AB 1667: Water management planning.

(1)Existing law requires the state to achieve a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use in California by December 31, 2020. Existing law requires each urban retail water supplier to develop urban water use targets and an interim urban water use target, as specified, and requires each agricultural water supplier to implement efficient water management practices.

This bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board, in consultation with the Department of Water Resources, to adopt long-term standards for urban water conservation and water use on or before May 20, 2021. The bill would also require the board, in consultation with the department, to adopt performance measures for commercial, industrial, and institutional water use on or before that date. The bill would authorize a court or public entity to hold a person civilly liable in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for a violation of a regulation adopted under these provisions, unless the regulation provides otherwise.

The bill would require an urban water supplier to calculate a water use target, as provided, no later than July 1 of each calendar year, beginning the calendar year after the board adopts long-term standards for urban water conservation and water use. The bill would require an urban water supplier to submit an annual report to the department for these purposes by July 1 of each year. The bill would authorize the board to issue information orders, written notices, and conservation orders to an urban water supplier that does not meet its water use target, as specified.

The bill would also authorize the board to issue a regulation or informational order requiring a distributor of a public water supply to submit information relating to water production, water use, or water conservation.

(2)Existing law requires an agricultural water supplier to submit an annual report to the department that summarizes aggregated farm-gate delivery data using best professional practices.

This bill would require the annual report for the prior year to be submitted to the department by April 1 of each year, as provided, and to be organized by basin within the service area of the agricultural water supplier.

(3)Existing law establishes procedures for reconsideration and amendment of specified decisions and orders of the board. Existing law authorizes any party aggrieved by a specified decision or order of the board to file, not later than 30 days from the date of final board action, a petition for writ of mandate for judicial review of the decision or order.

This bill would apply these procedures to decisions and orders of the board issued pursuant to the provisions described in paragraph (1), including existing provisions and those added by this bill.

(4)Existing law authorizes the board to issue a cease and desist order in response to a violation or threatened violation of certain requirements, including specified emergency regulations adopted by the board. Under existing law, a person who violates a cease and desist order of the board may be liable for each day in which the violation occurs, as specified. Revenue generated from these penalties is deposited in the Water Rights Fund. The moneys in the Water Rights Fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for, among other things, the administration of the boards water rights program.

This bill would authorize the board to issue a cease and desist order in response to a violation or threatened violation of any regulation adopted by the board, except as provided.

(5)Existing law, the Urban Water Management Planning Act, requires every public and private urban water supplier that directly or indirectly provides water for municipal purposes to prepare and adopt an urban water management plan and to update its plan once every 5 years on or before December 31 in years ending in 5 and zero, except as specified. Existing law defines urban water supplier to mean a supplier, either publicly or privately owned, providing water for municipal purposes either directly or indirectly to more than 3,000 customers or supplying more than 3,000 acre-feet of water annually.

This bill would require an urban water management plan to be updated on or before July 1, in years ending in 6 and one, incorporating updated and new information from the 5 years preceding the plan update. The bill would require the department to propose to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before August 1, 2020, recommendations and guidance relating to the development and use of countywide drought contingency plans to address drought planning for small water suppliers and rural communities, as provided.

(6)Existing law requires an urban water management plan, among other things, to describe the reliability of the water supply and vulnerability to seasonal or climatic shortage, to the extent practicable, and provide data for an average, single-dry, and multiple-dry water years.

This bill would require an urban water management plan to contain a drought risk assessment, as defined, that examines water shortage risks for a drought lasting the next 5 or more consecutive years.

(7)Existing law requires that an urban water management plan provide an urban water shortage contingency analysis, that includes, among other things, an estimate of the minimum water supply available during each of the following 3 water years based on the driest 3-year historic sequence for the agencys water supply.

This bill would require an urban water supplier to prepare, adopt, and periodically review a water shortage contingency plan, as prescribed, and as part of its urban water management plan. The bill would require a water shortage contingency plan to consist of certain elements that are within the authority of the urban water supplier, including, among other things, annual water budget forecast procedures, standard water shortage levels, shortage response actions, and communication protocols and procedures. The bill would require an urban water supplier to make the water shortage contingency plan available to its customers and any city or county within which it provides water supplies no later than 30 days after adoption. The bill would require an urban water supplier to conduct an annual water budget forecast and submit an annual water shortage assessment report to the department with information for anticipated shortage, triggered shortage response actions, compliance and enforcement actions, and communication actions consistent with the suppliers water shortage contingency plan by June 1 of each year. The bill would require an urban water supplier to adhere to the procedures and implement determined shortage response actions in its water shortage contingency plan in drought and water shortage conditions. The bill would authorize the department to update a certain guidebook, as specified.

(8)Existing law requires an urban water supplier to submit copies of its urban water management plan and copies of amendments or changes to the plan to certain entities, including the Department of Water Resources, as prescribed. Existing law makes an urban water supplier that does not prepare, adopt, and submit its urban water management plan to the department as prescribed ineligible to receive certain funding.

This bill would extend these provisions to apply to a water shortage contingency plan. The bill would require an urban water supplier regulated by the Public Utilities Commission to include its most recent urban water management plan and water shortage contingency plan as part of its general rate case filings.

(9)Existing law requires the department to prepare and submit to the Legislature, on or before December 31, in the years ending in 6 and 1, a report summarizing the status of plans adopted pursuant to the act and to provide a copy of the report to each urban water supplier that has submitted its plan to the department.

The bill would instead require the department to prepare and submit the report about plans adopted pursuant to the act to the Legislature on or before July 1, in the years ending in 7 and 2. The bill would require the department to prepare and submit to the State Water Resources Control Board, on or before June 1 of each year, a report summarizing the submitted water budget forecast results along with appropriate reported water shortage conditions developed by the department and information regarding various shortage response actions implemented as a result of water budget forecast assessments, as prescribed, for the board to determine if noncompliance enforcement is necessary.

(10)Existing law authorizes the governing body of a distributor of a public water supply to declare a water shortage emergency condition to prevail within the area served by the distributor whenever it finds and determines that the ordinary demands and requirements of water consumers cannot be satisfied without depleting the water supply of the distributor to the extent that there would be insufficient water for human consumption, sanitation, and fire protection.

This bill would instead require the governing body of a distributor of a public water supply to declare a water shortage emergency condition whenever it finds and determines the above-described circumstances or upon determining a water shortage of 40% or greater exists. The bill would require an urban water supplier to declare a water shortage emergency if either a water shortage of 40% or greater is determined to exist or in the event that a severe catastrophic interruption of the urban water suppliers water supply has occurred. The bill would require an urban water supplier to coordinate with any city or county within which it provides water supply services for a possible proclamation of a local emergency.

(11)Existing law requires an agricultural water supplier to prepare and adopt an agricultural water management plan with specified components on or before December 31, 2012, and to update those plans on or before December 31, 2015 and on or before December 31 every 5 years thereafter. Existing law requires the agricultural water supplier to submit copies of its plan to specified entities no later than 30 days after the adoption of the plan, and requires the department to prepare and submit to the Legislature, on or before December 31 in years ending in 6 and years ending in one, a report summarizing the status of the plans.

This bill would revise the components of the plan and additionally require a plan to include an annual water budget based on the quantification of all inflow and outflow components for the service area of the agricultural water supplier and a drought plan describing the actions of the agricultural water supplier for drought preparedness and management of water supplies and allocations during drought conditions.

The bill would require an agricultural water supplier to update its agricultural water management plan on or before April 1, 2021, and thereafter on or before April 1 in years ending in 6 and in years ending in one. The bill would require an agricultural water supplier to submit its plan to the department no later than 30 days after the adoption of the plan. The bill would require the department to review an agricultural water management plan and notify an agricultural water supplier if the department determines that it is noncompliant, as provided. The bill would authorize the department, if it has not received a plan or determined that the plan submitted is noncompliant, to contract with certain entities to prepare or complete a plan on behalf of the agricultural water supplier.

The bill would require an agricultural water supplier to submit copies of its plan to specified entities no later than 30 days after the departments review of the plan. The bill would require the department to submit its report summarizing the status of the plans to the Legislature on or before April 30 in years ending in 7 and in years ending in 2.