San Dieguito Water District advances 2025 UWMP, assumes zero Lake Hodges surface water until 2040

San Dieguito Water District advances 2025 UWMP, assumes zero Lake Hodges surface water until 2040The California utility is projecting sufficient water supply through 2050 to support planned housing growth, relying heavily on San Diego County Water Authority surpluses while local surface water remains offline.

SDWD's draft 2025 Urban Water Management Plan projects water demand to peak in 2030 due to 2,000 planned residential units, followed by decreases driven by state conservation mandates.

The district is taking a conservative planning approach, modeling zero local surface water availability from Lake Hodges until 2040.

Stress tests indicate the San Diego County Water Authority will have a 250,000 acre-foot surplus by 2030, ensuring sufficient supply for SDWD under multiple dry-year scenarios.

The board unanimously approved scheduling public hearings for the UWMP and its Water Shortage Contingency Plan for May 20, 2026.

The San Dieguito Water District (SDWD) board reviewed its draft 2025 Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) on April 15, mapping out water supply and demand projections through 2050. A central feature of the district's long-term planning is the conservative assumption that local surface water from Lake Hodges will be unavailable until at least 2040. Principal Engineer Elmer Alex noted that any demand not met by local surface water will be augmented by purchases from the San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA). Board members supported the conservative approach, citing uncertainty around the future of the local Lake Hodges supply and concerns over water quality as local volumes decrease. Currently, residential use accounts for 75% of SDWD's water consumption, with water losses accounting for 4%. The UWMP projects an initial demand peak in 2030, driven by the anticipated construction of 2,000 single-family and multi-family units. However, demand is expected to decrease slightly in 2035 and 2040 as the utility implements the state's "Making Conservation a Way of Life" standards, before seeing slight population-driven increases toward 2050. Despite the lack of local surface water, drought risk assessments and stress tests indicate SDWD has sufficient supply to meet future demands under normal, single-dry, and multiple-dry year scenarios. SDWD represents approximately 0.5% of SDCWA's overall demand, and SDCWA projects a 250,000 acre-foot surplus of supplies by 2030 to support its member agencies. The board unanimously agreed to advance the draft UWMP and the district's Water Shortage Contingency Plan to public hearings scheduled for May 20, 2026. Staff noted that no changes are currently recommended for the shortage contingency plan, which was previously adopted in 2021.