As we have seen in the past several decades, seasonal variations in weather patterns have a significant impact on water supply, especially when drought conditions persist across consecutive years. Since we have no control over mother nature, it is important to plan for future drought conditions to ensure that residents, businesses, and ecosystems are prepared. Apart from drought, water shortages can also result from other catastrophic events, such as wildfire, water quality contamination, and critical water system infrastructure failure. The purpose of drought and water shortage planning is to have a process in place to mitigate impacts and respond to these conditions when they occur.
El Dorado Water Agency (Agency) provides countywide water resources management, which means that coordinating and developing comprehensive drought and water shortage plans are part of the Agency’s efforts. Planning for these situations is a collaborative process with a wide array of interested parties, including local, regional, state, and federal partners. To ensure the various perspectives from the spectrum of water interests are understood, the Agency convenes two collaborative advisory groups (referred to as task forces) to facilitate drought and water shortage preparedness through proactive planning and coordination.
In 2023, the Agency completed the Upper American River Basin Regional Drought Contingency Plan for the West Slope region. The Agency is currently in the process of preparing a County Drought and Water Shortage Resilience Plan for small water systems and domestic wells throughout the entire county. These planning efforts assess water supply vulnerabilities and lay the framework to mitigate both short-term and long-term impacts of drought or water shortage events. Further details of these plans are provided below.
Upper American River Basin Regional Drought Contingency Plan
The Agency recognized the importance of having a regionally accepted and implementable plan to create a lasting and significant improvement in drought resiliency. To create this type of plan, extensive collaboration was needed from a wide range of local entities that may be affected by droughts. The Agency completed the Upper American River Basin Regional Drought Contingency Plan (UARB RDCP) in collaboration with an Executive Committee and Drought Planning Task Force. These groups included the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), Tribes, public water purveyors, land use agencies, and environmental interests in the West Slope of El Dorado County.
The UARB RDCP aims to improve long-term water resilience to droughts and expand mitigation planning throughout the West Slope region, including the Other County Area which is not currently served by public water purveyors. The plan implements Resource Management Strategy 7 (Improve Drought Preparedness and Responses) from the Agency’s Water Resources Development and Management Plan, which was most recently updated in 2024. The UARB RDCP development was funded by Reclamation’s WaterSMART program and the Agency’s non-federal cost share. The UARB RDCP complements public water agency-specific water shortage contingency plans, provides a coherent approach on a regional level for better coordination, and promotes the benefits shared by the entire West Slope area.