Mandated cuts will be tough for Calif. water districts

California's new mandatory drought rules put cities and water agencies in charge of figuring out how to persuade people to swiftly use a lot less water.

For many water districts, the new state-mandated targets will likely prove challenging to meet. And the agencies have yet to work out how they will convince their customers to change their water habits. But water districts have a variety of tools they intend to try, such as adjusting prices, limiting outdoor watering times and boosting their enforcement of drought rules.

"It's time to get real about this. We are clearly in the drought of our lives, and we have to assume that it won't end soon," said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. "It's just a question of stepping up and getting it done, always thinking about the Australian experience and trying to avoid the Brazilian Sao Paulo experience of not taking action early and having to turn the water off for hours at a time."

Marcus has repeatedly referred to the long drought in Australia in the 2000s and the recent drought in Brazil to point to the urgency of preparing for the possibility of another dry year in California.

She said it's critical to stretch water supplies now because "we can't face the specter of our large urban areas running out of water."

The state water board on Tuesday approved emergency drought regulations that for the first time require agencies statewide to slash water use in cities and towns by 25%. Water suppliers will be required to promptly cut back water usage by amounts ranging from 8% to 36%.

The measures reflect just how bleak the state's water situation has become in a fourth year of extreme drought. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has shrunk to new lows. Groundwater levels have plummeted across much of California and, in some areas of the Central Valley, the wells of hundreds of families have run dry.

"If it does not rain or snow much next fall and winter, we will be exceedingly happy that we saved this water now," Marcus told reporters in a conference call on Wednesday.

Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the mandatory statewide cut in water use on April 1 after Californians largely failed to meet his calls for voluntary 20% reductions during the past year.

The Coachella Valley has long had relatively low water rates and some of the highest levels of per capita water use in California. Four of the area's six water suppliers fall into the state's tier for the biggest reductions of 36% in water use: the Coachella Valley Water District, the city of Indio, Desert Water Agency and Myoma Dunes Mutual Water Co.

Two water suppliers with lower average water use, Mission Spring Water District and the city of Coachella, will need to make reductions of 32% and 24%, respectively. The state is using water usage data from 2013 as a baseline for comparison.

Some people in the area have recently been letting their lawns go brown. Maureen Ferriter, a retired teacher in Palm Springs, said she and her husband stopped watering their backyard lawn several week ago, and they plan to replace it with desert landscaping.

"I hate to see my grass go," Ferriter said. "But we all have to chip in."

She has applied for funding from the city of Palm Springs to help cover a portion of the costs. Ferriter said she wishes more funding were available from the Desert Water Agency, but so far, DWA has prioritized funding for removing lawns from front yards, not backyards.

During the drought, water agencies have sharply increased funding for cash incentives to help homeowners convert to desert landscaping. But those projects take time and money. And in the meantime, the state water board is urging Californians to simply decrease their watering outdoors.

"It's going to be hard, but I think it can be achieved," said Cástulo Estrada, a board member of the Coachella Valley Water District. "It's going to take everyone doing their part."

CVWD, the largest water district in the Coachella Valley, has proposed to begin charging penalty fees when customers fail to cut back sufficiently. Estrada pointed out that the district plans to use the individualized "water budgets" that appear on customers' bill to gauge their progress. Those who are already below their budgeted amounts will have less to do to meet the targets.

Estrada said he sees the state's measures as a "one-size-fits-all approach" and that the Coachella Valley is in a better water situation than other parts of the state facing severe shortages.

"We are not having a shortage of water, but it is still important to conserve," Estrada said. "We are determined to do our best to meet that 36% reduction."

Desert Water Agency also called for people to conserve more water.

"By now, the message should resonate loud and clear with all Californians — we are in the most serious drought of our time," Jim Cioffi, vice president of the DWA board, said in a statement. "To do our part and achieve the reduction that the state is requiring of us, we need all Desert Water Agency customers to step up and follow the mandatory restrictions we have adopted."

Like other water districts, DWA plans to review the state's emergency regulations to consider additional steps.

Some of the Coachella Valley's water agencies have argued that the state's stats on per capita water use are skewed because the calculation method has relied on census figures that leave out many seasonal residents.

In response to those concerns, the state water board agreed to allow water agencies in such areas to resubmit their data to reflect their population estimates. That could end up leading to lower calculations of per capita water use for some areas of the Coachella Valley.

"We want to get these numbers right, so those adjustments are important," Marcus said. "The per capita needs to be fairer and we want it to be right. That's the goal. So you adjust it. They've still got to get the reductions that they have to get."

State officials have called for Californians to focus on using less water on outdoor landscaping, particularly lawns. But they also emphasized that there are various ways people can conserve.

"Long showers are like the greatest thing in the world, at least speaking personally. But you can take a shower in two minutes and see it as a necessity," Marcus said. "I turn the water off because that's just a luxury that's impinging on the future of my community, and so people need to be motivated by community spirit."

The state water board will have the authority to issue fines of up to $10,000 against cities or water districts that don't reach their targets and that violate state orders.

Fines are also one way that water agencies can get the attention of those who waste water or violate drought rules. So far, though, water suppliers haven't issued many fines.

During Tuesday's meeting, the state water board for the first time released data on the actions that agencies statewide have taken to enforce drought measures and rules against wasting water. There were 10,877 complaints reported statewide during March, as well as 8,762 warnings issued and 682 penalties assessed.