New water restrictions are coming to California. Earlier this month, the state Water Resources Control Board adopted new rules that will phase in cutbacks to water suppliers across the state; the enforcement of those conservation targets is expected to start in 2027.
These new rules have been under consideration for several years, and have gone through different iterations over that time.
With The Show to talk more about them is Rachel Becker, water reporter at CalMatters.
Full conversation
MARK BRODIE: Rachel, what exactly do these new water rules say?
RACHEL BECKER: Yeah. So basically what they do is they set individualized water budgets for urban water suppliers in California. There are about 400 of the of these suppliers that these budgets will apply to serving about 95% of the population. And what these budgets will do is tighten over time.
And the goal is to create conservation measures that are really much more individualized to the different regions and different needs across the big state of California. And so the budgets are calculated from a number of different factors including standards for indoor water use that tighten over time, outdoor water use at residences as well, certain landscape water uses and losses in systems like leaks. And then water users can also apply for, or water suppliers, that is, water suppliers can apply for variances that basically take some of the heat off.
BRODIE: Why was the decision made to have these regulations go through those suppliers as opposed to, you know, individual homeowners or businesses or the actual end users?
BECKER: Yeah, that's a great question. I don't know that I can speak to the original legislators’ intent at the time, but that is an important distinction to make is that these regulations do apply to the suppliers and not the users.
And so it will be up to each individual suppliers to figure out how exactly they want to meet the conservation needs, whether it's going to be through offer rebates or through instituting a use-based rate structure in which higher water users have to pay higher fees. And I think part of the impetus was to give kind of more local control and not a one size fits all approach.
BRODIE: Sure. So how much water ultimately do supporters say that this plan will save?
BECKER: Water board staff estimate that through 2040 the measures will save 1.7 million acre feet total. And that's enough to supply about half of California's population for a year. And through 2050, the savings could reach about 3.9 million acre feet. And so, that's more than a year's supply for the state's entire population. That is a substantial reduction though, from previous versions, which would have saved about 6.3 million acre feet through 2040.
BRODIE: So you've reported on some of the, you know, the twists and turns of this, this policy as it was going through the process of being developed and then ultimately finalized. And it seems as though in the end, it has people who are both pleased with it and people who maybe liked earlier versions and, and people who just never liked any of it to begin with.
BECKER: There are a lot of opinions on water in California, which is a huge surprise. So, yes, earlier on, there were pretty massive cost and benefits estimates attached to the earlier versions of the regulation and analysis by the, the state's legislative analyst's office, which basically you can advise the, the legislature and, and does pretty deep dives into policies and regulations and such. They questioned whether the benefits of the new rule would ultimately outweigh the costs and kind of urged the water board to relax some of the requirements to extend some deadlines and give a little more wiggle room for the suppliers.
And so, and the, the state's regulators at the, the Water Resources Control Board, they seem to have taken that feedback and extended some deadlines, gave some alternate compliance pathways especially for supplies facing much larger cuts of 20% to 30% or more.
And the, the costs and the benefits have dropped substantially of the, in the latest version. However, there also seems to have been an accounting error, which also helped drive down the costs and the benefits. Yes. And so now, now it's kind of the verdict is suppliers say that it'll still be challenging to meet these ambitious targets. They're still concerned about cost impacts for lower income and fixed income members of their communities.
But I think many that I heard from at the meeting were pleased to see some of the changes. Environmental groups and the lawmakers who wrote the laws that then led to these regulations back in 2018, were more disappointed with the final verdict from the water board approving the, the latest regulations, you know, saying that these don't necessarily lead to as much conservation as California needs.
State assembly member Laura Friedman, you know, said after the vote that the, that the state's regulators essentially decided to kick the can of California's water future down the road at a time when we can least afford such inaction. That, that latter half of that was a quote. And even the water board chair, Joaquin Esquivel, said, you know, this is not a perfect regulation, but he said it was a significant one.
BRODIE: So for folks who, you know, study water and are involved in the water world in California. Do they see this as the solution to what's going on? Do they see it as a part of the solution? Like how, I guess how big of a part of the dealing with scarcer water supplies is, is this plan, like where does it fit?
BECKER: I think conservation is often considered to be among the more low hanging fruits for California that's said for, for increasing kind of resilience in the face of protracted water scarcity. That said, you know, the water board chair, Esquivel, said that these conservation regulations are not policies in isolation, you know, that this creates a floor. But there are other efforts that are additive.
BRODIE: So more could happen in addition to, to this policy.
BECKER: Well, there are many other efforts that the state government is looking into to, to address California's water supply issues. These are all heavily controversial and their effectiveness is very debated among proponents and critics.
One of the proposals that California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been strongly supporting is a decades-old proposal to basically reroute water that is currently funneled south from northern California to reroute that around the California Delta. So that is one conversation that's happening around California's water supply. Another conversation that's happening is around the proposed sites reservoir to, to increase storage. But again, that one as well is also heavily controversial.
So this conversation about conservation is, is occurring at the same time as, as conversations about, about those massive infrastructure efforts as well. And so, I guess we'll, we'll see how they all play out in tandem.
