RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - A four-member working group appointed to examine questions about Rancho Murieta’s draft Integrated Water Master Plan (IWMP) presented its report to the Rancho Murieta Community Services District Improvements Committee on Aug. 13.

Two primary issues emerged at the meeting. First, the report concluded that three major assumptions in the 2024 master plan update were not supported by facts, as well as other findings. Second, the community urgently needs a secondary water source, which, for now, could only come from groundwater. While the secondary supply issue generated considerable discussion, the report did not dwell on it, as the district had already hired Water System Consultants (WSC) to conduct a groundwater analysis, including a well-siting study.

At the close of the discussion, the committee voted to forward the group’s 12-page report – “Work Group Report: IWMP Questions, Issues and Findings and Recommended Next Steps & Guiding Principles to Advance Water Planning” – to the full board for consideration on Aug. 20. The report and meeting audio are available in the Aug. 13 Improvement Committee’s meeting  packet on the district’s website.

The working group was created on April 16 when Board President John Merchant won board approval to form the panel and appointed himself chair. He named Operations Director Eric Houston and community members Janis Eckard and Jim Farrell to serve with him.

Houston, a 19-year water industry professional, was appointed as the new operations director last November. He explained the purpose of the new report at the meeting.

“This was to tie up a lot of questions that have been asked not only by board members, but by the community,” Houston said. “The conclusion is we still need a consultant to step in and help wrap up the Integrated Water Master Plan, because there still are unanswered questions and some data that needs to be reworked… so that we have good numbers for what we would look like during a severe drought, when we could potentially run out of water.”

Reworked data will be incorporated into an Urban Water Supply Plan, which the state will require once the district adds 35 more water connections and becomes classified as an urban water district subject to stricter regulations. The board is expected to contract with Water System Consultants for that work.

Merchant, a retired businessman who has lived in Rancho Murieta for many years, has served as vice president of Saving Our Lakes & Open Spaces (SOLOS) since its founding in 2015, advocating for responsible development. The group later shifted its focus to water issues. Merchant said he first became involved with water in 2010. He chairs the district’s Improvements Committee.

Merchant said the current and past studies have been fairly consistent in estimating water demand. The problem, he added, has been the “so out of kilter” figures used to project water supply.

Merchant said consultant Lisa Maddaus noted in the current water master plan that Rancho Murieta’s water system is at high risk, a concern not raised in earlier reports. He added, however, that the plan does not fully account for the worst-case scenario: the 1976-77 drought, when no water could be pumped from the river. He emphasized that planning should be based on the most challenging but realistic conditions to ensure the community’s protection.

“I can’t control it completely, and I may get screwed eventually, but I want to do everything that I can to minimize the risk,” he said.

Another issue, he said, is that the study stops with 2022 data.

“That’s a problem when 2024 was a monumental year, with extreme heat, high evaporation and 52 days over 100 degrees.”

Merchant said he has never opposed development in the community, noting that reasonable growth could help address many of the community’s infrastructure and revenue challenges. 

“But until we secure a secondary source of supply, there just isn’t water to do that,” he said.

He reinforced his point with a bank analogy: “I’m not doing anything unless that water is in the bank, and I can see it, feel it and touch it.”

Eckard, a licensed real estate broker, has also been a developer. She co-owned a construction company with her husband, who built and designed about 150 homes in the community.

While she does not oppose development, Eckard has long questioned past district water studies that continued to raise the number of homes supposedly supported by the community’s water supply, even though the actual supply never increased.

“I've been coming in front of this board since 2006; I feel like the little gnat that has irritated everybody for years,” she said.

Eckard said the working group concluded that three water supply assumptions in the 2024 Integrated Water Master Plan were not grounded in fact.

On Lake Clementia as a water source, she explained, “We’re not permitted to do it. We don’t know if our water treatment plant can clear it… so we took Clementia out because we don’t have the right at this time to use it,” indicating that securing permits from the State Water Board can take years.

Regarding the use of recycled water as an offset to potable water, she said the math in the water plan “doesn’t work,” and the infrastructure needed for residential use is lacking. At present, all recycled water is directed to the country club.

For flash board capacity, Eckard pointed out that the water plan counted storage gained by installing flash boards on the reservoir dams, something the state does not allow.

“Those three assumptions alone change the results of this study by over 2,000 acre-feet of water,” she said. “I want to let that sink in for a second. We don’t use that much in a year.”

Farrell and his wife returned to Rancho Murieta a few years ago after retiring. He began attending board meetings and soon developed an interest in water issues.

“My work experience was dedicated to developing strategic plans for providing healthcare services to communities,” he said. “The only thing that might be more important than healthcare is assuring that we have water.”

Farrell argued against designing a water system based on emergency conservation levels: an assumption used in earlier studies, according to comments at the meeting.

“The state requires plans for droughts, such as reducing use by 50%, but that doesn’t mean you design your entire system around that,” he said.

Farrell emphasized the need to calculate water demands for the 350 already entitled (county-approved) properties in the Riverview and Residences subdivisions: a step that has yet to be taken. 

“We know we have a shortage. How much? How big is it?” he asked.

Farrell also referred to the Integrated Water Master Plan’s title as a misnomer. 

“It’s not a plan until the board picks the priorities, lays out action steps, sets realistic timelines and measurements… then you figure out how you’re going to finance it. That’s when it becomes a plan.”

Engineer Randy Jenco is a board member who serves on the Improvements Committee with Merchant. He was persistent in seeking an engineering-based answer to the water supply problem, focusing on the specific number and capacity of wells required. 

“If I do a test well and I know how much water it’s bringing up, how many wells do I need based on that information?” he asked.

Updating the Integrated Water Master Plan became a focus in 2022 when Rancho North updated its application for 697 lots with the county. Developer comments at the time heightened urgency. The district’s request for proposals drew only one bid – a joint submission from Maddaus Water Management and Adkins Engineering – which the board approved in December 2022.

Maddaus later concluded that the community could meet future water needs under certain assumptions and mitigations, but SOLOS and Eckard challenged several of those assumptions from the outset. Despite acknowledging concerns, the board took no major action until the 317-page draft was completed in October 2024.

The board then initiated a 45-day review period and sought an outside technical review. Little progress was made until January, when Houston advised against finalizing the water plan, citing its lack of a clear path forward. He suggested that the district develop an Urban Water Supply Plan instead, which the state will require once the district reaches 3,000 water connections and becomes subject to new regulatory requirements as an urban water supplier.

Houston told the board he had asked Water System Consultants – which recently developed an Urban Water Supply Plan and Water Vision report for the City of Folsom – to provide a scope of work for a similar plan for the district.

While the board was taken aback at WSC’s initial cost estimate for both documents, the district has since contracted with the consulting firm for the groundwater study and is expected to hire it to prepare the Urban Water Supply Plan when it becomes a state requirement.