Signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with Assembly amendments and pass a bill that mandates that California achieve a 10 percent reduction in urban per capita water use by December 31, 2015 and a 20 percent reduction in urban per capita water use by December 31, 2020.

Highlights:

-Requires urban retail water suppliers to develop urban water use targets, and expresses legislative intent that the urban water use targets cumulatively result in a 20 percent reduction from the baseline daily per capita water use by December 31, 2020 (Sec. 1). -Requires each urban water supplier to adopt one of the following methods for determining its urban water use target (Sec. 1):

-80 percent of the urban retail water supplier's baseline per capita daily water use; -The per capita water use estimated by using the sum of the following performance standards:
-For indoor residential water use, 55 gallons per capita daily water use as a provisional standard (which may be adjusted during and after 2016); -For landscape irrigated through dedicated or residential meters or connections, water efficiency equivalent to the standards of the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (from Division 2 of Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations); and -For commercial , industrial, and institutional uses, a 10 percent reduction in water use by 2020;
-95 percent of the applicable state hydrologic region target; or -A method developed through a public process by the Department by the end of 2010 that shall identify per capita targets that cumulatively result in a statewide 20 percent reduction in urban daily per capita water use by December 31, 2020.

-Requires agricultural water suppliers to implement the following "efficient water management practices" by July 31, 2012 (Sec. 1):

-Measure the volume of water delivered to customers with sufficient accuracy; -Adopt a pricing structure for water customers based at least in part on quantity delivered; and -Additional practices that accomplish the following, if the measures are locally cost effective and technically feasible:
-Facilitate alternative land use for lands with exceptionally high water duties or whose irrigation contributes to significant problems, including drainage; -Facilitate use of available recycled water that otherwise would not be used "beneficially," meets all health and safety criteria, and does not harm crops or soils; -Facilitate the financing of capital improvements for on-farm irrigation systems; -Implement an incentive pricing structure that promotes the goals of achieving more efficient water use at the farm level, conjunctive use of groundwater, appropriate increase of groundwater recharge, reduction in problem drainage, improved management of environmental resources, or effective management of all water sources throughout the year by adjusting seasonal pricing structures based on current conditions; -Expand line or pipe distribution systems and construct regulatory reservoirs; -Increase flexibility in water ordering by, and delivery to, water customers within operational limits; -Construct and operate supplier spill and tailwater recovery systems; -Increase planned conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater withing the supplier service area; -Automate canal control structures; -Facilitate or promote customer pump testing and evaluation; -Designate a water conservation coordinator to develop[ and implement the water management plan and prepare progress reports; -Provide for the availability of water management services to water users; -Evaluate the policies of agencies that provide the supplier with water to identify institutional changes to allow more flexible water deliveries and storage; and -Evaluate and improve the efficiencies of the supplier's pumps.

-Requires agricultural water suppliers to create an agricultural water management plan by December 31, 2012 and to update that plan by December 31, 2015 and by December 31 every five years thereafter (Sec. 4). -Requires agricultural water suppliers that become operational after December 31, 2012 to develop a management plan within one year (Sec. 4). -Mandates that the agricultural water management plans do all of the following (Sec. 4):

-Describe the agricultural water supplier and the service area; -Describe the quantity and quality of water resources of the agricultural water supplier; -Include an analysis of the effect of climate change on future water supplies; -Describe previous water management activities; and -Include information on which "efficient water management practices" have been implemented and are planned to be implemented, an estimate of the water use efficiency improvements that have occurred since the last report, an estimate of the water use efficiency improvements estimated to occur 5 and 10 years in the future, and, if a supplier determines that an "efficient water management practice" is not locally cost effective or technically feasible, information documenting that determination.

-Conditions urban retail water suppliers' eligibility for water grants or loans awarded or administered by the state on their compliance with the requirements of this bill, beginning on July 1, 2016 (Sec. 1). -Conditions agricultural water suppliers' eligibility for water grants or loans awarded or administered by the state on their compliance with the requirements of this bill, beginning on July 1, 2013 (Sec. 1). -Provides the following exceptions to the conditioning of grants or loans on compliance with this bill discussed in the previous two highlights (Sec. 1):

-If an urban retail water supplier fails to meet urban water use reduction targets, it shall be eligible for a water grant or loan if it has submitted to the Department a schedule, financing plan, and budget for achieving the required reductions, or if it has submitted documentation demonstrating that its entire service area qualifies as a disadvantaged community; -If an agricultural water supplier fails to implement all of the required efficient water management practices, it shall be eligible for a water grant or loan if it has submitted to the Department a schedule, financing plan, and budget for implementation of the efficient water management practices; -If an agricultural or urban retail water supplier is participating in a multiagency water project or an integrated regional water management plan, eligibility for water grants or loans shall not be denied solely because one or more of the participating agencies is not implementing all of the requirements of this bill.

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that mandates that California achieve a 10 percent reduction in urban per capita water use by December 31, 2015 and a 20 percent reduction in urban per capita water use by December 31, 2020.

Highlights:

-Requires urban retail water suppliers to develop urban water use targets, and expresses legislative intent that the urban water use targets cumulatively result in a 20 percent reduction from the baseline daily per capita water use by December 31, 2020 (Sec. 1). -Requires each urban water supplier to adopt one of the following methods for determining its urban water use target (Sec. 1):

-80 percent of the urban retail water supplier's baseline per capita daily water use; -The per capita water use estimated by using the sum of the following performance standards:
-For indoor residential water use, 55 gallons per capita daily water use as a provisional standard (which may be adjusted during and after 2016); -For landscape irrigated through dedicated or residential meters or connections, water efficiency equivalent to the standards of the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (from Division 2 of Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations); and -For commercial , industrial, and institutional uses, a 10 percent reduction in water use by 2020;
-95 percent of the applicable state hydrologic region target; or -A method developed through a public process by the Department by the end of 2010 that shall identify per capita targets that cumulatively result in a statewide 20 percent reduction in urban daily per capita water use by December 31, 2020.

-Requires agricultural water suppliers to implement the following "efficient water management practices" by July 31, 2012 (Sec. 1):

-Measure the volume of water delivered to customers with sufficient accuracy; -Adopt a pricing structure for water customers based at least in part on quantity delivered; and -Additional practices that accomplish the following, if the measures are locally cost effective and technically feasible:
-Facilitate alternative land use for lands with exceptionally high water duties or whose irrigation contributes to significant problems, including drainage; -Facilitate use of available recycled water that otherwise would not be used "beneficially," meets all health and safety criteria, and does not harm crops or soils; -Facilitate the financing of capital improvements for on-farm irrigation systems; -Implement an incentive pricing structure that promotes the goals of achieving more efficient water use at the farm level, conjunctive use of groundwater, appropriate increase of groundwater recharge, reduction in problem drainage, improved management of environmental resources, or effective management of all water sources throughout the year by adjusting seasonal pricing structures based on current conditions; -Expand line or pipe distribution systems and construct regulatory reservoirs; -Increase flexibility in water ordering by, and delivery to, water customers within operational limits; -Construct and operate supplier spill and tailwater recovery systems; -Increase planned conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater withing the supplier service area; -Automate canal control structures; -Facilitate or promote customer pump testing and evaluation; -Designate a water conservation coordinator to develop[ and implement the water management plan and prepare progress reports; -Provide for the availability of water management services to water users; -Evaluate the policies of agencies that provide the supplier with water to identify institutional changes to allow more flexible water deliveries and storage; and -Evaluate and improve the efficiencies of the supplier's pumps.

-Requires agricultural water suppliers to create an agricultural water management plan by December 31, 2012 and to update that plan by December 31, 2015 and by December 31 every five years thereafter (Sec. 4). -Requires agricultural water suppliers that become operational after December 31, 2012 to develop a management plan within one year (Sec. 4). -Mandates that the agricultural water management plans do all of the following (Sec. 4):

-Describe the agricultural water supplier and the service area; -Describe the quantity and quality of water resources of the agricultural water supplier; -Include an analysis of the effect of climate change on future water supplies; -Describe previous water management activities; and -Include information on which "efficient water management practices" have been implemented and are planned to be implemented, an estimate of the water use efficiency improvements that have occurred since the last report, an estimate of the water use efficiency improvements estimated to occur 5 and 10 years in the future, and, if a supplier determines that an "efficient water management practice" is not locally cost effective or technically feasible, information documenting that determination.

-Conditions urban retail water suppliers' eligibility for water grants or loans awarded or administered by the state on their compliance with the requirements of this bill, beginning on July 1, 2016 (Sec. 1). -Conditions agricultural water suppliers' eligibility for water grants or loans awarded or administered by the state on their compliance with the requirements of this bill, beginning on July 1, 2013 (Sec. 1). -Provides the following exceptions to the conditioning of grants or loans on compliance with this bill discussed in the previous two highlights (Sec. 1):

-If an urban retail water supplier fails to meet urban water use reduction targets, it shall be eligible for a water grant or loan if it has submitted to the Department a schedule, financing plan, and budget for achieving the required reductions, or if it has submitted documentation demonstrating that its entire service area qualifies as a disadvantaged community; -If an agricultural water supplier fails to implement all of the required efficient water management practices, it shall be eligible for a water grant or loan if it has submitted to the Department a schedule, financing plan, and budget for implementation of the efficient water management practices; -If an agricultural or urban retail water supplier is participating in a multiagency water project or an integrated regional water management plan, eligibility for water grants or loans shall not be denied solely because one or more of the participating agencies is not implementing all of the requirements of this bill.

Full Bill Text