Senate Bill No. 1420

Introduced by Senator Wolk

February 21, 2014

An act to amend Sections 10631 and 10644 of the Water Code, relating to water management.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1420, as introduced, Wolk. Water management: 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. Existing law requires an urban water management plan to quantify, past and current water use, and projected water use, identifying the uses among water use sectors, including, among others, commercial, agricultural, and industrial. Existing law requires an urban water supplier to submit copies of its plan and copies of amendments or changes to the plan to certain entities, including the Department of Water Resources.

This bill would require an urban water management plan to quantify and report on distribution system water loss. The bill would authorize water use projections to display and account for the water savings estimated to result from adopted codes, standards, ordinance, and transportation and land use plans. The bill would require the plan, or amendments to the plan, be submitted electronically to the department and include any standardized forms, tables, or displays specified by the department.

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.

begin insert

(J) Distribution system water loss.

end insert

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

begin insert

(3) (A) For the 2015 urban water management plan update,
the distribution system water loss shall be quantified for a minimum
period of one year prior to 2015. For all subsequent updates, the
distribution system water loss shall be quantified for each of the
five years preceding the plan update.

end insert begin insert

(B) The distribution system water loss quantification shall be
reported in accordance with a worksheet approved or developed
by the department through a public process. The worksheet shall
be based on the water system balance methodology developed by
the American Water Works Association.

end insert begin insert

(4) (A) A water use projection may display and account for the
water savings estimated to result from adopted codes, standards,
ordinances, and transportation and land use plans identified by
the urban water supplier as applicable to the service area.

end insert begin insert

(B) The urban water supplier shall provide citations of the
various codes, standards, ordinances, and transportation and land
use plans utilized in making the accounting described in
subparagraph (A).

end insert begin insert

(C) An urban water supplier shall indicate the extent that a
water use projection considers water savings from codes,
standards, ordinances, and transportation and land use plans. A
water use projection that does not account for these water savings
shall indicate that fact.

end insert

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

(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.

(h) 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 programs, other than the demand management
programs identified pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (f),
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.

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

(j) 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
subdivisions (f) and (g) 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.

(k) 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).

SEC. 2.  

Section 10644 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10644.  

(a)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert An urban water supplier shall submit to the
department, the California State Library, and any city or county
within which the supplier provides water supplies a copy of its
plan no later than 30 days after adoption. Copies of amendments
or changes to the plans shall be submitted to the department, the
California State Library, and any city or county within which the
supplier provides water supplies within 30 days after adoption.

begin insert

(2) The plan, or amendments to the plan, submitted to the
department pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted
electronically and shall include any standardized forms, tables,
or displays specified by the department.

end insert

(b)  begin delete The end delete begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government
Code, the end insert department shall prepare and submit to the Legislature,
on or before December 31, in the years ending in six and one, a
report summarizing the status of the plans adopted pursuant to this
part. The report prepared by the department shall identify the
exemplary elements of the individual plans. The department shall
provide a copy of the report to each urban water supplier that has
submitted its plan to the department. The department shall also
prepare reports and provide data for any legislative hearings
designed to consider the effectiveness of plans submitted pursuant
to this part.

begin insert

(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
Code.

end insert

(c) (1) For the purpose of identifying the exemplary elements
of the individual plans, the department shall identify in the report
begin delete those end delete water demand management measures adopted and
implemented by specific urban water suppliers, and identified
pursuant to Section 10631, that achieve water savings significantly
above the levels established by the department to meet the
requirements of Section 10631.5.

(2) The department shall distribute to the panel convened
pursuant to Section 10631.7 the results achieved by the
implementation of those water demand management measures
described in paragraph (1).

(3) The department shall make available to the public the
standard the department will use to identify exemplary water
demand management measures.