BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |              SB 7XXXXXXX|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SB 7XXXXXXX
          Author:   Steinberg (D)
          Amended:  11/2/09
          Vote:     21

           


           SUBJECT  :    Water conservation

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill requires the state to achieve a 20  
          percent reduction in urban per capita water use by December  
          31, 2020, requires agricultural water management plans and  
          efficient water management practices for agricultural water  
          suppliers, and promotes expanded development of sustainable  
          water supplies at the regional level. 

           Senate Floor Amendments  of 11/2/09 attempt to resolve two  
          issues:  (1) If and how failure to meet conservation  
          targets could be used in waste and unreasonable use  
          proceedings, and (2) the limits, if any, on an urban water  
          agency's ability to adopt ordinances pursuant to a  
          declaration of drought emergency.  The amendments also  
          clarify when the Department of Water Resources adopts a  
          regulation affecting an urban retail water supplier which  
          achieves a reduction in daily per capita use that is  
          greater than 20 percent by December 31, 2020.

           ANALYSIS :    

                                                           CONTINUED





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           Specifics of SB 7XXXXXXX  

          1. Establishes statewide urban water conservation target of  
             10 percent by 2015, and 20 percent by 2020. 

          2. Establishes processes for urban water suppliers to meet  
             the conservation targets: 

             A.    Requires urban retail water suppliers,  
                individually or on a regional basis, to develop an  
                urban water use target by July 1, 2011.

             B.    Provides four methodologies for urban water  
                suppliers to choose from to set and achieve their  
                water use target: 

                (1)      Twenty percent reduction in baseline daily  
                   per capita use. 

                (2)      A combination of efficiency standards for  
                   residential indoor use (55 gallons per capita  
                   daily), residential outdoor use (Model Water  
                   Efficient Landscape Ordinance), and commercial,  
                   industrial, and institutional (CII) use (10  
                   percent reduction). 

                (3)      A five percent reduction in the Department  
                   of Water Resources (DWR) regional targets.
                 
                (4)      A method to be developed by DWR by December  
                   31, 2010. 

             C.    Requires a minimum five percent reduction in base  
                water use by 2020 for all urban water suppliers. 

             D.    Allows recycled water to count toward meeting  
                urban supplier's water use target if recycled water  
                offsets potable water demands. 

             E.    Allows urban suppliers to consider certain  
                differences in their local conditions when  
                determining compliance. 

             F.    Requires urban water suppliers to hold public  







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                hearings to allow for community input on the  
                supplier's implementation plan for meeting their  
                water use target, and requires the implementation to  
                avoid placing a disproportionate burden on any  
                customer sector. 

             G.    Conditions eligibility for water management grants  
                and loans on an urban water supplier's compliance  
                with meeting the requirements established by the  
                bill. 

          3. Prohibits urban suppliers from requiring changes that  
             reduce process water -- defined in the bill as water  
             used in production of a product -- and allows urban  
             water supplier to exclude process water from the  
             development of the urban water target if substantial  
             amount of its water deliveries are for industrial use. 

          4. Requires DWR review and reporting on urban water  
             management plans and report to the Legislature by 2016  
             on progress in meeting the 20 percent statewide target,  
             including recommendations on changes to the standards or  
             targets in order to achieve the 20 percent target. 

          5. Creates a CII Task Force to develop best management  
             practices, assess the potential for statewide water  
             savings if the best management practices are  
             implemented, and report to the Legislature. 

          6. Re-establishes agricultural water management planning  
             program. 

             A.    Defines "agricultural water supplier" as one that  
                delivers water to 10,000 or more of irrigated acres,  
                excluding recycled water, but exempts suppliers  
                serving less than 25,000 irrigated areas unless  
                funding is provided to the supplier for those  
                purposes. 

             B.    Requires development and implementation of  
                agricultural water management plans, with specified  
                components by 2012, with five-year updates. 

             C.    Requires DWR to review plans and report to the  







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                Legislature on status and effectiveness. 

             D.    Requires two "critical" efficient water management  
                practices -- measurement and pricing -- and only if  
                locally cost-effective for 14 additional practices. 

             E.    Conditions eligibility for water management grants  
                and loans on an agricultural water suppliers'  
                compliance with meeting the requirements for  
                implementation of efficient water management  
                practices. 

             F.    Establishes agricultural water supplier reporting  
                requirements on agricultural efficient water  
                management practices. 

          7. Requires DWR to promote implementation of regional water  
             resource management practices through increased  
             incentives/removal of barriers and specifies potential  
             changes. 

          8. Requires DWR, in consultation with the State Water  
             Resources Control Board, to develop or update statewide  
             targets as to recycled water, brackish groundwater  
             desalination, and urban stormwater runoff. 

          9. Takes effect only if SB 1, SB 5, and SB 7 of the 2009-10  
             Seventh Extraordinary Session of the Legislature are  
             enacted and become effective.

           Background
           
          Under existing law, the California Water Plan is accepted  
          as the master plan that guides the orderly and coordinated  
          control, protection, conservation, development, management  
          and efficient utilization of the water resources of the  
          state.  DWR is required to update the Water Plan on or  
          before December 31, 2003, and every five years thereafter.   
          The plan shall include a discussion of various strategies  
          that may be pursued in order to meet the future water needs  
          of the state.

          The Urban Water Management Planning Act requires urban  
          water suppliers to prepare and submit Urban Water  







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          Management Plans to DWR every five years on or before  
          December 31, in years ending in five and zero.  Among other  
          things, the plans are required to:

          1. Describe the reliability of the water supply by water  
             year type (average, single dry year, etc.). 

          2. Quantify, to the extent records are available, past,  
             current, and projected water use, identifying the uses  
             among water use sectors (residential, commercial, etc.).

          3. Describe each water demand management measure currently  
             being implemented, or scheduled for implementation.

          The Agricultural Water Management Planning Act required  
          agricultural water suppliers that supply more than 50,000  
          acre-feet of water annually to develop agricultural water  
          management plans by 1992.  Among other things, and to the  
          extent information was available, the reports were to  
          address the following:

          1. Current water conservation and reclamation practices  
             being used.

          2. Plans for changing current water conservation plans.

          3. Conservation educational services being used.

          4. Whether the supplier, through improved irrigation water  
             management, has a significant opportunity to do one or  
             both of the following:

             A.    Save water by means of reduced evapotranspiration,  
                evaporation, or reduction of flows to unusable water  
                bodies that fail to serve further beneficial uses.

             B.    Reduce the quantity of highly saline or toxic  
                drainage water.

          Existing law makes the terms of, and eligibility for, a  
          water management grant or loan made to an urban water  
          supplier and awarded or administered by the department,  
          state board, or California Bay-Delta Authority or its  
          successor agency conditioned on the implementation of the  







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          water demand management measures identified in the Urban  
          Water Management Planning Act.

          Under Federal law (Section 210 Public Law 97-293 of 1982)  
          all Central Valley Project contractors are required to  
          develop water conservation plans.  In 1993, the Central  
          Valley Project Improvement Act Section 3405(e) required the  
          Bureau of Reclamation to develop criteria to determine the  
          adequacy of the water conservation plans required by  
          Section 210.  The Bureau adopted the criteria in 1993, and  
          the most recent update was done in 2005.

          On February 28, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger sent a letter  
          to Senators Perata, Steinberg, and Machado in response to  
          their concerns that his Administration was unilaterally  
          beginning work on a "peripheral canal."  In that letter,  
          the Governor identified administrative actions he was  
          considering as part of a comprehensive solution in the  
          Delta.  Included in that letter was the following "key  
          element:"

            A plan to achieve a 20 percent reduction in per capita  
            water use statewide by 2020.  Conservation is one of the  
            key ways to provide water for Californians and protect  
            and improve the Delta ecosystem.  A number of efforts are  
            already underway to expand conservation programs, but I  
            plan to direct state agencies to develop this more  
            aggressive plan and implement it to the extent permitted  
            by current law.  I would welcome legislation to  
            incorporate this goal into statute.

           Comments
           
           Urban Water Conservation  .  This bill establishes a  
          statewide target to reduce urban per capita water use by 20  
          percent by 2020.  This target is consistent with the  
          Governor's February 2008 proposal.  The Delta Vision  
          Strategic Plan also recommended legislation requiring  
          "Urban water purveyors to implement measures to achieve a  
          20 percent reduction in urban per capita water use  
          statewide throughout California by December 31, 2020."   
          This bill requires urban retail water suppliers,  
          individually or on a regional basis, to develop an urban  
          water use target by December 31, 2010, requires each urban  







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          water supplier to meet their target by 2020, and to meet an  
          interim target (half of their 2020 target) by 2015. 

           Flexibility  .  This bill provides options for how water  
          agencies can achieve higher levels of water conservation  
          but requires those options to meet a per capita reduction  
          in water use.  This bill sets the "20 by 2020" target (and  
          the interim 2015 target) for the entire state and then  
          allows water agencies to choose one of four methods for  
          determining their own water-use target for 2020.  Water  
          suppliers also can choose to join with a broader group of  
          suppliers to meet the targets regionally.  Finally, this  
          bill provides urban water suppliers with the option of  
          shifting more water use to recycled water to meet their  
          targets. 

           CII Water Management  .  This bill restricts urban water  
          suppliers from imposing conservation requirements on  
          process water.  Other sections of the proposal address  
          other CII concerns, including requiring urban water  
          suppliers to avoid disproportionate impacts on any one  
          sector and requiring an open transparent process for all  
          water customers to review and provide input into the water  
          supplier implementation plan.  There are also no mandated  
          conservation requirements or targets in the bill for CII. 

           Agricultural Water Management  .  For agriculture, this bill  
          relies on implementation of efficient water management  
          practices (EWMPs) for water use, which have been developed,  
          at least in part, by the Agricultural Water Management  
          Council.  This bill creates two EWMP categories:   
          "critical" that all agricultural water suppliers (i.e.  
          measurement and pricing structures) must implement and  
          "additional" EWMPs that must be implemented if the measures  
          are locally cost effective and technically feasible.  The  
          two mandatory EWMPs are already required of all federal  
          water contractors (e.g. Westlands Water District and Friant  
          Water Authority) since 1992 under the Central Valley  
          Project Improvement Act.

           Agricultural Water Management Plans  .  This bill  
          reauthorizes dormant provisions of the Water Code that  
          required agricultural water suppliers to prepare  
          agricultural water management plans.  This bill places  







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          agricultural water suppliers on an equal footing with urban  
          suppliers who have been required to prepare and submit  
          water management plans for approximately 15 years.  This  
          bill defines agricultural water suppliers as those with  
          10,000 acres of irrigated land, but exempts from the bill's  
          requirements any supplier serving less than 25,000 of  
          irrigated land if the state does not provide funding for  
          implementation. 

           Sustainable Water Management  .  This bill requires DWR to  
          develop incentives for sustainable water management and  
          alternative water supplies such as brackish water  
          desalination and stormwater recovery. 

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

           SUPPORT  :   (Unable to verify at time of writing)

          Unknown at this time.

           OPPOSITION  :    (Unable to verify at time of writing)

          Unknown at this time.


          DLW:mw  11/2/09   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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