Bill Text: CA SB1185 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Water conservation: water use objectives.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-23 - April 23 set for first hearing. Failed passage in committee. (Ayes 3. Noes 8. Page 3729.) [SB1185 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB1185-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
March 18, 2024 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 1185
| Introduced by Senator Niello |
February 14, 2024 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1185, as amended, Niello.
Water use efficiency standards. Water conservation: water use objectives.
Existing law requires all water suppliers to increase the efficient use of water. Existing law establishes various water use objectives and restrictions, including urban water use objectives. Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board, in coordination with the Department of Water Resources, to adopt long-term standards for the efficient use of water, including standards for, among other things, a volume for water loss, and requires the board, when adopting the standards, to consider policies relating to urban water use objectives and proposed efficiency standards’ effects on local wastewater management, developed and natural parklands, and urban tree health.
This bill would delete the requirement that the board adopt standards, for purposes of
urban water use objectives, for water loss and would instead require the board to consider the policies relating to urban water use objectives and proposed efficiency standards’ effects on water loss. The bill would also set forth standards, policies, and procedures relating to water use objectives, generally, including, among other things, a prohibition against any water use objective established by the board that causes a reduction of more than 20% when compared to a water supplier’s actual water use in 2023 or that exceeds a water use standard recommended by the department. The bill would also authorize any amount of water to be used for a variance from a water use objective and would prohibit any required minimum amount of water for a variance. The bill would impose additional duties on the board, including requiring the board to develop a self-certification process for water suppliers for purposes of validating the amount of water in a variance, as provided.
Existing law establishes a method to estimate the aggregate amount of water that would have been delivered the previous year by an urban retail water supplier if all that water had been used efficiently, based on water use efficiency standards, as specified.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation relating to water use efficiency standards.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 10608.9 is added to the Water Code, to read:10608.9.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, all of the following shall apply to any water use objective adopted by the board pursuant to this part:(1) A water use objective shall not cause a reduction of more than 20 percent when compared to the water supplier’s actual water use in 2023.
(2) The board shall not adopt a water use objective that exceeds a water use standard recommended by the department.
(3) Any amount of water may be used for a variance from a water use objective. There shall not be a required minimum amount of water for a variance.
(4) A
water supplier may use estimates for the supplier’s water use objectives using the board’s supplier level estimates obtained using the board’s Water Use Objective Exploration Tool.
(b) The board shall do both of the following:
(1) Develop a self-certification process for water suppliers for purposes of validating the amount of water in a variance. The board may randomly audit a select number of variances each year to verify self-certifications.
(2) Periodically update the Water Use Objective Exploration Tool.
SEC. 2.
Section 10609.2 of the Water Code is amended to read:10609.2.
(a) The board, in coordination with the department, shall adopt long-term standards for the efficient use of water pursuant to this chapter on or before June 30, 2022.(b) Standards shall be adopted for all both of the following:
(1) Outdoor residential water use.
(2) Outdoor irrigation of landscape areas with dedicated irrigation meters in connection with CII water use.
(3)A volume for water loss.
(c) When adopting the standards under this section, the board shall consider the policies of this chapter and the proposed efficiency standards’ effects on local wastewater management,
water loss, developed and natural parklands, and urban tree health. The standards and potential effects shall be identified by May 30, 2022. The board shall allow for public comment on potential effects identified by the board under this subdivision.
(d) The long-term standards shall be set at a level designed so that the water use objectives, together with other demands excluded from the long-term standards such as CII indoor water use and CII outdoor water use not connected to a dedicated landscape meter, would exceed the statewide conservation targets required pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 10608.16).
(e) The board, in coordination with the department, shall adopt by regulation variances recommended by the department pursuant to Section 10609.14 and guidelines and methodologies pertaining to the calculation of an urban
retail water supplier’s urban water use objective recommended by the department pursuant to Section 10609.16.
It is the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation relating to water use efficiency standards.
