The results are in. California’s 446 urban water suppliers have conducted their supply and demand assessments, and 95.5% say they will have ample supplies to meet projected demand in the coming year, even if it is dry. The remaining 4.5% who project some level of shortage have identified response actions to address and mitigate the potential shortage.
The Annual Shortage Report is a yearly stress test for water suppliers and serves as an important tool for successful and effective local water shortage contingency planning, ensuring water supply reliability and drought resiliency. This year’s Annual Shortage Reports cover projections for the 12 months from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026. The Department of Water Resources prepares a report summarizing the findings by September 30 and submits it to the State Water Resources Control Board.
This Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment Summary Report contains projected water shortage information at the urban water supplier level as well as regional and statewide analyses of water supply conditions. It also includes information on water shortage response actions taken by urban water suppliers.
It is worth noting that suppliers’ assessments are projections that are based on locally defined assumptions. There is an inherent variability in the way suppliers do their assessments because each urban water supplier uses their own discretion regarding determining unconstrained demand, selecting of dry year and calculations of its impact on supplies and demands, selecting water shortage response actions, calculating benefits from water shortage response actions, and selecting the time-step used in the assessment. However, even though the assessments are based on assumptions, they serve the important purpose of enabling suppliers to be prepared to minimize the impact of any potential shortages in the event of a dry year or other conditions.
Submitted reports indicate that the most frequently selected water shortage response actions primarily focus on fixing water leaks, implementing landscape watering restrictions, and implementing CII water use restrictions or prohibitions.
The report notes that the ongoing implementation of some demand reduction actions is becoming the norm for many California urban water suppliers through continuous water conservation efforts. This is clearly demonstrated by the higher number of suppliers implementing or planning to implement demand reduction actions, beyond the small number of suppliers that project shortages.
