BILL ANALYSIS
SB 7 X7
Page 1
Revised - As Amended RN0925361
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 7 X7 (Steinberg)
As Amended November 3, 2009
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : 21-13
SUMMARY : Establishes a statewide water conservation program, in
a new "Sustainable Water Use and Demand Reduction" part in the
Water Code (Part) and reauthorizes the Agricultural Water
Management Planning Act. Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines water use efficiency measures adopted pursuant to this
part as "water conservation" measures that receive the
protection, pursuant to Water Code Section 1101, from loss of
water rights for the conserved water, under the "use or lose"
doctrine.
2)Provides that failure to comply with the specified water
conservation requirements shall not establish a violation of
law for any legal proceeding before January 1, 2021, but
allows use of data reported to the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) or the State Water Resources Control Board
(SWRCB) as evidence in litigation or administrative
proceedings. Sunsets this provision on January 1, 2021.
3)Specifies that the Part does not require reduction in total
water use.
4)Exempts agricultural water suppliers that are parties to the
Colorado River Quantification Settlement Agreement from the
requirements of this Part.
5)Defines certain terms, including but not limited to:
a) "Agricultural water supplier" means a water supplier
that provides water to 10,000 or more irrigated acres, not
including DWR;
b) "Base daily per capita water use" means average gross
water use in gallons per capita per day over a 10-year
period ending between 2004 and 2010, and other
specifications;
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c) "Gross water use" excludes recycled water, water in
storage, and agricultural water use; and,
d) "Process water" means water used for a producing a
product or product content.
6)Establishes statewide urban water conservation target of 10%
by 2015, and 20% by 2020.
7)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) Specifies four alternative methodologies for urban water
suppliers to achieve water use target:
i) 20% reduction in baseline daily per capita use;
ii) Combination of efficiency standards for residential
indoor use [55 gallons per capita daily (gpcd)];
residential outdoor use (Model Water Efficient Landscape
Ordinance); and commercial, industrial, and institutional
(CII) use (10 % reduction);
iii) 5% reduction from DWR targets for applicable region;
and,
iv) A method to be developed by DWR, using specified
factors, by December 31, 2010.
c) Requires DWR to adopt technical methodologies and
criteria for consistent implementation, with a public
process and as emergency regulations;
d) Requires urban water suppliers to incorporate its water
use targets in management plans;
e) Requires minimum 5% reduction in base water use by 2020
for all urban water suppliers, except those that use less
than 100 gpcd, which are exempt;
f) Specifies factors urban water supplier considers in
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determining its compliance;
g) Provides for compliance by urban water suppliers that
also provides agricultural water;
h) Requires urban water suppliers to hold public 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; and,
i) Conditions eligibility for water management grants and
loans on an urban water supplier's compliance with meeting
the requirements established by the bill.
8)Prohibits urban suppliers from requiring changes that reduce
process water 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, but allows for reductions in emergencies.
9)Requires DWR to review and report on urban water management
plans and report to the Legislature by December 31, 2016, on
progress in meeting the 20% statewide target, including
recommendations on changes to the standards or targets in
order to achieve the 20% target.
10)Creates a task force related to "commercial, institutional
and industrial" (CII) use to develop best management practices
(BMPs), assess the potential for statewide water savings if
the BMPs are implemented, and report to the Legislature.
11)Requires agricultural water suppliers to implement specified
efficient water management practices by July 31, 2012,
including:
a) Two "critical" efficient water management practices
(EWMP): water measurement and volumetric pricing (at least
in part);
b) 14 additional EWMPs if locally cost effective and
technically feasible, including efficient on-farm
irrigation practices, use of recycled water and incentive
pricing;
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c) Specified reporting on water use efficiency
improvements; and,
d) Alternative compliance by submitting water conservation
plan based on federal law.
12)Requires DWR to promote implementation of regional water
resource management practices through increased
incentives/removal of barriers and standardized data
collection.
13)Requires DWR, in consultation with SWRCB, to develop or
update statewide targets as to recycled water, brackish
groundwater desalination, and urban stormwater runoff.
14)Conditions state water grants/loans for urban and
agricultural water suppliers on compliance with this Part, but
allows funding for water conservation under certain conditions
and funding by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009.
15)Requires DWR to develop a methodology for quantifying
efficiency of agricultural water use, including specified
factors and estimation of costs of implementation.
16)Reauthorizes the Agricultural Water Management Planning
Program:
a) Requires an agricultural water supplier to adopt an
agricultural water management plan by December 31, 2012,
using a specified public process and with five-year
updates;
b) Specifies contents of agricultural water management
plans;
c) Allows compliance by submission of water management
plans in accordance with the "Memorandum of Understanding
Regarding Efficient Water Management Practices," water
conservation plans under federal law, or urban water
management plan;
d) Requires DWR to submit report on agricultural EWMPs by
specified dates and adopt regulations on agricultural water
measurement;
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e) Requires DWR to review plans and report to the
Legislature on status and effectiveness; and,
f) Establishes agricultural water supplier reporting
requirements on agricultural efficient water management
practices.
17)Specifies legal process for challenges to agricultural water
management plans.
18)Exempts agricultural water suppliers serving less than 25,000
irrigated areas from compliance with either water conservation
or agricultural water management planning requirements if
state funding is not provided to the supplier for those
purposes.
19)Makes legislative findings and states legislative intent
regarding water conservation: including:
a) States legislative intent that all water suppliers
increase water use efficiency; and,
b) Establish consistent water use efficiency planning and
implementation standards and methods for urban and
agricultural water suppliers.
20)Makes bill contingent on enactment of SB 1 X7 (Simitian) and
SB 6 X7 (Steinberg).
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires "urban water suppliers" to prepare urban water
management plans.
2)Conditions state funding on implementation of certain urban
water conservation measures.
3)Requires agricultural water suppliers to prepare agricultural
water management plans by 1992.
4)Federal law requires contractors of the federal Central Valley
Project to prepare water conservation plans.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
SB 7 X7
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COMMENTS : SB 7 X7 is the successor to two bills that have
proceeded through the Legislature for the last two years - AB
2175 (Laird/Feuer) and AB 49 (Feuer/Huffman). Much of its
content was included in SB 68 (Steinberg) at the end of the
regular session. Since the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife
Committee heard SB 68 on September 11, 2009, amendments have
narrowed SB 7 X7's scope as to several issues, including effect
on existing water rights, "process water" and agricultural water
management.
Urban Water Conservation : This bill would establish a statewide
target to reduce urban per capita water use by 20% 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% reduction in urban per capita water
use statewide throughout California by December 31, 2020." This
bill would require urban retail water suppliers, individually or
on a regional basis, to develop an urban water use target by
December 31, 2010, would require each urban 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 several 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. The 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. These options are designed to
address the regional diversity of water use practices, climate,
history of investment in water conservation, and reductions in
urban water use. Water suppliers also can choose to join with a
broader group of suppliers to meet the targets regionally.
Finally the bill provides urban water suppliers with the option
of shifting more water use to recycled water to meet their
targets.
Commercial, Industrial and Institutional (CII) Water Management :
This bill restricts urban water suppliers from imposing
conservation requirements on process water, except in water
shortage emergencies. Other sections of the proposal address
other CII concerns, including requiring urban water suppliers to
avoid disproportionate impacts on any one sector and requiring
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an open transparent process for all water customers to review
and provide input into the water supplier implementation plan.
The bill also does not mandate 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 (AWMC). The
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 WD
and Friant WA) 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 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.
Analysis Prepared by : Alf W. Brandt / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096
FN: 0003491