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State water board issues revised drought regulations for Californians

Boat slips sit on the dry lake bed at Folsom Lake amid California's severe drought. The state water board issued revisions to its proposed regulations to achieve record levels of water conservation.
Boat slips sit on the dry lake bed at Folsom Lake amid California’s severe drought. The state water board issued revisions to its proposed regulations to achieve record levels of water conservation.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
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Anticipating a seasonal spike in summertime water usage, California’s Water Resources Control Board released a modified set of proposed conservation restrictions Saturday that would take effect in June.

State water board officials emphasized that making major water use cuts during the coming summer months would be critical to meeting Gov. Jerry Brown’s mandate of a 25% reduction in urban water use statewide. Cutting back on outdoor irrigation during the summer remains a top priority, board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus said.

The board will begin tracking compliance in June, and that will mean performing monthly checks on the more than 400 urban water agencies to make sure they are hitting their reduction targets.

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“We’re going to be up-to-our-eyeballs engaged with these agencies to see how they’re doing,” Marcus said.

“We’re in a drought like we’ve not seen before, so all Californians need to step up,” Marcus added. “We know that we don’t know when it will end.”

Responding to pleas from water suppliers to consider conservation efforts already in place, the board’s chief deputy director, Caren Trgovcich, stood by the 2013 baseline set by the board.

“We’re in an emergency,” she said. “We need to secure our water supplies in case the drought continues.”

Some communities “have achieved remarkable results with residential water use now hovering around the statewide target … while others are using many times more,” the board said in a prepared statement.

The draft restrictions will be considered for formal approval early next month.

The newly revised restrictions would force water suppliers statewide to cut usage by 8% to as much as 36%.

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An earlier framework for restrictions divided water suppliers into four tiers, based on per-capita daily water use. The new draft expands those tiers to nine, “to more equitably allocate” cuts, the water board said.

Among other effects, the increased number of tiers will give many communities in the hotter, inland areas of California a less-stringent conservation standard than they would have otherwise had to meet, officials said.

The largest tier, with water use of between 215 and 612 gallons per day per person, includes 94 water suppliers that must slash use by 36%. The tier that includes the smallest water usage, less than 65 gallons per person per day, covers 23 suppliers which must cut usage by 8%.

Under the updated restriction, the city of Beverly Hills and the Coachella Valley Water District must now reduce usage by the 36% -- up from 35%.

The city of Newport Beach must now reduce usage by 32% -- down from an earlier target of 35%. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the city of Long Beach are now at 16% rather than 20%, whereas cities such as Santa Cruz now must only save 8% -- down from 10%.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he was pleased that the water board had recognized the city’s “aggressive conservation efforts.”

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The reduction ordered for the city of San Diego was eased from 20% to 16%.

The new proposal also takes into account a longer period of time when assigning suppliers to tiers. Previously, per capita usage was based on figures from the month of September 2014. Now, per capita usage will be calculated on the basis of three months – July, August and September – of 2014.

“These three months reflect the amount of water used for summer outdoor irrigation, which provides the greatest opportunity for conservation savings,” the water board said.

The new draft regulation also described two situations in which water suppliers could request to modify their water use classification and be placed into a lower conservation tier.

Urban suppliers that deliver more than 20% of their water to commercial agriculture could ask for a modification. Suppliers that have a “reserve supply of surface water that could last multiple years” could also be eligible for placement in a less-restrictive conservation tier, regulators said.

Suppliers face fines of up to $10,000 a day for failing to meet the cut targets. Earlier this week, water suppliers blasted a framework proposal, saying the cuts were too steep and unfairly affected a variety of water users.

The specific prohibitions contained within the emergency regulation -- such as watering ornamental turf on street medians -- are scheduled to take effect May 15. Urban water suppliers are expected to begin implementing measures to meet their mandatory reduction targets by June 1, water regulators said.

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State officials say that in many communities around the state, over half, and up to 80%, of total residential water usage during the summer months is for outdoor irrigation.

“With summer just around the corner, bringing with it the greatest opportunity for making substantial conservation gains, immediate action is essential,” the water board said. As a result, the water board will begin monitoring compliance based on June usage reports. (Those reports will be submitted on July 15.)

There are no specific use-reduction targets for commercial, industrial and institutional users, the water board said. Local water suppliers will decide how to apportion water to residential and nonresidential users to meet their mandated reductions.

“Water suppliers are encouraged to look at their commercial, institutional and industrial properties that irrigated outdoor ornamental landscapes with potable water for potential conservation savings,” the water board said.

Saturday’s release of the draft regulations kicks off an informal period of public comment. Based on that input, the proposal will be further refined and a notice of emergency rulemaking will be released on April 28. A final hearing and adoption are scheduled for May 5 or 6.

Times staff writer Tony Perry in San Diego contributed to this report.

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Twitter: @montemorin @mattstevens @chrismegerian

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