“It’s really looking like this is a ‘do nothing’ regulation,” said Tracy Quinn, CEO and president of Heal the Bay, a Los Angeles County environmental group. “The updated standards are weak, and the regulation includes semi-truck sized loopholes that make it too easy for water suppliers to shirk their obligation to use water more efficiently.”
Mandated by a package of laws enacted in 2018, the rules from the State Water Resources Control Board aim to make “water conservation a California way of life (PDF)” by mandating cuts in water use among more than 400 cities and water agencies that supply the vast majority of Californians.
The regulation won’t set mandatory conservation targets for individuals. Instead, it creates water budgets for cities and districts, which would meet them through rebates, new rate structures and other efforts to cut their customers’ use.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office, in a January report, heavily criticized the original rules, saying they would set “such stringent standards for outdoor use that suppliers will not have much ‘wiggle room’ in complying.”
Warning that the costs may outweigh the benefits, the analysts recommended relaxing several of the requirements, such as the residential outdoor standard, and extending deadlines.
The board’s new revisions delay the start date for enforcing compliance with the water budgets by two years, until 2027 — largely because the water board is behind schedule in adopting the regulation, its executive director, Eric Oppenheimer, said. Water suppliers are also granted an extra five years, until 2035, to meet targets ramping down outdoor water use and are given until 2040 for reductions originally planned for 2035.