Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to calculate its urban water use objective no later than January 1, 2024, and by January 1 every year thereafter, and to be composed of the sum of specified data, including aggregate residential water use. Existing law requires each urban retail water suppliers water use objective to be composed of the sum of specified aggregate estimates, including efficient outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters or equivalent technology in connection with water used by commercial water users, industrial water users, institutional water users, and large landscape water users (CII). Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to submit reports to the Department of Water Resources, as provided, by the same dates.

This bill would require the department to, no later than January 1, 2035, conduct necessary studies and investigations regarding the efficiency performance of newly constructed residential landscapes and landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters in connection with CII water use, as specified. The bill would require the department, if appropriate, to recommend to the State Water Resources Control Board for adoption a revised standard for existing residential landscapes and landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters in connection with CII water use regarding an ongoing performance standard for those water uses.

This bill would require the department to update methodologies and criteria for calculating residential and CII landscape areas and to determine landscape area measurements within each urban retail water suppliers service area by January 1, 2028, and once every 5 years thereafter, as specified, and post the data on its internet website. The bill would specify that an urban retail water supplier, in its calculations of its urban water use objectives, shall include aggregate indoor and outdoor residential water use. The bill would require, as part of the report to be submitted in 2026, each urban retail water supplier to provide a narrative that describes the water demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its urban water use objective by January 1, 2030.

Existing law authorizes the board, on or after January 1, 2024, to issue informational orders pertaining to water production, water use, and water conservation to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2025, to issue a written notice to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2026, to issue a conservation order to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective.

This bill would instead extend the time by which until the board is authorized to issue informational orders to on or after January 1, 2026, issue a written notice to on or after January 1, 2027, and issue a conservation order to on or after January 1, 2028.

Existing law requires the department, in coordination with the board, to submit a report to the Legislature on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective on or before January 1, 2028.

The bill would instead require the report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2030.

Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that the chairperson of the board and the director of the department appear before the appropriate policy committees of both houses of the Legislature on or around January 1, 2026, and report on the implementation of the water use efficiency standards and water use reporting.

This bill would extend this date to not later than July 1, 2031.

Existing law provides that an urban retail water supplier who violates certain regulations after November 1, 2027, may be liable for specified penalties, as provided.

This bill would instead provide that urban retail water suppliers may be liable for specified penalties for violating those regulations after November 1, 2029.

Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies.

This bill would require the board to enact emergency regulation, as specified, in accordance with the provisions of the act.

Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to calculate its urban water use objective no later than January 1, 2024, and by January 1 every year thereafter. year thereafter, and to be composed of the sum of specified data, including aggregate residential water use. Existing law requires each urban retail water suppliers water use objective to be composed of the sum of specified aggregate estimates, including efficient outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters or equivalent technology in connection with water used by commercial water users, industrial water users, institutional water users, and large landscape water users (CII). Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to submit reports to the Department of Water Resources, as provided, by the same dates.

This bill would require the department to collect and update data for outdoor residential landscapes and CII landscapes at least once every 10 years update methodologies and criteria for calculating residential and CII landscape areas and to determine landscape area measurements within each urban retail water suppliers service area by January 1, 2028, and once every 5 years thereafter, as specified, and post the data on its internet website. The bill would authorize an urban retail water supplier to submit reports by January 1 or July 1 whether reporting is submitted on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. The bill would specify that an urban retail water supplier, in its calculations of its urban water use objectives, shall include aggregate indoor and outdoor residential water use. The bill would require, as part of the report to be submitted in 2026, each urban retail water supplier to provide a narrative that describes the water demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its urban water use objective by January 1, 2030.

Existing law authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board, board, on or after January 1, 2024, to issue informational orders pertaining to water production, water use, and water conservation to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2025, to issue a written notice to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2026, to issue a conservation order to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective.

This bill would instead extend the time by which the board is authorized to issue informational orders to on or after January 1, 2026, issue a written notice to on or after January 1, 2027, and issue a conservation order to on or after January 1, 2028.

Existing law requires the department, in coordination with the board, to submit a report to the Legislature on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective on or before January 1, 2028.

The bill would instead require the report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2030.

Existing law provides that an urban retail water supplier who violates certain regulations after November 1, 2027, may be liable for specified penalties, as provided.

This bill would instead provide that urban retail water suppliers may be liable for specified penalties for violating those regulations after November 1, 2029.

Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to calculate its urban water use objective no later than January 1, 2024, and by January 1 every year thereafter. Existing law requires each urban retail water suppliers water use objective to be composed of the sum of specified aggregate estimates, including efficient outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters or equivalent technology in connection with water used by commercial water users, industrial water users, institutional water users, and large landscape water users (CII). Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to submit reports to the department, Department of Water Resources, as provided, by the same dates.

This bill would require the department to collect and update data for outdoor residential landscapes and CII landscapes at least once every 10 years and post the data on its internet website. The bill would authorize an urban retail water supplier to submit reports by January 1 or July 1 whether reporting is submitted on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. The bill would require, as part of the report to be submitted in 2026, each urban retail water supplier to provide a narrative that describes the water demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its urban water use objective by January 1, 2030.

Existing law authorizes the board, State Water Resources Control Board, on or after January 1, 2024, to issue informational orders pertaining to water production, water use, and water conservation to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2025, to issue a written notice to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2026, to issue a conservation order to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective.

This bill would instead extend the time by which the board is authorized to issue informational orders to on or after January 1, 2026, issue a written notice to on or after January 1, 2027, and issue a conservation order to on or after January 1, 2030. 2028.

Existing law requires the department, in coordination with the board, to submit a report to the Legislature on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective on or before January 1, 2028.

The bill would instead require the report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2030.

Existing law provides that an urban retail water supplier who violates certain regulations after November 1, 2027, may be liable for specified penalties, as provided.

This bill would instead provide that urban retail water suppliers may be liable for specified penalties for violating those regulations after November 1, 2031. 2029.

Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, in coordination with the State Water Resources Control Board, to conduct necessary studies and investigations, and recommend for adoption by the board appropriate variances for unique uses that can have a material effect on an urban retail water suppliers urban water use objective. Existing law requires the department, in recommending variances, to also recommend a threshold of significance for each recommended variance. Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to request and receive approval by the board for inclusion of a variance in calculating their water use objective. Existing law requires the board to post specified information on its internet website relating to variances, including a list of all urban retail water suppliers with approved variances.

This bill would require the board to adopt variances recommended by the department for unique uses that can have a material effect on an urban retail water suppliers urban water use objective. The bill would provide that variances adopted by the board shall not be subject to a threshold of significance. The bill would require an urban retail water supplier to self-certify the amount of water included in its urban water use objective that is attributable to a variance. The bill would require the board to randomly audit a select number of variances each year to ensure the self-certifications are based on variances adopted by the board. The bill would delete the provision relating to posting specified information about variances on the boards internet website and the provision requiring an urban retail water supplier to request and receive approval by the board for inclusion of a variance in calculating their water use objective.

Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to calculate its urban water use objective and its actual urban water use no later than January 1, 2024, and by January 1 every year thereafter. Existing law requires each urban retail water suppliers water use objective to be composed of the sum of specified aggregate estimates, including efficient outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters or equivalent technology in connection with water used by commercial water users, industrial water users, institutional water users, and large landscape water users (CII). Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to submit reports to the department, as provided, by the same dates.

This bill would require the department to collect and update data for outdoor residential landscapes and CII landscapes once every 10 years and post the data on its internet website. The bill would authorize an urban retail water supplier to include in the calculation of the urban retail water suppliers water use up to 20% of the landscape areas that are not currently irrigated but could be irrigated. The bill would authorize an urban retail water supplier to submit reports by January 1 or July 1 whether reporting is submitted on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. The bill would require, as part of the report to be submitted in 2026, each urban retail water supplier to provide a narrative that describes the water demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its urban water use objective by January 1, 2030.

Existing law authorizes the board, on or after January 1, 2024, to issue informational orders pertaining to water production, water use, and water conservation to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2025, to issue a written notice to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2026, to issue a conservation order to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective.

This bill would instead extend the time by which the board is authorized to issue informational orders to on or after January 1, 2026, issue a written notice to on or after January 1, 2027, and issue a conservation order to on or after January 1, 2030.

Existing law requires the department, in coordination with the board, to submit a report to the Legislature on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective on or before January 1, 2028.

The bill would instead require the report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2030.

Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, in coordination with the State Water Resources Control Board, to conduct necessary studies and investigations, and recommend for adoption by the board appropriate variances for unique uses that can have a material effect on an urban retail water suppliers urban water use objective. Existing law requires the department, in recommending variances, to also recommend a threshold of significance for each recommended variance. Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to request and receive approval by the board for inclusion of a variance in calculating their water use objective. Existing law requires the board to post specified information on its internet website relating to variances, including a list of all urban retail water suppliers with approved variances.

This bill would require the board to adopt variances recommended by the department for unique uses that can have a material effect on an urban retail water suppliers urban water use objective. The bill would provide that variances adopted by the board shall not be subject to a threshold of significance. The bill would require an urban retail water supplier to self-certify the amount of water included in its urban water use objective that is attributable to a variance. The bill would require the board to randomly audit a select number of variances each year to ensure the self-certifications are based on variances adopted by the board. The bill would delete the provision relating to posting specified information about variances on the boards internet website and the provision requiring an urban retail water supplier to request and receive approval by the board for inclusion of a variance in calculating their water use objective.

Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to calculate its urban water use objective and its actual urban water use no later than January 1, 2024, and by January 1 every year thereafter. Existing law requires each urban retail water suppliers water use objective to be composed of the sum of specified aggregate estimates, including efficient outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters or equivalent technology in connection with water used by commercial water users, industrial water users, institutional water users, and large landscape water users (CII). Existing law requires an urban retail water supplier to submit reports to the department, as provided, by the same dates.

This bill would require the department to collect and update data for outdoor residential landscapes and CII landscapes once every 10 years and post the data on its internet website. The bill would authorize an urban retail water supplier to include in the calculation of the urban retail water suppliers water use up to 20% of the landscape areas that are not currently irrigated but could be irrigated. The bill would authorize an urban retail water supplier to submit reports by January 1 or July 1 whether reporting is submitted on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. The bill would require, as part of the report to be submitted in 2026, each urban retail water supplier to provide a narrative that describes the water demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its urban water use objective by January 1, 2030.

Existing law authorizes the board, on or after January 1, 2024, to issue informational orders pertaining to water production, water use, and water conservation to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2025, to issue a written notice to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective. Existing law authorizes the board, on and after January 1, 2026, to issue a conservation order to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective.

This bill would instead extend the time by which the board is authorized to issue informational orders to on or after January 1, 2026, issue a written notice to on or after January 1, 2027, and issue a conservation order to on or after January 1, 2030.

Existing law requires the department, in coordination with the board, to submit a report to the Legislature on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective on or before January 1, 2028.

The bill would instead require the report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2030.

Date of Hearing: August 7, 2024

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 1330

Author:(Archuleta) – As Amended Ver:June 26, 2024

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill delays the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB) authority to enforce the urban water use objective and impose penalties, requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to study water efficiency performance, requires the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to complete a report, and makes other changes to the urban water use objective statute.

Specifically, this bill:

1. For an urban retail water agency not meeting its urban water use objective, delays by two years the dates on which the SWRCB may issue certain corrective orders, as follows: an informational order, from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2026; a written warning, from January 1, 2025 to January 1, 2027; and a conservation order, from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2028.
2. Delays potential penalties of $1,000 per day and $10,000 per day during droughts for violations of urban water use objective regulations, from November 1, 2027 to November 1, 2029.
3. Requires DWR to analyze water efficiency performance of newly constructed residential landscapes and commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) landscapes and recommend, if appropriate, a new standard for existing residential landscapes and CII landscapes for SWRCB to adopt in regulations.
4. Requires DWR to update the methodology for calculating residential and CII landscape areas, if necessary, and to measure landscape area within each urban retail water supplier’s service area by January 1, 2028, with updates every five years thereafter, and post landscape area measurements (LAM) on its website, with LAM including tree canopy coverage data no later than January 1, 2039.
5. Specifies details on including aggregate indoor and outdoor residential use when calculating urban water use objectives, and requires 2026 reports to DWR to describe demand management measures to achieve urban water use objectives.
6. Requires LAO to report to the Legislature by January 10, 2029, evaluating the implementation of the urban water use objective standards and water use reporting.
7. Requires SWRCB to adopt emergency regulations to implement this bill.

FISCAL EFFECT:

DWR reports General Fund costs at a minimum of $65 million by 2039, including $27 million by 2028 for recollecting LAM data, with a decreasing but similar amount for each update; $8 million to collect tree canopy coverage data by 2039, or more if use of Lidar technology is necessary; and $30 million for water efficiency studies of newly constructed landscapes by 2035, which will require homeowner participation, precipitation modeling, and obtaining agreements and data.

SWRCB reports minor and absorbable costs to review suppliers’ planned water demand measures in 2026 reports. However, if DWR recommends changes to regulations after it conducts required research on outdoor landscapes and tree canopies, unknown but significant General Fund costs to review, evaluate, and potentially implement DWR’s recommendation.

According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the General Fund faces a structural deficit in the tens of billions of dollars over the next several fiscal years. 

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

This bill will provide flexibility for water suppliers to comply with the water conservation mandates, which will reduce costs and provide more time for reaching the urban water use objectives established in the 2018 laws. At the same time, [this bill] will help Californians who are facing ever-increasing water bills both at home and at work. California is a high cost of living state and anything we can do to bring affordability to residents and businesses just makes sense.

1. Background. This bill makes changes to the urban water use objective statute and, if enacted, takes effect January 1, 2025, the same effective date as new final urban water use regulations SWRCB adopted on July 3, 2024. This underlying statute requires SWRCB, by June 30, 2022, to adopt regulations setting urban water use objectives, which are conservation or efficiency goals for each of the roughly 400 urban suppliers of water that serve about 95% of Californians. The statute requires urban retail water agencies to begin calculating and reporting indoor and outdoor water use to SWRCB annually in January 2024. It also authorizes SWRCB to enforce the objectives by issuing informational orders as of January 2024, warning notices on January 2025, and conservation orders on January 2026, and impose penalties for a violation occurring after November 1, 2027, if an urban water agency is not meeting its objective. This bill extends these enforcement dates by two years to reflect the two-year delay in adopting the regulations.

Other provisions of this bill add new requirements, not simply modifications or date extensions, to the statute underlying the recently adopted regulations. The Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee analysis of this bill, released before SWRCB adopted final regulations, noted that enacting this bill likely will require further changes to those new regulations or they will conflict as soon as effective January 1, 2025. Under this bill, SWRCB is required to implement this bill with emergency regulations.

1. Related legislation. SB 1110 (Ashby), of the current legislative session, permits SWRCB to adopt a policy to guide its enforcement of urban water use objective regulations, delays enforcement of the objectives by two years, consolidates reporting on urban water use, and allows water agencies to report on a calendar or fiscal year basis. SB 1110 is pending in this Committee.
2. Prior Legislation. SB 606 (Hertzberg), Chapter 14, Statutes of 2018, and AB 1668 (Friedman), Chapter 15, Statutes of 2018, required SWRCB to adopt urban water use objectives by June 30, 2022.

Analysis Prepared by: Jacqueline Kinney / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: June 25, 2024

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE

Diane Papan, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 1330

Author:(Archuleta) – As Amended Ver:June 13, 2024

SENATE VOTE: 39-0

SUBJECT: Urban retail water supplier: water use

SUMMARY: Delays the State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Water Board) authority to enforce the urban water use objective, deletes obsolete reporting requirements, requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to study efficiency performance of certain classes of landscapes, requires the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to complete another report on the implementation of the urban water use objective by January 10, 2029, and makes other changes to the urban water use objective statute. Specifically, this bill:

1. Delays applicability of penalties of $1,000/day and $10,000/day during droughts for violations of the urban water use objective regulations from November 1, 2027 to November 1, 2029.
2. Repeals the requirement for urban wholesale water suppliers to include an assessment of their efforts to help achieve water use reduction targets (e.g., 20% urban water use reduction, urban water use objective) in their urban water management plans.
3. Repeals the requirement for urban retail water suppliers to assess and report on their efforts to help achieve the 20x2020 goal in their urban water management plans.
4. Requires DWR to analyze the water efficiency performance of newly constructed residential landscapes and commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) landscapes with dedicated irrigation meters to determine whether these landscapes are using the same amount of water for which they are designed and to explain any divergences if the landscapes are using more water than intended.
5. Requires DWR to recommend, if appropriate, a new standard for existing residential landscapes and CII landscapes with dedicated irrigation meters for adoption by the State Water Board.
6. Requires DWR to update methodology for calculating residential and CII landscape areas, if necessary, and measure landscape area within each urban retail water supplier’s service area by January 1, 2028. DWR shall update the landscape area measurements every five years after 2028 and post landscape area measurements on its website.
7. Provides that landscape area measurements completed per #6, above, must include tree canopy data no later than January 1, 2039 for purposes of variances for water use to irrigate trees.
8. Clarifies that urban retail water suppliers shall include aggregate indoor residential use and aggregate outdoor residential use when calculating their urban water use objectives.
9. Requires urban retail water suppliers to include a narrative description of demand management measures that will be implemented to achieve their urban water use objective in the 2026 report to DWR on achieving the urban water use objective.
10. Delays the date on which the State Water Board may issue an informational order to an urban retail water agency that is not meeting its urban water use objective from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2026.
11. Delays the date on which the State Water Board may issue a written warning to an urban retail water agency that is not meeting its urban water use objective from January 1, 2025 to January 1, 2027.
12. Delays the date on which the State Water Board may issue a conservation order to an urban retail water agency that is not meeting its urban water use objective from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2028.
13. Requires LAO to report to the Legislature by January 10, 2029 evaluating the implementation of the urban water use objective standards and water use reporting.
14. Declares legislative intent that the Chair of the State Water Board and director of DWR appear before the relevant policy committees in both houses of the Legislature to report on the implementation of the urban water use objective standards no later than July 1, 2031 (rather than January 1, 2026 per existing law).
15. Delays the deadline on a DWR report on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective from January 1, 2028 to January 1, 2030.
16. Provides that any regulations necessary to implement this bill shall be adopted by the State Water Board as emergency regulations and declares that any such regulations are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, and general welfare.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires the State Water Board, in coordination with DWR, to adopt long-term standards for outdoor residential use, outdoor irrigation with dedicated irrigation meters in conjunction with CII water use, and a volume for water loss by June 30, 2022 (Water Code § 10609.2).
2. Requires each “urban retail water supplier” to calculate its urban water use objective no later than January 1, 2024 and by January 1 every year thereafter. The urban water use objective shall be the sum of the following: (a) aggregate estimated efficient indoor residential water use; (b) aggregate estimated efficient outdoor residential water use; (c) aggregate estimated efficient outdoor CII water use with dedicated irrigation meters; (d) aggregate estimated efficient water loses; (e) aggregate estimated water use with variances, as appropriate; and (f) bonus incentives for potable reuse (Water Code §10609.20).
3. Authorizes the State Water Board to issue informational orders beginning January 1, 2024, written warnings beginning January 1, 2025, or conservation orders beginning January 1, 2026 to urban retail water suppliers that do not meet their urban water use objective to help said urban retail water supplier meet its urban water use objective (Water Code § 10609.26).
4. Defines “urban retail water supplier” as either a public or private water supplier that provides potable municipal water to more than 3,000 end users or that supplies more than 3,000 acre-feet annually at retail for municipal purposes (Water Code § 10608.12).
5. Requires, under the Urban Water Management Planning Act (WAT § 10610 et seq.), 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 (Water Code § 10620).
6. Requires each urban water supplier to update and submit its urban water management plan to DWR every five years (Water Code § 10621).
7. Establishes a statewide goal of achieving a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use by December 31, 2020 (20x2020 goal) (Water Code § 10608.16).
8. Requires urban wholesale water suppliers to include an assessment of efforts to help achieve the 20x2020 goal in their urban water management plans (Water Code § 10608.36).
9. Requires urban water retail suppliers to report to DWR on their progress in meeting the 20x2020 goal in their urban water management plans (Water Code § 10608.40).

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose of this bill. This bill makes several changes to the urban water use objective statute. The author argues that this bill “will provide flexibility for water suppliers to comply with the water conservation mandates, which will reduce costs and provide more time for reaching the urban water use objectives established in the 2018 laws. At the same time, [this bill] will help Californians who are facing ever-increasing water bills both at home and at work. California is a high cost of living state and anything we can do to bring affordability to residents and businesses just makes sense.”
2. Background. Following the 2012-16 drought, then-Governor Brown issued the “Making Conservation California Way of Life” Executive Order [(EO) B-37-16] directing DWR to work with the State Water Board “to develop new water use targets as part of a permanent framework for urban water agencies.” DWR and the State Water Board released a framework in 2017 (2017 Framework) that outlined a suite of actions that could be implemented under existing authorities and recommended additional actions that could be implemented with new or expanded authorities given by the Legislature.
   
   Making Conservation a Way of Life package. Various bills to implement aspects of the 2017 Framework were introduced in the Legislature in 2017. This led to a roughly year-long process that involved the Brown Administration, the Legislature, and numerous stakeholders and culminated in a two-bill package [SB 606 (Hertzberg) and AB 1668 (Friedman)] that established a foundation for long-term improvements in water conservation and drought planning to adapt to climate change. These two bills provided expanded and new authorities and requirements to drive more efficient use of water and better prepare the state for future droughts.
   
   Urban water use objective. A major component of SB 606 and AB 1668 is that urban retail water agencies have to reduce their water use by meeting an “urban water use objective” that they must begin calculating and reporting to the State Water Board annually in January 2024. The urban water use objective is the sum of: (1) indoor residential water use; (2) outdoor residential water use; (3) outdoor CII use associated with dedicated irrigation meters; (4) water losses; (5) variances, if applicable; and (6) bonus incentives for recycled water, if applicable. The objective and the standards that go into setting it apply on an annual aggregate basis and do not apply to individual customers or even on a monthly basis. A given agency may exceed one or more of the standards (except for water losses) so long as, in the aggregate, that agency is meeting its overall objective.
   
   To enforce the urban water use objective, the State Water Board is authorized to begin issuing informational orders as of January 2024. Subsequently, the State Water Board can issue written warning notices beginning January 2025 and conservation orders beginning January 2026 to any urban water agency that is not meeting its urban water use objective. A written warning can request that that a water agency address “areas of concern” in its next annual report and a conservation order may include a referral to DWR for technical assistance, requirements for education and outreach, requirements for local enforcement, or other efforts to assist the water agency in meeting its urban water use objective. This bill delays the dates on which the State Water Board can begin issuing informational orders, written warnings, and conservation orders by two years each to accommodate the delay in developing the standards.
   
   Making Conservation a Way of Life draft regulations. Standards for the urban water use objective were supposed to be finalized by June 2022 (see Existing Law #1, above); as such, implementation of the urban use objective is now two years behind schedule. The delay is, in part, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The State Water Board issued the first draft of regulations in Fall 2023. Water agencies and a report by the LAO were very critical of the first draft arguing that the regulations were overly complex, cost prohibitive, and unrealistic. Subsequently, the State Water Board released second draft on March 12, 2024. The second draft made several changes in response to comments and criticism received on the first draft, including the following:

• Allows suppliers to include approved variances and temporary provisions in the calculation of their urban water use objective for five years (rather than one year);
• Delays applicability of more rigorous outdoor residential water use standards by five years (so more rigorous standards kick in on July 1, 2035 and July 1, 2040, respectively);
• Permits water suppliers to include a buffer of up to 20% of land that is potentially irrigable, but not actually irrigated, when calculating their outdoor residential use standard; and,
• Deletes provisions requiring a ban on non-functional turf by 2025 given the enactment of legislation to ban non-functional turf beginning January 1, 2027 [AB 1572 (Friedman) Chapter 849, Statutes of 2023].

The State Water Board issued third draft of the regulations on May 20, 2024. This third draft had fewer changes with the more substantive changes pertaining to variances for residential and CII trees and how recycled water use is calculated under the urban water use objective. The regulations are expected to be finalized this summer.

1. Arguments in support. The El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) supports this bill arguing that it makes necessary changes to the urban water use objective statue to accommodate delays, make changes recommended by the LAO and save costs. EID maintains that this bill’s requirement that DWR determine irrigable landscape areas will “relieve suppliers, many of which serve disadvantaged communities, from the burden of measuring landscapes and also should result in a reduction in future General Fund expenditures by changing from an annual calculation to at least a once in a decade calculation.”
2. Arguments in opposition. California Coastkeeper Alliance and a number of environmental organizations oppose this bill arguing that it is premature because regulations have not yet been finalized, lacks necessary guidelines regarding outdoor water use, and skews the report this bill requires the LAO to complete by 2029. California Coastkeeper et al. note that they had previously removed their opposition, but that recent amendments have caused them to once again oppose this bill. California Coastkeeper et al. maintain that this bill requires DWR “to identify new outdoor efficiency targets for recommendation to the State Water Board, without any guidance as to what those targets are meant to achieve. Moreover, [this] bill requires [LAO] to release a report that focuses solely on ‘issues’ regarding the accuracy of the data, not the accuracy of the data generally, leading to a skewed report.”
3. Policy consideration. This bill makes a number of changes to the urban water use objective statute yet regulations to implement this statute are presently in draft form and expected to be finalized later this year. Given that this bill will likely require further changes to the regulations if it is enacted into law, the Committee may wish to consider whether it is premature to makes changes to an underlying statute while draft regulations are still pending.
4. Proposed committee amendments. This bill repeals a provision in existing law requiring wholesale water suppliers to include an assessment of present and future efforts to conserve water. This includes measures taken to achieve the 20x2020 target, but also other goals for water conservation in Part 2.55 of the Water Code. The challenges posed by climate change to the water sector make the repeal of this section questionable. It behooves water suppliers to continue to pursue increased conservation and efficiency and this existing section of law provides some accountability to do just that. The Committee may wish to request that the author take the following amendment:

Amendment 1

SEC. 2. Section 10608.36 of the Water Code is repealed.

Reporting on 20x2020 goal. This bill repeals a requirement that urban retail water suppliers report on progress in meeting the 20x2020 goal in their urban water management plan. Given that a handful of suppliers still have not met the 20% reduction target and to prevent regression on water conservation efforts, it does not make sense to repeal this reporting requirement. Further, this does not seem like an onerous requirement given that urban water management plans are updated and submitted to DWR in five-year intervals. The Committee may wish to request that the author retain the reporting requirement in existing law to keep water suppliers focused on realizing increase water use efficiency:

Amendment 2

SEC. 3. Section 10608.40 of the Water Code is repealed.

Tree canopy and landscape area. This bill directs DWR to again measure landscape area within each supplier’s service territory by 2028 and periodically going forward. While there is merit to this requirement, as written, there is some confusion and inconsistency with the provision directing DWR to also include tree canopy in its measurement. To address this, the Committee may wish to request that the author take the following technical amendments:

Amendment 3

10609.20…. (f) (1) The department shall update methodologies and criteria for calculating residential and CII landscape areas, if necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter, and determine landscape area measurements within each urban retail water supplier’s service area to be completed by January 1, 2028, and once every five years thereafter.

(2) Landscape area measurements determined pursuant to paragraph (1) shall, no later than January 1, 2039, include tree canopy coverage data for purposes of calculating a variance for water use associated with irrigating existing trees in existing residential landscapes and CII water use with dedicated irrigation meters landscapes.

(3) The department shall post landscape area measurement data on its internet website.

Updated LAO report. An evaluation by the LAO in 2029 makes sense; however, assessing the accuracy of data or the “issues” with data accuracy is likely beyond the scope of the LAO’s expertise. To focus such a report on areas within the LAO’s area of competency, the Committee may wish to request that the author take the following amendment:

Amendment 4

10609.30. On or before January 10, 2029, the Legislative Analyst shall provide to the appropriate policy committees of both houses of the Legislature and the public a report evaluating the implementation of the water use efficiency standards and water use reporting pursuant to this chapter. The board and the department shall provide the Legislative Analyst with the available data to complete this report.

(a) The report shall describe all of the following:

(1) The rate at which urban retail water users are complying with the standards, and factors that might facilitate or impede their compliance.

(2) Issues identified regarding the accuracy of the data and estimates being used to calculate urban water use objectives.

(3) Indications of the economic impacts, if any, of the implementation of this chapter on urban water suppliers and urban water users, including CII water users.

1. Conflict with other pending legislation. Some sections of this bill amend the same sections of law that SB 1110 (Ashby) and AB 3121 (Hart) also amend. Many of the changes these bills make are similar if not identical, but to avoid chaptering out issues, the Committee may wish to direct the author address these chaptering out issues in the event that any or all of these bills are signed into law by the Governor.
2. Related legislation. SB 1110 (Ashby) of the current legislative session permits the State Water Board to adopt an enforcement policy to enforce the urban water use objective and other statutes; delays enforcement of urban water use objective by two years; consolidates reporting on urban water use; and allows reporting to be on a calendar or fiscal year basis. SB 1110 is also set for hearing before this Committee.
   
   AB 3121 (Hart) of the current legislative session delays by two years each the dates on which the State Water Board may begin issuing orders to enforce the urban water use objective and requires the LAO to report to the Legislature on implementation of the urban water use objective by January 10, 2028. AB 3121 is pending before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
   
   AB 1572 (Friedman), Chapter 849, Statutes of 2023, prohibits the use of potable water to irrigate nonfunctional turf on CII (except for cemeteries), homeowners' association, common interest development, and community service organization landscape areas. Begins a phase-in of this ban on specified property types beginning January 1, 2027.
   
   SB 1157 (Hertzberg), Chapter 679, Statutes of 2022, lowers the statewide indoor residential water use standard from 55 gallons per capita daily (gpcd) to 47 gpcd beginning January 1, 2025, and from 50 gpcd to 42 gpcd beginning January 1, 2030 and requires DWR, in coordination with the State Water Board, to conduct studies and investigations to assess specified impacts of this standard.
   
   AB 2157 (Blanca Rubio) of 2022 would have made technical changes to indoor residential use standard statute. AB 2157 died in the Assembly Rules Committee.
   
   AB 1434 (Friedman) of 2022 would have established an indoor residential water use standard of 47 gpcd beginning January 1, 2025 and 42 gpcd beginning January 1, 2030. AB 1434 died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
   
   AB 1414 (Friedman), Chapter 239, Statutes of 2019, realigns the various reporting dates established in SB 606 and AB 1668 so that all reports required by those bills are due on either July 1 or January 1, and makes other minor technical amendments.
   
   AB 1668 (Friedman), Chapter 15, Statutes of 2018, establishes an indoor residential water use standard of 55 gpcd until January 1, 2025, of 52.5 gpcd until January 2, 2030, and of 50 gpcd thereafter and requires DWR to submit a report to the Legislature that may recommend a different indoor residential use standard by January 1, 2021, among other provisions.
   
   SB 606 (Hertzberg), Chapter 14, Statutes of 2018, establishes urban water use objectives and water use reporting requirements so urban water supplier and the State Water Board can track whether or not an urban water supplier is meeting its urban water use objective, among other provisions.
   
   SBx7 7 (Steinberg), Chapter 4, Statutes of 2009-10 Seventh Extraordinary Session, establishes the 20x2020 goal, among other provisions.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Association of California Water Agencies
Bellflower-Somerset Mutual Water Company
California Water Association
Desert Water Agency
El Dorado Irrigation District
League of California Cities
Palmdale Water District
Rowland Water District
Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District
Walnut Valley Water District

Opposition

California Coastkeeper Alliance
Coachella Valley Waterkeeper
Humboldt Waterkeeper
Inland Empire Waterkeeper
Los Angeles Waterkeeper
Mono Lake Committee
Monterey Waterkeeper
Orange County Waterkeeper
Otter Project, The
Russian Riverkeeper
San Diego Coastkeeper
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
Shasta Waterkeeper
South Yuba River Citizens League
Yuba River Waterkeeper

Analysis Prepared by: Pablo Garza / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096

Date of Hearing: June 25, 2024

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE

Diane Papan, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 1330

Author:(Archuleta) – As Amended Ver:June 13, 2024

SENATE VOTE: 39-0

SUBJECT: Urban retail water supplier: water use

SUMMARY: Delays the State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Water Board) authority to enforce the urban water use objective, deletes obsolete reporting requirements, requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to study efficiency performance of certain classes of landscapes, requires the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to complete another report on the implementation of the urban water use objective by January 10, 2029, and makes other changes to the urban water use objective statute. Specifically, this bill:

1. Delays applicability of penalties of $1,000/day and $10,000/day during droughts for violations of the urban water use objective regulations from November 1, 2027 to November 1, 2029.
2. Repeals the requirement for urban wholesale water suppliers to include an assessment of their efforts to help achieve water use reduction targets (e.g., 20% urban water use reduction, urban water use objective) in their urban water management plans.
3. Repeals the requirement for urban retail water suppliers to assess and report on their efforts to help achieve the 20x2020 goal in their urban water management plans.
4. Requires DWR to analyze the water efficiency performance of newly constructed residential landscapes and commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) landscapes with dedicated irrigation meters to determine whether these landscapes are using the same amount of water for which they are designed and to explain any divergences if the landscapes are using more water than intended.
5. Requires DWR to recommend, if appropriate, a new standard for existing residential landscapes and CII landscapes with dedicated irrigation meters for adoption by the State Water Board.
6. Requires DWR to update methodology for calculating residential and CII landscape areas, if necessary, and measure landscape area within each urban retail water supplier’s service area by January 1, 2028. DWR shall update the landscape area measurements every five years after 2028 and post landscape area measurements on its website.
7. Provides that landscape area measurements completed per #6, above, must include tree canopy data no later than January 1, 2039 for purposes of variances for water use to irrigate trees.
8. Clarifies that urban retail water suppliers shall include aggregate indoor residential use and aggregate outdoor residential use when calculating their urban water use objectives.
9. Requires urban retail water suppliers to include a narrative description of demand management measures that will be implemented to achieve their urban water use objective in the 2026 report to DWR on achieving the urban water use objective.
10. Delays the date on which the State Water Board may issue an informational order to an urban retail water agency that is not meeting its urban water use objective from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2026.
11. Delays the date on which the State Water Board may issue a written warning to an urban retail water agency that is not meeting its urban water use objective from January 1, 2025 to January 1, 2027.
12. Delays the date on which the State Water Board may issue a conservation order to an urban retail water agency that is not meeting its urban water use objective from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2028.
13. Requires LAO to report to the Legislature by January 10, 2029 evaluating the implementation of the urban water use objective standards and water use reporting.
14. Declares legislative intent that the Chair of the State Water Board and director of DWR appear before the relevant policy committees in both houses of the Legislature to report on the implementation of the urban water use objective standards no later than July 1, 2031 (rather than January 1, 2026 per existing law).
15. Delays the deadline on a DWR report on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective from January 1, 2028 to January 1, 2030.
16. Provides that any regulations necessary to implement this bill shall be adopted by the State Water Board as emergency regulations and declares that any such regulations are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety, and general welfare.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Requires the State Water Board, in coordination with DWR, to adopt long-term standards for outdoor residential use, outdoor irrigation with dedicated irrigation meters in conjunction with CII water use, and a volume for water loss by June 30, 2022 (Water Code § 10609.2).
2. Requires each “urban retail water supplier” to calculate its urban water use objective no later than January 1, 2024 and by January 1 every year thereafter. The urban water use objective shall be the sum of the following: (a) aggregate estimated efficient indoor residential water use; (b) aggregate estimated efficient outdoor residential water use; (c) aggregate estimated efficient outdoor CII water use with dedicated irrigation meters; (d) aggregate estimated efficient water loses; (e) aggregate estimated water use with variances, as appropriate; and (f) bonus incentives for potable reuse (Water Code §10609.20).
3. Authorizes the State Water Board to issue informational orders beginning January 1, 2024, written warnings beginning January 1, 2025, or conservation orders beginning January 1, 2026 to urban retail water suppliers that do not meet their urban water use objective to help said urban retail water supplier meet its urban water use objective (Water Code § 10609.26).
4. Defines “urban retail water supplier” as either a public or private water supplier that provides potable municipal water to more than 3,000 end users or that supplies more than 3,000 acre-feet annually at retail for municipal purposes (Water Code § 10608.12).
5. Requires, under the Urban Water Management Planning Act (WAT § 10610 et seq.), 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 (Water Code § 10620).
6. Requires each urban water supplier to update and submit its urban water management plan to DWR every five years (Water Code § 10621).
7. Establishes a statewide goal of achieving a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use by December 31, 2020 (20x2020 goal) (Water Code § 10608.16).
8. Requires urban wholesale water suppliers to include an assessment of efforts to help achieve the 20x2020 goal in their urban water management plans (Water Code § 10608.36).
9. Requires urban water retail suppliers to report to DWR on their progress in meeting the 20x2020 goal in their urban water management plans (Water Code § 10608.40).

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose of this bill. This bill makes several changes to the urban water use objective statute. The author argues that this bill “will provide flexibility for water suppliers to comply with the water conservation mandates, which will reduce costs and provide more time for reaching the urban water use objectives established in the 2018 laws. At the same time, [this bill] will help Californians who are facing ever-increasing water bills both at home and at work. California is a high cost of living state and anything we can do to bring affordability to residents and businesses just makes sense.”
2. Background. Following the 2012-16 drought, then-Governor Brown issued the “Making Conservation California Way of Life” Executive Order [(EO) B-37-16] directing DWR to work with the State Water Board “to develop new water use targets as part of a permanent framework for urban water agencies.” DWR and the State Water Board released a framework in 2017 (2017 Framework) that outlined a suite of actions that could be implemented under existing authorities and recommended additional actions that could be implemented with new or expanded authorities given by the Legislature.
   
   Making Conservation a Way of Life package. Various bills to implement aspects of the 2017 Framework were introduced in the Legislature in 2017. This led to a roughly year-long process that involved the Brown Administration, the Legislature, and numerous stakeholders and culminated in a two-bill package [SB 606 (Hertzberg) and AB 1668 (Friedman)] that established a foundation for long-term improvements in water conservation and drought planning to adapt to climate change. These two bills provided expanded and new authorities and requirements to drive more efficient use of water and better prepare the state for future droughts.
   
   Urban water use objective. A major component of SB 606 and AB 1668 is that urban retail water agencies have to reduce their water use by meeting an “urban water use objective” that they must begin calculating and reporting to the State Water Board annually in January 2024. The urban water use objective is the sum of: (1) indoor residential water use; (2) outdoor residential water use; (3) outdoor CII use associated with dedicated irrigation meters; (4) water losses; (5) variances, if applicable; and (6) bonus incentives for recycled water, if applicable. The objective and the standards that go into setting it apply on an annual aggregate basis and do not apply to individual customers or even on a monthly basis. A given agency may exceed one or more of the standards (except for water losses) so long as, in the aggregate, that agency is meeting its overall objective.
   
   To enforce the urban water use objective, the State Water Board is authorized to begin issuing informational orders as of January 2024. Subsequently, the State Water Board can issue written warning notices beginning January 2025 and conservation orders beginning January 2026 to any urban water agency that is not meeting its urban water use objective. A written warning can request that that a water agency address “areas of concern” in its next annual report and a conservation order may include a referral to DWR for technical assistance, requirements for education and outreach, requirements for local enforcement, or other efforts to assist the water agency in meeting its urban water use objective. This bill delays the dates on which the State Water Board can begin issuing informational orders, written warnings, and conservation orders by two years each to accommodate the delay in developing the standards.
   
   Making Conservation a Way of Life draft regulations. Standards for the urban water use objective were supposed to be finalized by June 2022 (see Existing Law #1, above); as such, implementation of the urban use objective is now two years behind schedule. The delay is, in part, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The State Water Board issued the first draft of regulations in Fall 2023. Water agencies and a report by the LAO were very critical of the first draft arguing that the regulations were overly complex, cost prohibitive, and unrealistic. Subsequently, the State Water Board released second draft on March 12, 2024. The second draft made several changes in response to comments and criticism received on the first draft, including the following:

• Allows suppliers to include approved variances and temporary provisions in the calculation of their urban water use objective for five years (rather than one year);
• Delays applicability of more rigorous outdoor residential water use standards by five years (so more rigorous standards kick in on July 1, 2035 and July 1, 2040, respectively);
• Permits water suppliers to include a buffer of up to 20% of land that is potentially irrigable, but not actually irrigated, when calculating their outdoor residential use standard; and,
• Deletes provisions requiring a ban on non-functional turf by 2025 given the enactment of legislation to ban non-functional turf beginning January 1, 2027 [AB 1572 (Friedman) Chapter 849, Statutes of 2023].

The State Water Board issued third draft of the regulations on May 20, 2024. This third draft had fewer changes with the more substantive changes pertaining to variances for residential and CII trees and how recycled water use is calculated under the urban water use objective. The regulations are expected to be finalized this summer.

1. Arguments in support. The El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) supports this bill arguing that it makes necessary changes to the urban water use objective statue to accommodate delays, make changes recommended by the LAO and save costs. EID maintains that this bill’s requirement that DWR determine irrigable landscape areas will “relieve suppliers, many of which serve disadvantaged communities, from the burden of measuring landscapes and also should result in a reduction in future General Fund expenditures by changing from an annual calculation to at least a once in a decade calculation.”
2. Arguments in opposition. California Coastkeeper Alliance and a number of environmental organizations oppose this bill arguing that it is premature because regulations have not yet been finalized, lacks necessary guidelines regarding outdoor water use, and skews the report this bill requires the LAO to complete by 2029. California Coastkeeper et al. note that they had previously removed their opposition, but that recent amendments have caused them to once again oppose this bill. California Coastkeeper et al. maintain that this bill requires DWR “to identify new outdoor efficiency targets for recommendation to the State Water Board, without any guidance as to what those targets are meant to achieve. Moreover, [this] bill requires [LAO] to release a report that focuses solely on ‘issues’ regarding the accuracy of the data, not the accuracy of the data generally, leading to a skewed report.”
3. Policy consideration. This bill makes a number of changes to the urban water use objective statute yet regulations to implement this statute are presently in draft form and expected to be finalized later this year. Given that this bill will likely require further changes to the regulations if it is enacted into law, the Committee may wish to consider whether it is premature to makes changes to an underlying statute while draft regulations are still pending.
4. Proposed committee amendments. This bill repeals a provision in existing law requiring wholesale water suppliers to include an assessment of present and future efforts to conserve water. This includes measures taken to achieve the 20x2020 target, but also other goals for water conservation in Part 2.55 of the Water Code. The challenges posed by climate change to the water sector make the repeal of this section questionable. It behooves water suppliers to continue to pursue increased conservation and efficiency and this existing section of law provides some accountability to do just that. The Committee may wish to request that the author take the following amendment:

Amendment 1

SEC. 2. Section 10608.36 of the Water Code is repealed.

Reporting on 20x2020 goal. This bill repeals a requirement that urban retail water suppliers report on progress in meeting the 20x2020 goal in their urban water management plan. Given that a handful of suppliers still have not met the 20% reduction target and to prevent regression on water conservation efforts, it does not make sense to repeal this reporting requirement. Further, this does not seem like an onerous requirement given that urban water management plans are updated and submitted to DWR in five-year intervals. The Committee may wish to request that the author retain the reporting requirement in existing law to keep water suppliers focused on realizing increase water use efficiency:

Amendment 2

SEC. 3. Section 10608.40 of the Water Code is repealed.

Tree canopy and landscape area. This bill directs DWR to again measure landscape area within each supplier’s service territory by 2028 and periodically going forward. While there is merit to this requirement, this provision also, and inappropriately, directs DWR to include tree canopy as part of the landscape area. This is problematic for two reasons: (1) variances require a level of detail that is best left to the regulatory arena; and (2) doing so would significantly overestimate the landscape area of a given jurisdiction as oftentimes tree canopy in an urban setting covers sidewalks, asphalt, or other impermeable surfaces that should not be considered a “landscape area” for purposes of calculating outdoor water use. To address this, the Committee may wish to request that the author take the following amendment:

Amendment 3

10609.20…. (f) (1) The department shall update methodologies and criteria for calculating residential and CII landscape areas, if necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter, and determine landscape area measurements within each urban retail water supplier’s service area to be completed by January 1, 2028, and once every five years thereafter.

(2) Landscape area measurements determined pursuant to paragraph (1) shall, no later than January 1, 2039, include tree canopy data for purposes of calculating a variance for water use associated with irrigating trees in existing residential and CII water use with dedicated irrigation meters.

(3) The department shall post landscape area measurement data on its internet website.

Updated LAO report. An evaluation by the LAO in 2029 makes sense; however, the opposition has valid point that this bill skews the LAO’s assessment by adding language requiring the LAO to focus on “issues” regarding data accuracy. Keeping the language in existing law will give the LAO a more objective mandate. The Committee may wish to request that the author take the following amendment to address this concern:

Amendment 4

10609.30. On or before January 10, 2029, the Legislative Analyst shall provide to the appropriate policy committees of both houses of the Legislature and the public a report evaluating the implementation of the water use efficiency standards and water use reporting pursuant to this chapter. The board and the department shall provide the Legislative Analyst with the available data to complete this report.

(a) The report shall describe all of the following:

(1) The rate at which urban retail water users are complying with the standards, and factors that might facilitate or impede their compliance.

(2) The Issues identified regarding the accuracy of the data and estimates being used to calculate urban water use objectives.

(3) Indications of the economic impacts, if any, of the implementation of this chapter on urban water suppliers and urban water users, including CII water users.

1. Conflict with other pending legislation. Some sections of this bill amend the same sections of law that SB 1110 (Ashby) and AB 3121 (Hart) also amend. Many of the changes these bills make are similar if not identical, but to avoid chaptering out issues, the Committee may wish to direct the author address these chaptering out issues in the event that any or all of these bills are signed into law by the Governor.
2. Related legislation. SB 1110 (Ashby) of the current legislative session permits the State Water Board to adopt an enforcement policy to enforce the urban water use objective and other statutes; delays enforcement of urban water use objective by two years; consolidates reporting on urban water use; and allows reporting to be on a calendar or fiscal year basis. SB 1110 is also set for hearing before this Committee.
   
   AB 3121 (Hart) of the current legislative session delays by two years each the dates on which the State Water Board may begin issuing orders to enforce the urban water use objective and requires the LAO to report to the Legislature on implementation of the urban water use objective by January 10, 2028. AB 3121 is pending before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
   
   AB 1572 (Friedman), Chapter 849, Statutes of 2023, prohibits the use of potable water to irrigate nonfunctional turf on CII (except for cemeteries), homeowners' association, common interest development, and community service organization landscape areas. Begins a phase-in of this ban on specified property types beginning January 1, 2027.
   
   SB 1157 (Hertzberg), Chapter 679, Statutes of 2022, lowers the statewide indoor residential water use standard from 55 gallons per capita daily (gpcd) to 47 gpcd beginning January 1, 2025, and from 50 gpcd to 42 gpcd beginning January 1, 2030 and requires DWR, in coordination with the State Water Board, to conduct studies and investigations to assess specified impacts of this standard.
   
   AB 2157 (Blanca Rubio) of 2022 would have made technical changes to indoor residential use standard statute. AB 2157 died in the Assembly Rules Committee.
   
   AB 1434 (Friedman) of 2022 would have established an indoor residential water use standard of 47 gpcd beginning January 1, 2025 and 42 gpcd beginning January 1, 2030. AB 1434 died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
   
   AB 1414 (Friedman), Chapter 239, Statutes of 2019, realigns the various reporting dates established in SB 606 and AB 1668 so that all reports required by those bills are due on either July 1 or January 1, and makes other minor technical amendments.
   
   AB 1668 (Friedman), Chapter 15, Statutes of 2018, establishes an indoor residential water use standard of 55 gpcd until January 1, 2025, of 52.5 gpcd until January 2, 2030, and of 50 gpcd thereafter and requires DWR to submit a report to the Legislature that may recommend a different indoor residential use standard by January 1, 2021, among other provisions.
   
   SB 606 (Hertzberg), Chapter 14, Statutes of 2018, establishes urban water use objectives and water use reporting requirements so urban water supplier and the State Water Board can track whether or not an urban water supplier is meeting its urban water use objective, among other provisions.
   
   SBx7 7 (Steinberg), Chapter 4, Statutes of 2009-10 Seventh Extraordinary Session, establishes the 20x2020 goal, among other provisions.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Association of California Water Agencies
Bellflower-Somerset Mutual Water Company
California Water Association
Desert Water Agency
El Dorado Irrigation District
League of California Cities
Palmdale Water District
Rowland Water District
Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District
Walnut Valley Water District

Opposition

California Coastkeeper Alliance
Coachella Valley Waterkeeper
Humboldt Waterkeeper
Inland Empire Waterkeeper
Los Angeles Waterkeeper
Mono Lake Committee
Monterey Waterkeeper
Orange County Waterkeeper
Otter Project, The
Russian Riverkeeper
San Diego Coastkeeper
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
Shasta Waterkeeper
South Yuba River Citizens League
Yuba River Waterkeeper

Analysis Prepared by: Pablo Garza / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: SB 1330

Author: Archuleta (D), et al.

Amended: 4/24/24

Vote: 21

SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 11-0, 4/23/24

AYES: Min, Seyarto, Allen, Dahle, Eggman, Grove, Hurtado, Laird, Limón, Menjivar, Padilla

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-1, 5/16/24

AYES: Caballero, Jones, Ashby, Becker, Bradford, Seyarto

NOES: Wahab

SUBJECT: Urban retail water supplier: water use

SOURCE: Bellflower-Somerset Mutual Water Company

Rowland Water District

Walnut Valley Water District

DIGEST:

This bill makes several changes to the urban water use efficiency framework including moving several dates to reflect implementation delays, among other provisions.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Declares in Article X, Section 2, of the California Constitution “that because of the conditions prevailing in this State the general welfare requires that the water resources of the State be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and that the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable method of use of water be prevented…”
2. Requires the state to achieve a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use by December 31, 2020, as provided. (Water Code (WAT) §10608.16)
3. Requires each urban supplier to calculate its objective no later than January 1, 2024 and every January 1 thereafter based on the urban supplier’s water use conditions for the previous calendar or fiscal year. Requires the objective to be the sum of the following: aggregate estimated efficient indoor residential water use, aggregate estimated efficient outdoor residential water use, aggregate estimated efficient outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters for commercial, industrial and institutional (CII) use, aggregate estimated efficient water losses; and aggregate estimated water use in accordance with variances, with a bonus for the use of potable reuse water, as provided. Requires the calculation of the objective to use landscape area and other data provided by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) or by using alternative data, as specified. (WAT §10609.20)
4. Requires each urban supplier to calculate its actual urban water use no later than January 1, 2024 and by January 1 annually thereafter based upon use for the previous calendar year of the sum of aggregate residential water use, aggregate outdoor irrigation of CII landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters, and aggregate water losses, as provided. (WAT §10609.22)
5. Requires an urban supplier to submit a report to DWR by January 1, 2024 and every January 1 thereafter that includes the objective, the actual urban water use, progress made towards meeting the objective, documentation of the performance measures for CII water use, and a validated water loss audit report, as specified. Requires the first report to provide a narrative that describes the demand management measures planned to be implemented to meet the objective by January 1, 2027. (WAT §10609.24, §10609.25)
6. Makes legislative findings and declarations related to the objective and through comparing the objective to the previous year’s actual use, local suppliers will be in a better position to help eliminate unnecessary use, as provided. Makes additional legislative findings and declarations related to public input and data transparency, and providing flexibility to local suppliers towards achieving water conservation goals. (WAT §10609)
7. Requires the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), in coordination with DWR, to adopt long-term standards for the efficient use of water for outdoor residential water use, outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters for CII use, and a volume for water loss, as provided. (WAT §10609.2) Requires the water loss standards to be those previously promulgated, as provided. (WAT §10609.12)
8. Sets the per capita indoor residential water use at 55 gallons daily until January 1, 2025, 47 gallons daily between January 1, 2025 and January 1, 2030, and then 42 gallons daily thereafter, as provided. (WAT §10609.4)
9. Requires DWR, in coordination with the SWRCB, to conduct studies and investigations and recommend appropriate variances for unique uses that can have a material effect on an urban supplier’s objective to the SWRCB. Identifies certain potential variances such as significant use of swamp coolers or livestock populations, among others. Requires DWR to recommend thresholds of significance for each recommended variance. Requires the SWRCB, in coordination with DWR, to adopt by regulation variances recommended by DWR. Requires an urban supplier to request and receive approval from the SWRCB for using a variance. Requires the SWRCB to post information about variances online, as specified. (WAT §10609.2, §10609.14)
10. Requires appropriate collected data pertaining to urban water reporting requirements be available to the public consistent with the Open and Transparent Water Data Act, as specified. (WAT §10609.15)
11. Requires DWR, in coordination with the SWRCB, to conduct necessary studies and investigations, and recommend guidelines and methodologies to the SWRCB to adopt that identify how an urban supplier calculates its objective, including landscape data, as provided. (WAT §10609.16)
12. Authorizes the SWRCB, as of January 1, 2024, to issue informational orders pertaining to water production, water use, and water conservation to an urban supplier that does not meet its objective. Informational orders are intended to obtain information that may help identify technical assistance needs and to assist urban suppliers in meeting their objectives, as provided. Requires the SWRCB, in determining whether to issue an informational order, to consider the degree to which the urban supplier is not meeting is objective, actions the urban supplier has implemented or will implement and information provided in the DWR reporting. (WAT §10609.26a)
13. Authorizes the SWRCB, as of January 1, 2025, to issue a written notice to an urban supplier that does not meet its objective. Authorizes the written notice to include a warning about not meeting the objective, and to include a request that the urban supplier address areas of concern in its next DWR report, as specified. Requires the SWRCB, in determining whether to issue a written notice to consider whether the urban supplier has received an informational order, the degree to which the objective is not being met, information in the DWR reporting, and actions implemented or that will be implemented to meet the objective. (WAT §10609.26b)
14. Authorizes the SWRCB, as of January 1, 2026, to issue a conservation order to an urban supplier that does not meet its objective. Authorizes a conservation order to include a referral for technical assistance, education and outreach requirements, local enforcement requirements, and other efforts that may help the urban supplier to meet the objective. Requires the conservation order to identify specific deficiencies in progress to meeting the objective and specific actions to address the deficiencies. Authorizes the SWRCB to ask DWR to provide the urban supplier with technical assistance. (WAT §10609.26c)
15. Prohibits the SWRCB from issuing an information order, written notice or conservation order if the objective is not being met due to water loss and the SWRCB is already taking enforcement action related to water loss. (WAT §10609.27)
16. Requires the LAO to provide a report to the Legislature and public evaluating the implementation of the water use efficiency standards and reporting, as specified. (WAT §10609.30)
17. Requires, on or around January 1, 2026, for DWR and SWRCB to appear before appropriate legislative policy committees and report on implementation of the water use efficiency standards and water use reporting, as provided. (WAT §10609.32)
18. Requires DWR, on or before January 1, 2028, in coordination with the SWRCB, to submit a legislative report on the progress of urban suppliers to achieving their objectives, as specified. (WAT §10609.33)

This bill makes several changes to the urban water use efficiency framework including moving several dates to reflect implementation delays, among other provisions.

Specifically this bill:

1. Delays the date the SWRCB could seek a civil penalty for a violation of the water conservation regulations from November 1, 2027 to November 1, 2029.
2. Requires DWR to collect and update data for outdoor residential landscapes and CII landscapes once every 10 years and post the data on its internet website.
3. Requires the urban supplier to submit a report to DWR by January 1 or July 1 depending on whether reporting is submitted on a calendar year or fiscal year basis.
4. Requires, as part of the 2026 report to DWR, that each urban supplier provide a narrative that describes the water demand management measures that the urban supplier plans to implement to achieve its objective by January 1, 2030.
5. Delays by two years to January 1, 2026 when the SWRCB is authorized to issue informational orders. Delays by two years to January 1, 2027 when the SWRCB is authorized to issue written notices.
6. Delays by two years to January 1, 2030 when the SWRCB is authorized to issue a conservation order.
7. Delays by two years to January 1, 2030 when DWR is required to submit a legislative report on progress by urban suppliers to meet their objectives.
8. Makes minor technical and conforming changes to statute.

Background

As California faces a hotter and drier future, the need to conserve water by using it efficiently becomes even more important. Governor Newsom’s Water Supply Strategy calls for conserving up to 500,000 acre-feet per year by 2030. Conservation is less expensive (at $600 - $1,800 per acre-foot) than new water supply infrastructure.

The Water Conservation Act of 2009 required a 20% statewide per capita urban water use reduction by 2020. (SBx7 7, Steinberg, Chapter 5, Statutes of 2009/10 7^th Extraordinary Session) According to DWR, the state surpassed the 20% reduction and reduced per capita urban water use by 32%. About 97% (374 of 386) of urban retail water suppliers (urban suppliers) achieved their targeted 2020 water use reduction.

In 2016, then-Governor Brown issued Executive Order B-37-16 which established the goal of “making [water] conservation a California way of life” and directed his administration to develop water use targets as part of a permanent long-term water conservation framework. Including environmental water, urban water use is about 11% of the state’s annual water use. Of that 11%, over half (6%) is residential use, CII use is 3% and 1% is “other.”

In 2018, the Legislature passed and Governor Brown signed SB 606 (Hertzberg, Chapter 14, Statutes of 2018) and AB 1668 (Friedman, Chapter 15, Statutes of 2018) which established the long-term water conservation framework in law.

This framework requires that DWR and SWRCB work together to develop urban water use conservation or efficiency goals (in this case called urban water use objectives (objectives)) for the roughly 400 urban suppliers that supply water to about 95% of Californians. The urban suppliers must meet their objective, not the individual users that they supply.

The SWRCB is required to adopt implementing regulations by June 30, 2022 (these regulations are still pending and are currently estimated to be approximately 2 years behind schedule).

An objective is the sum of the following:

• 1. Indoor residential water use (standard set in statute),
  2. Outdoor residential water use,
  3. CII outdoor water use with a dedicated irrigation meter,
  4. System water losses (set in an existing SWRCB regulation),
  5. Any applicable variances to the standards (Applicable variances must be approved by the SWRCB. A variance means an additional volume of water that an urban supplier may request to add to its objective for a unique use that has a material effect on an urban supplier’s objective. Variances must meet a certain threshold and may include water used to respond to a state or local emergency, seasonal population fluctuations, and the use of swamp coolers, among others), and
  6. Any bonus incentives (currently direct potable reuse).

(NOTE: Additional information may be found in the policy bill analysis written by the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee.)

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill’s fiscal impact is:

• The State Water Board estimates ongoing costs of $225,000 annually (General Fund) to work on data validation and reporting. The State Water Board notes that, by allowing water suppliers to provide annual reporting on either a calendar year or fiscal year basis, this bill would lead to inconsistent data and conflict with the State Water Board's proposed conservation regulation, which allows for reporting on only a fiscal year basis (consistent with current statute). The costs identified are to address these data issues. Work associated with review of suppliers’ planned water demand measures in the 2026 reports could generate minor and absorbable General Fund costs for State Water Board staff to review.
• DWR estimates no costs as a result of this bill.

SUPPORT: (Verified 5/16/24)

Bellflower-Somerset Mutual Water Company (co-source)

Rowland Water District (co-source)

Walnut Valley Water District (co-source)

Association of California Water Agencies

California Association of Mutual Water Companies

California Municipal Utilities Association

Central Basin Water Association

City of La Verne

Community Water Systems Alliance

Desert Water Agency

El Dorado Irrigation District

Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District

League of California Cities

Palmdale Water District

San Gabriel Valley Water Association

Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District

OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/16/24)

None received

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, “SB 1330 will provide flexibility for water suppliers to comply with the water conservation mandates, which will reduce costs and provide more time for reaching the urban water use objectives established in the 2018 laws. At the same time, SB 1330 will help Californians who are facing ever-increasing water bills both at home and at work. California is a high cost of living state and anything we can do to bring affordability to residents and businesses just makes sense.”

Click here to enter text.

Prepared by: Katharine Moore / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116

5/17/24 10:09:34

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

SB 1330 (Archuleta) - Urban retail water supplier: water use

Bill Summary:

This bill would make changes to the urban water use efficiency framework including moving several dates to reflect implementation delays, and make minor changes to the collection of data by the Department of Water Resources (DWR).

Fiscal Impact:

• The State Water Board estimates ongoing costs of $225,000 annually (General Fund) to work on data validation and reporting. The State Water Board notes that, by allowing water suppliers to provide annual reporting on either a calendar year or fiscal year basis, this bill would lead to inconsistent data and conflict with the State Water Board's proposed conservation regulation, which allows for reporting on only a fiscal year basis (consistent with current statute). The costs identified are to address these data issues. Work associated with review of suppliers’ planned water demand measures in the 2026 reports could generate minor and absorbable General Fund costs for State Water Board staff to review.
• DWR estimates no costs as a result of this bill.

Background:

As California faces a hotter and drier future, the need to conserve water by using it efficiently becomes even more important. Governor Newsom’s Water Supply Strategy calls for conserving up to 500,000 acre-feet per year by 2030. Conservation is less expensive (at $600 - $1,800 per acre-foot) than new water supply infrastructure.

The Water Conservation Act of 2009 required a 20% statewide per capita urban water use reduction by 2020. (SBx7 7, Steinberg, Chapter 5, Statutes of 2009/10 7th Extraordinary Session) According to DWR, the state surpassed the 20% reduction and reduced per capita urban water use by 32%. About 97% (374 of 386) of urban retail water suppliers (urban suppliers) achieved their targeted 2020 water use reduction.

In 2016, then-Governor Brown issued Executive Order B-37-16 which established the goal of “making [water] conservation a California way of life” and directed his administration to develop water use targets as part of a permanent long-term water conservation framework. Including environmental water, urban water use is about 11% of the state’s annual water use. Of that 11%, over half (6%) is residential use, commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) use is 3% and 1% is “other.”

In 2018, the Legislature passed and Governor Brown signed SB 606 (Hertzberg, Chapter 14, Statutes of 2018) and AB 1668 (Friedman, Chapter 15, Statutes of 2018) which established the long-term water conservation framework in law. This framework requires that DWR and the State Water Board work together to develop urban water use conservation or efficiency goals (in this case called urban water use objectives (objectives)) for the roughly 400 urban suppliers that supply water to about 95% of Californians. The urban suppliers must meet their objective, not the individual users that they supply. In general, DWR was directed to perform studies and investigations and collect data – particularly on outdoor use – and provide recommendations to State Water Board who would then promulgate regulations. The State Water Board is required to adopt implementing regulations by June 30, 2022 (these regulations are still pending).

The framework also provides for a progressive compliance/enforcement effort by the State Water Board focused initially on seeking information and explicitly including provisions to provide technical assistance in order to help an urban supplier achieve its objective. Starting on January 1, 2024, the State Water Board is authorized to issue an information order to an urban supplier not meeting their objective. One year later, on January 1, 2025, the State Water Board is authorized to issue a written notice. Another year later, on January 1, 2026, the State Water Board is authorized to issue a conservation order. Fines for violating the regulations are authorized after November 1, 2027. An urban supplier that does not meet its objective may be required by the State Water Board to enact policies and programs that result in additional water conservation.

In addition, the framework provided for the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to review implementation of the regulations by January 2024, and instituted multiple requirements for the State Water Board and DWR to inform the Legislature about progress.

This regulatory development process to implement water use efficiency requirements is roughly two years behind schedule. State Water Board released the first draft of implementing regulations in August 2023, and a second draft of regulations in March 2024. (The specific content of the regulatory proposals will be discussed further below.) DWR developed an interim reporting template for urban suppliers to meet the January 1, 2024 statutory reporting requirement.

The August 2023 1^st draft of the regulations proved to be controversial and took an aggressive approach on implementing outdoor efficient use standards by 2035. The August 2023 draft regulations included:

• 1. Variances had to reach 5% of the objective, and had to be applied for annually from the State Water Board, and
  2. A 20% buffer for currently unirrigated residential land phased out in 2027.

In January 2024, the LAO released a review^[1] of the first draft of the regulations and was highly critical of them. The Public Policy Institute of California shared many of LAO’s concerns. LAO made numerous findings and recommendations including:

• 1. The proposed regulations were complex and expensive, and water conservation would likely be “modest.”
  2. The costs of the regulations might outweigh the benefits – both in aggregate and particularly for individual urban suppliers.
  3. There was a potential adverse impact on lower-income customers whose rates were likely to increase.
  4. State Water Board goes beyond DWR’s recommendations.
  5. State Water Board should make variances easier to obtain and reduce the 5% threshold required to obtain a variance. LAO suggested the Legislature consider self-certification of variances by urban suppliers.
  6. Urban suppliers should be able to report on a fiscal or calendar year basis.
  7. The separate requirement to comply with system water loss regulations should be removed.
  8. Various dates should be extended into the future.
  9. Urban suppliers should be allowed to use State Water Board’s objective estimates.
  10. DWR should be required to provide more technical assistance.
  11. An assessment of design vs performance standards for landscapes should be required.
  12. The 20% buffer for unirrigated residential landscapes should be maintained given data uncertainty.

In March 2024, State Water Board released a 2^nd draft of the regulations that address a number of the concerns raised by LAO and others. The March 2024 regulatory proposal provided urban suppliers more years and flexibility to comply. The 2^nd draft regulations were criticized for being too lax – including in an opinion piece by the authors of SB 606 and AB 1668. The 2^nd draft includes:

• 1. The required efficiency increases for outdoor landscapes are delayed by five years to achieve the most efficiency by 2040, instead of 2035.
  2. The 20% buffer is maintained for urban suppliers unable to meet their objective until residential landscape data are updated.
  3. Urban supplier compliance with the objective is delayed until January 1, 2027.
  4. Alternative compliance pathways are more accessible for certain suppliers facing large reductions in water use to meet their objective.
  5. Variance thresholds are applied to each part of the budget, not the overall objective, and are good for five years once obtained. Certain thresholds are 1% if data are good.
  6. Requirements for large CII landscapes are revamped.

State Water Board still plans on promulgating the final regulations this summer with implementation starting on January 1, 2025. State Water Board estimates that about 500,000 acre-feet (about 1% of the total used statewide, including environmental water) will be conserved when the regulations are fully implemented.

Proposed Law:

This bill would make changes to the urban water use efficiency framework including moving several dates to reflect implementation delays, and make minor changes to the collection of data by DWR. Specifically, this bill would:

1. Require DWR to collect and update data for outdoor residential landscapes and CII landscapes at least once every 10 years and post the data on its internet website. The bill would authorize an urban retail water supplier to submit reports by January 1 or July 1 whether reporting is submitted on a calendar year or fiscal year basis. The bill would require, as part of the report to be submitted in 2026, each urban retail water supplier to provide a narrative that describes the water demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its urban water use objective by January 1, 2030.
2. Extend the time by which the State Water Board is authorized to issue informational orders to on or after January 1, 2026, issue a written notice to on or after January 1, 2027, and issue a conservation order to on or after January 1, 2028.
3. Require DWR, in coordination with the State Water Board, to submit a report to the Legislature on the progress of urban retail water suppliers towards achieving their urban water use objective on or before January 1, 2030 instead of January 1, 2028.

Related Legislation:

SB 1185 (Niello, 2024) would substantially revise urban water use objective requirements, among other provisions.

SB 1110 (Ashby, 2024) would change the date by which the State Water Board is authorized to issue informational orders pertaining to water production, water use, and water conservation to an urban retail water supplier that does not meet its urban water use objective.

AB 3121 (Hart, 2024) would delay the date a written notice and conservation order could be issued by one year each, as provided.

AB 3044 (Alanis, 2024) would delay the date of the DWR legislative report by one year, as provided.

AB 1572 (Friedman, Chapter 849, Statutes of 2023) prohibits the use of potable water to irrigate nonfunctional turf on CII landscapes.

SB 1157 (Hertzberg, Chapter 679, Statutes of 2022) tightened indoor residential water use standards used in the objectives.

AB 1414 (Friedman, Chapter 239, Statutes of 2019) amended the timing for suppliers’ annual water use efficiency reporting and required suppliers to describe their demand management strategies in their 2024 reports.

SB 606 (Hertzberg, Chapter 14, Statutes of 2018) required an urban retail water supplier to calculate an urban water use objective and its actual urban water use annually, among other provisions.

AB 1668 (Friedman, Chapter 15, Statutes of 2018) established new requirements related to water conservation and drought resilience, among other provisions.

SB 555 (Wolk, Chapter 679, Statutes of 2015) required urban retail water suppliers to annually submit validated water loss audit reports to DWR, and required DWR to develop rules for water loss audits, among other provisions.

SBX7 7 (Steinberg, Chapter 4, Statutes of 2009/10, 7th Extraordinary session) established a statewide water conservation target of 20% reduction in statewide urban per capita water use by December 31, 2020, among other provisions.

-- END --

1. Assessing Early Implementation of Urban Water Use Efficiency Requirements, January 2024, Legislative Analyst’s Office. ↑