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Supply and Demand Scenarios

Recommendations

Addendum by SAWS Board

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Original 1998 Water Resource Plan

n 1998, after much analysis, community deliberation, and planning, the San Antonio City Council adopted the fifty-year Water Resource Plan of the San Antonio Water System. The 1998 Plan established the guiding principles for water resource development and defined SAWS "...leadership role in the protection and development of water supplies for the San Antonio and Bexar County area."

The adoption of the 1998 Plan and subsequent approval in 2000 of a multi-year funding mechanism to implement the plan, established the requirement that SAWS periodically review the 1998 Plan and make necessary adjustments in response to "...new policies, changing circumstances, and new technologies." To fulfill this requirement, the President/CEO, David Chardavoyne, appointed an ad hoc Water Supply Task Force in February 2005 to conduct a comprehensive review of water supply plans.

To guide the evaluation process, the Task Force reaffirmed SAWS commitment to the principles governing the development of the 1998 Plan. In addition, the Task Force made more explicit SAWS commitment to identify a portfolio of water supply projects that will enable SAWS to provide an affordable, diversified, and sustainable supply of water resources now and in the future. To fulfill these commitments, the Task Force reevaluated the entire water resource plan, including population projections, per capita consumption estimates, aggregate demand forecasts, and supply development options to ensure that SAWS approach:

• Provides adequate water supplies, even during critical drought periods
• Postpones dependence on more costly resource supplies, if possible
• Promotes greater use of non-Edwards Aquifer supplies in the long-term
• Fulfills the needs of San Antonio customers, while providing the region with the option to utilize SAWS as the regional wholesale provider
• Recognizes the reality that future supplies must be affordable.