ONTARIO – The Countywide Vision Water Element Group today presented progress made toward a comprehensive water management plan that ensures sustainable water supplies in the County for future population and economic growth at the 7th Annual San Bernardino County Water Conference.
The plan aims to enhance the County’s water portfolio through greater conservation efforts; investment in improved infrastructure for local, imported and recycled water supplies; and environmental stewardship.
The Water Element Group is comprised of public and private water agencies, regulators, planners, educators and business people who are working together on solutions to a potential imbalance between population growth and water supply.
The group has determined that the County has enough water to supply residents, business and agricultural needs through 2035 if there is a commitment from the community to invest in capital projects and programs to store new water supplies, protect current water supplies and increase conservation efforts.
At today’s conference, County Chief Executive Officer Gregory C. Devereaux said the work the group has done so far is crucial to determining how and where to invest in future growth. In the past, water resources and infrastructure were not always a part of planning and developing projects.
“If we conserve our water and if we invest our resources and infrastructure differently, we have enough water to support our future growth,” Devereaux said.
The Water Element Group is developing two documents: a countywide inventory of water conservation programs and a countywide inventory that identifies land to protect for water recharge projects.
The group will evaluate the impact of water use efficiency programs to identify and promote best practices before publishing the water conservation programs inventory online.
In the next few months, the County and the San Bernardino Associated Governments will assist the Water Element Group by holding discussions with business, residents and land use planning agencies to review the need for water conservation, landscaping ordinances and the protection of land for stormwater and imported water recharge sites.
For more information about what the Water Element Group is doing, read the
Executive Summary and view the presentation at https://cao-vision.sbcounty.gov/.