California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2067

Introduced by Assembly Member Weber

February 20, 2014

An act to amend Section 10631 of the Water Code, relating to water management.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2067, as introduced, Weber. Urban water management plans.

Existing law, the Urban Water Management Planning Act, requires 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. The act requires the plan to, among other things, include a description of each water demand management measure that is currently being implemented, and an evaluation of specified water demand management measures that are not currently being implemented or scheduled for implementation.

The bill would instead require an urban retail water supplier and an urban wholesale water supplier to provide narratives describing the supplier’s water demand management measures, as provided. The bill would require, for urban retail water suppliers, the narrative to address the nature and extent of each water demand management measure implemented over the past 5 years and describe the water demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its water use targets.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 10631 of the Water Code is amended to
read:

10631.  

A plan shall be adopted in accordance with this chapter
that shall do all of the following:

(a) Describe the service area of the supplier, including current
and projected population, climate, and other demographic factors
affecting the supplier’s water management planning. The projected
population estimates shall be based upon data from the state,
regional, or local service agency population projections within the
service area of the urban water supplier and shall be in five-year
increments to 20 years or as far as data is available.

(b) Identify and quantify, to the extent practicable, the existing
and planned sources of water available to the supplier over the
same five-year increments described in subdivision (a). If
groundwater is identified as an existing or planned source of water
available to the supplier, all of the following information shall be
included in the plan:

(1) A copy of any groundwater management plan adopted by
the urban water supplier, including plans adopted pursuant to Part
2.75 (commencing with Section 10750), or any other specific
authorization for groundwater management.

(2) A description of any groundwater basin or basins from which
the urban water supplier pumps groundwater. For those basins for
which a court or the board has adjudicated the rights to pump
groundwater, a copy of the order or decree adopted by the court
or the board and a description of the amount of groundwater the
urban water supplier has the legal right to pump under the order
or decree. For basins that have not been adjudicated, information
as to whether the department has identified the basin or basins as
overdrafted or has projected that the basin will become overdrafted
if present management conditions continue, in the most current
official departmental bulletin that characterizes the condition of
the groundwater basin, and a detailed description of the efforts
being undertaken by the urban water supplier to eliminate the
long-term overdraft condition.

(3) A detailed description and analysis of the location, amount,
and sufficiency of groundwater pumped by the urban water supplier
for the past five years. The description and analysis shall be based
on information that is reasonably available, including, but not
limited to, historic use records.

(4) A detailed description and analysis of the amount and
location of groundwater that is projected to be pumped by the
urban water supplier. The description and analysis shall be based
on information that is reasonably available, including, but not
limited to, historic use records.

(c) (1) Describe the reliability of the water supply and
vulnerability to seasonal or climatic shortage, to the extent
practicable, and provide data for each of the following:

(A) An average water year.

(B) A single dry water year.

(C) Multiple dry water years.

(2) For any water source that may not be available at a consistent
level of use, given specific legal, environmental, water quality, or
climatic factors, describe plans to supplement or replace that source
with alternative sources or water demand management measures,
to the extent practicable.

(d) Describe the opportunities for exchanges or transfers of
water on a short-term or long-term basis.

(e) (1) Quantify, to the extent records are available, past and
current water use, over the same five-year increments described
in subdivision (a), and projected water use, identifying the uses
among water use sectors, including, but not necessarily limited to,
all of the following uses:

(A) Single-family residential.

(B) Multifamily.

(C) Commercial.

(D) Industrial.

(E) Institutional and governmental.

(F) Landscape.

(G) Sales to other agencies.

(H) Saline water intrusion barriers, groundwater recharge, or
conjunctive use, or any combination thereof.

(I) Agricultural.

(2) The water use projections shall be in the same five-year
increments described in subdivision (a).

(f) Provide a description of the supplier’s water demand
management measures. This description shall include all of the
following:

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(1) A description of each water demand management measure
that is currently being implemented, or scheduled for
implementation, including the steps necessary to implement any
proposed measures, including, but not limited to, all of the
following:

(A) Water survey programs for single-family residential and
multifamily residential customers.

(B) Residential plumbing retrofit.

(C) System water audits, leak detection, and repair.

(D) Metering with commodity rates for all new connections and
retrofit of existing connections.

(E) Large landscape conservation programs and incentives.

(F) High-efficiency washing machine rebate programs.

(G) Public information programs.

(H) School education programs.

(I) Conservation programs for commercial, industrial, and
institutional accounts.

(J) Wholesale agency programs.

(K) Conservation pricing.

(L) Water conservation coordinator.

(M) Water waste prohibition.

(N) Residential ultra-low-flush toilet replacement programs.

(2) A schedule of implementation for all water demand
management measures proposed or described in the plan.

(3) A description of the methods, if any, that the supplier will
use to evaluate the effectiveness of water demand management
measures implemented or described under the plan.

(4) An estimate, if available, of existing conservation savings
on water use within the supplier’s service area, and the effect of
the savings on the supplier’s ability to further reduce demand.

(g) An evaluation of each water demand management measure
listed in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) that is not currently being
implemented or scheduled for implementation. In the course of
the evaluation, first consideration shall be given to water demand
management measures, or combination of measures, that offer
lower incremental costs than expanded or additional water supplies.
This evaluation shall do all of the following:

(1) Take into account economic and noneconomic factors,
including environmental, social, health, customer impact, and
technological factors.

(2) Include a cost-benefit analysis, identifying total benefits and
total costs.

(3) Include a description of funding available to implement any
planned water supply project that would provide water at a higher
unit cost.

(4) Include a description of the water supplier’s legal authority
to implement the measure and efforts to work with other relevant
agencies to ensure the implementation of the measure and to share
the cost of implementation.

end delete begin insert

(1) (A) For an urban retail water supplier, as defined in Section
10608.12, a narrative description that addresses the nature and
extent of each water demand management measure implemented
over the past five years. The narrative shall describe the water
demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement
to achieve its water use targets pursuant to Section 10608.20.

end insert begin insert

(B) The narrative pursuant to this paragraph shall include
descriptions of the following water demand management measures:

end insert begin insert

(i) Water waste prevention ordinances.

end insert begin insert

(ii) Metering.

end insert begin insert

(iii) Conservation pricing.

end insert begin insert

(iv) Public education and outreach.

end insert begin insert

(v) Programs to assess and manage distribution system real
loss.

end insert begin insert

(vi) Water conservation program coordination and staffing
support.

end insert begin insert

(vii) Other demand management measures that have a
significant impact on water use as measured in gallons per capita
per day, including innovative measures, if implemented.

end insert begin insert

(2) For an urban wholesale water supplier, as defined in Section
10608.12, a narrative description of the items in clauses (ii), (iv),
(vi), and (vii) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), and a
narrative description of its distribution system asset management
and wholesale supplier assistance programs.

end insert begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert (g) end insert  Include a description of all water supply projects and water
supply programs that may be undertaken by the urban water
supplier to meet the total projected water use as established
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 10635. The urban water
supplier shall include a detailed description of expected future
projects and begin delete programs, other than the demand management
programs identified pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (f), end delete
begin insert programs end insert that the urban water supplier may implement to increase
the amount of the water supply available to the urban water supplier
in average, single-dry, and multiple-dry water years. The
description shall identify specific projects and include a description
of the increase in water supply that is expected to be available
from each project. The description shall include an estimate with
regard to the implementation timeline for each project or program.

begin delete

(i)

end delete

begin insert (h) end insert  Describe the opportunities for development of desalinated
water, including, but not limited to, ocean water, brackish water,
and groundwater, as a long-term supply.

begin delete

(j)

end delete

begin insert (i) end insert  For purposes of this part, urban water suppliers that are
members of the California Urban Water Conservation Council
shall be deemed in compliance with the requirements of
begin delete subdivisions end delete begin insert subdivision end insert (f) begin delete and (g) end delete by complying with all the
provisions of the “Memorandum of Understanding Regarding
Urban Water Conservation in California,” dated December 10,
2008, as it may be amended, and by submitting the annual reports
required by Section 6.2 of that memorandum.

begin delete

(k)

end delete

begin insert (j) end insert  Urban water suppliers that rely upon a wholesale agency for
a source of water shall provide the wholesale agency with water
use projections from that agency for that source of water in
five-year increments to 20 years or as far as data is available. The
wholesale agency shall provide information to the urban water
supplier for inclusion in the urban water supplier’s plan that
identifies and quantifies, to the extent practicable, the existing and
planned sources of water as required by subdivision (b), available
from the wholesale agency to the urban water supplier over the
same five-year increments, and during various water-year types
in accordance with subdivision (c). An urban water supplier may
rely upon water supply information provided by the wholesale
agency in fulfilling the plan informational requirements of
subdivisions (b) and (c).