Each year, Ventura Water assesses the City’s water supply sources – Lake Casitas, Ventura River, and local groundwater basins – in the Comprehensive Water Resources Report (CWRR). The report evaluates the City’s water supply and demand, while considering future needs, challenges and uncertainties relating to Ventura’s water supply reliability. The results of the CWRR are used in partnership with the Water Shortage Event Contingency Plan (WSECP) to determine whether the City is in a water shortage event.
The 2022 CWRR was discussed and reviewed by the City’s Water Commission in March and April 2022 and by the City Council in May 2022. The results of the 2022 CWRR indicate that the City of Ventura’s projected water supply is 17,224 acre-feet (AF) and projected water demand is 14,970 AF, indicating that the City of Ventura is currently not experiencing a water shortage event.
While the results of the 2022 CWRR indicate a local water shortage event is not triggered, on May, 31, 2022, the City Council authorized the expansion of a public information campaign for water conservation and the implementation of Stage 2 Water Shortage Event demand reduction measures to comply with the State Drought Related Emergency Regulation for Water Conservation as adopted by the SWCRB. In response, the City is encouraging residents to take indoor and outdoor conservation measures to voluntarily reduce water use by up to 20 percent. At this time, the City is not implementing Water Shortage Rates, however stricter measures including Water Shortage Rates could be implemented if demand reductions are not achieved.