Water Oranoe Street Address: September 16,2009

California's looming water supply crisis receives very little, if any, expressed concern from the public in comparison to the numerous other environmental issues presented during development project reviews. (a). Orange County's citizens and interest groups do not appear to grasp the seriousness of the water supply situation or the complexity and urgency of the necessary solutions. (b). Several recent, substantial water supply awareness efforts are underway (e.g. the O.C. Water Summit) that show promise but appear targeted to audiences that are already informed. We agree that the water crisis receives too little concern, but it is not for lack of trying by the water community. Water is not as visible as traffic congestion because the public cannot feel the "water congestion" until cutbacks become mandatory. This is part of the difficulty of getting water issues to be recognized by the public. If water were to be turned off for only a couple of hours today, the county would be in an uproar in short order. Outlined below are the outreach efforts that are currently being utilized along with several questions: Municipal Water District of Orange County Response to the Grand Jury on "Paper Water" -September 2009 Is this a crisis? What should we do about it? What can we do about it? Crisis communications cannot be sustained over the long run. Some in the water community believe that we have reached a crisis, while others believe it is a problem to be resolved over time. The water community itself does not speak with one voice. What do we want the public to do about it? How can the public best be motivated? Do we want to scare the public? What course of action will maintain the best working relationship with the public and build the most trust for the long run? The public needs to trust what the water community is doing and support investments in our water future. Also, a course of action to develop and sustain long term changes in the efficiency of use by customers is critical as will be having an informed constituency for decision-making and voting (when necessary). The water community has been extremely successful, leading to complacent consumers. There are considerable challenges to getting the public to understand the intricacies and nuances of this framework. However, the gains from having a better informed public are to motivate them towards an improved efficiency with which they use water, have them understand the need for additional investments for new supplies and have them educated for purposes of securing positive votes on water related initiatives, if needed. Water is not an interesting topic unless there is a line break with a major sink hole, a sewer spill on the other end of the system or people being forced to curtail their use. Typically, people do not see all that it takes to provide water to our homes and businesses. Many take water for granted, which - causes it to be under valued. Customers turn on the tap and the water comes out sprinklers turn on and the water comes out. 'the water industry typically does not have brown outs or black outs, but has a high degree of reliability and safety, probably somewhere beyond 99.99% (% of time water comes out of the tap). The water industry has many communication and outreach avenues, but the spending by public entities is generally low compared to industries that would spend at much higher levels to brand or market new products. Still, water industry communications can be and are effective. In recent years, the water industry has collectively advertised itself as the "Family of Southern California Water Agencies" and promoted "Bewaterwise.com" to get the word out on the water supply situation and water conservation tips and opportunities. Retail agencies utilize bill stuffers, newsletters and websites to inform the public. In Orange County, we have monthly meetings of a Public Affairs Workgroup made up of the staff from all of the retail agencies. They work to develop and implement consistent message points for the public. MET also has a Public Information Officers workgroup that coordinates outreach and communication among the MET member agencies. Due to the expense and the limited budgets of the retail agencies, the brunt of the TV and radio media outreach has been developed by MET through an advertising campaign. Municipal Water District of Orange County Response to the Grand Jury on "Paper Water" -September 2009 While we are always open to new methods of communication, we believe the existing communication system works. Polling conducted to track water industry messages and the understanding of the public indicates that high percentages of people understand there is a water crisis (76% in a recent survey by MWDOC). Furthermore, 78% indicated they would change their water using habits to conserve to prevent water rationing and 67% believe that their water agency does an effective job of keeping them informed about water supply. We also believe high percentages of the public are engaged because of recent actions such as the "run" on rebates for water conservation devices, which pushed spending up to a point where the available funding was exceeded several times over. Following is an outline of our current outreach efforts: In June of 2008, Public Affairs Workgroup began developing a regional message that incorporated three critical elements of a long term communication strategy: The message must be positive Focus on water-use efficiency and eliminating water waste Adaptable at the retail level A comprehensive, strategic communication plan was developed that incorporates grassroots education, strategic partnerships and guerrilla marketing techniques. Research has shown that this approach has been most successful in achieving social change. The following logo was adopted: WATER: DO MORE WITH 1.ESS This plan augments and enhances the large media campaign that Metropolitan is orchestrating Increases visibility throughout the region Integrates new technology and social marketing channels as well. A critical part of the plan is to engage strategic partners to help carry the message. Everyday new partners are signing on. Current strategic partners include: IBM Hurley Sportswear Volcom Sempra Energy Surfer Magazine Latino Water Coalition Municipal Water District of Orange County Response to the Grand Jury on "Paper Water" - September 2009 8 Transworld Media Sunset Magazine Fuel TV Other parts of the program include: Huell Howser contracted with the Association of California Water Agencies to produce 15 episodes about California Water. This series is being utilized to help inform citizens. Cable channels are being used to get the word out Educational Inspection Tours are provided by MET for each of its Directors to host community leaders to get the word out on water issues We have one of the best School Education Programs in the state for water awareness education in grades K-6; it reaches about 90,000 students per year and has reached about 3,000,000 since 1972. - Water Heroes a new program aimed at kids and families, focuses on identifying water wasting habits and eliminating them. Over the past two years, 7500 kids have signed up on www.ocwaterhero.com Given all of this communication and work that is planned, will there still be shortages as part of the "looming water crisis"? As discussed in other locations in this response, there are many issues that need to be resolved to fix the state's water crisis. That means until these issues are resolved, we fully expect that water shortages will occur from time to time.

LAFCO is the agency charged with facilitating constructive changes in governmental structure to promote efficient delivery of services. To this end, LAFCO is conducting a governance study of MWDOC which is the designated representative for nearly all of the Orange County retail water agencies, acting on their behalf with their surface water supplier, Metropolitan. (a). There are a number of points of governance disagreement between MWDOC and several of its member agencies. This is creating an impediment to the on-going effectiveness of these agencies in critical areas of Orange County's water supply management. (b).T he current disagreement is a distraction from the greater good of the agencies working toward Orange County's water future. (c). The stakeholders in LAFCO's study failed to meet their March 11, 2009 deadline for LAFCO's public hearing on this matter. Continued delays are unacceptable. Agree. This issue needs to be resolved -the sooner the better. Municipal Water District of Orange County Response to the Grand Jury on "Paper Water" -September 2009 9

Orange County is uniquely fortunate to have a vast, high-quality, well-managed groundwater basin serving its north geographical area. However, in its south reaches, it has an equally large, high-growth area with virtually no available groundwater resources. (a). The difference in groundwater availability creates a "haves versus have-nots" situation that is conducive to inherent conflicts. (b).T he difference in groundwater availability provides opportunities for responsible participants to develop and construct long-term solutions which will benefit the entire County. Agree on finding 4.a.) that the difference in groundwater availability creates a "haves versus have-nots", but we do not find a problem with this. This recognition of water rights mirrors the way Orange County was developed. Development in South County was enhanced by the south county water agencies ability to obtain imported supplies and develop extensive recycled water programs. Disagree partially on finding 4.b. The finding is not clearly stated, but appears to include two implications that we believe require expanded information. The first implication is that local resources are not being fully developed in south Orange County. This is not correct. Critical groundwater, recycled water and ocean water supplies are all being developed in south Orange County. While the Grand Jury is correct in its supposition that there are opportunities presented in this issue as well as problems, the second implication here is that the OCWD Groundwater Basin has the capacity to serve the entire county. This is not correct. The groundwater basin is managed and utilized to provide water supplies to its overlying constituent landowners. The operable storage in the basin has been developed at substantial cost and is insufficient to meet all demands within the basin. Currently, the groundwater basin meets about 62% of the needs of the overlying agencies (historically, has ranged from 62% to 80%) and the groundwater cost is substantially less than the cost of imported water. If additional supplies can be developed, the % distribution to the overlying entities would increase. It will never reach 100% and so it can be concluded that the supplies from the basin must remain in the basin to benefit the basin constituents. This is also consistent with water rights law and the OCWD Act that formed OCWD and governs how it operates and manages the basin. Use of storage in the OCWD basin is allowed by agreement with OCWD. OCWD has entered into storage arrangements that allow MET to store up to 66,000 AF of imported water and to recall as much as 20,000 AF out of this same storage in any one year. This additional yield out of storage benefits everyone in Southern California. In addition, a February 2006 Emergency Services Program Agreement was developed with OCWD that allows emergency water supplies Municipal Water District of Orange County Response to the Grand Jury on "Paper Water" -September 2009 10 from the basin to be exchanged with south Orange County. This program is currently being used to allow exchange of water to south Orange County during emergency situations. Finally, development of projects by OCWD like GWRS benefits the south County area as well as all of southern California. Allowing access to the lower cost groundwater outside of the basin or allowing access to more storage by south Orange County would increase the cost to the basin agencies and put them at risk. GRAND JURY RECOMMENDATIONS: R.l: 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 F1a & b, and F2 a & b) This recommendation will NOT be implemented because each agency that serves water already prepares an Urban Water Management Plan and updates it every five years. In addition, MET prepares an UWMP, its IRP and updates and its Water Supply Outlook periodically. Collectively, these documents provide what has been suggested. For new developments of greater than 500 units, a Water Supply Assessment must be completed - this is existing law. In addition, the water community measures performance (supplies vs. demands), and as we move forward we will be able to make adjustments in the process. However, complying with the Grand Jury request for every municipal planning agency would be a duplication of efforts and ineffective in accomplishing the goal of the recommendation.