim. Emergency Planning The Water Emergency Response Organization of Orange County (WEROC) was established to coordinate regional emergency planning among water and wastewater agencies in Orange --- 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . County and to conduct disaster type events like the one recommended. The City has already implemented this recommendation through our participation in the Golden Guardian exercise in 2008, where a complete sudden break in imported supplies to Orange County was simulated. Anaheim, along with twenty of Orange County's water and wastewater utilities participated in this exercise. This type of exercise or variations of it are repeated periodically. In regards to engaging the public in water emergency exercises, the City has a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) that promotes the ongoing training and participation of public volunteers by providing many educational opportunities to better prepare for and respond to disasters. In addition, the Anaheim Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) program, sponsored by the Anaheim Fire Department's Office of Disaster Preparedness provides volunteers with radio equipment skills, supplemental training and operational readiness in which they can assist with emergency communications in the event they are needed during a local or widespread disaster. RACES radio operators are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission and all members agree to attend regular meetings and participate in training sessions. Recommendation R.3: Each MWDOC member agency should reaffirm to LAFCo that it will assign the resources necessary to expediently resolve regional governance issues. While the subject study is being facilitated by LAFCo, the options are with the agencies to decide what is best for all. Once conclusions are reached, the parties need to agree quickly and, hopefully, unanimously to adopt a course of action. (Findings F3 a, b & c) Response to Recommendation R.3: The City of Anaheim is not a member of MWDOC; therefore, a response is not provided. Recommendation R.4: Each Orange County retail and wholesale water agency should affirm its commitment to a fair-share financial responsibility in completing the emergency water supply network for the entire County. The entire County should be prepared together for any conditions of drought, natural or human-caused disaster, or any other catastrophic disruption. WEROC should commence meetings of all parties, to facilitate consensus on an equitable funding/financing agreement. (Finding F4 a & b) Response to Recommendation R.4: The City of Anaheim is already implementing this recommendation. The City has already implemented this recommendation by participating in WEROC's emergency planning and preparedness activities that impact the water and wastewater agencies within the County. We believe there may have been confusion in the Grand Jury Report between a catastrophic impact of a Delta Failure, which is more of a long term water supply issue, and therefore different than a WEROC test exercise type of system failure event. Although, much work is underway on resolution of the Delta issues it is not through WEROC. WEROC does conduct test exercises in Orange County of the type noted by the Grand Jury, but WEROC's purpose and the focus of their emergency planning is to improve "system reliability", the ability to continue meeting demands when parts of the water system have suffered outages. This system reliability is distinguished from "supply" reliability, which has to do with having supplies to deliver through the system. With respect to regional system reliability, Orange County has been successful in requesting MWD to improve the reliability of the Diemer Filtration Plant in Yorba Linda. MWD is in the process of making substantial investments to protect the plant from being damaged by seismic events. The Diemer Plant treats most of the imported drinking water in Orange County. Moreover, Anaheim has an Office of Disaster Preparedness that is dedicated to providing disaster preparedness education and information to the City, its residents, and businesses. The City's comprehensive Emergency Management Program includes all elements necessary to respond quickly and effectively to major emergencies. These elements include an Emergency Operations Plan, Emergency Operations Center, Public Safety Officers, Public Education Programs and trained volunteers (CERT and RACES programs). The City of Anaheim has experienced a tremendous amount of growth since its founding over 150 years ago. Anaheim's municipal water system, which was established in 1879, has been carefully managed since that time, ensuring that the City's residents, businesses and visitors are provided with a safe, reliable water system. This effective management will continue through carefully coordinated land use and water system planning, proactive collaboration with state, regional and local water agencies and through public education efforts aimed at raising awareness and promoting conservation. The City has a longstanding history of balancing its growth with the availability water and we expect that legacy to continue even as the region's water supply becomes further constrained. Respectfully submit Curt Pringle Mayor C: Orange County Grand Jury (paper and electronic copies) City Clerk, City of Anaheim . . .