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Jerry Brown

California board approves emergency water rules

Ian James
The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun
Californians conserved little water in March and local officials were not aggressive in cracking down on waste, state regulators reported Tuesday.

California's state water board on Tuesday approved emergency drought regulations that aim to slash water use in urban areas by 25%.

The measures call for cities and water agencies to reduce water usage by amounts ranging from 8% to 36%. The State Water Resources Control Board drew up the rules to meet Gov. Jerry Brown's order for a 25% cut in urban water use statewide.

It's the first time that California has ever put in place mandatory reductions in water use. The plan reflects just how bleak the state's water picture has become. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has shrunk to a record low. 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.

Felicia Marcus, chair of the water board, called the cutbacks "a collective issue that we all need to rise to in this time of emergency."

According to the latest figures released by the board, Californians reduced water use by just 3.6% in March as compared to the same month in 2013. That was a slight change from a 2.8% reduction in February, and significantly less than a 22% drop in December and a 7.3% reduction in January.

Max Gomberg, a senior environmental scientist with the state water board, called the new mandatory measures a "desperate times approach."

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.

State officials, however, said they prefer to work with water districts to help them achieve reductions in water use right away.

"We're going to be engaged with the suppliers from the beginning," Gomberg said during the meeting in Sacramento.

Under the regulations approved by the board on Tuesday night, water agencies will have discretion in determining how they achieve their overall reduction targets. They will be able to choose, for instance, how much of the cutbacks are borne by commercial and industrial customers as well as by domestic customers.

The regulations exclude the vast majority of farms in California. They also don't touch the use of recycled water. But properties such as golf courses that rely on water pumped from private wells are to be required to use 25% less water or limit watering to two days a week.

Brown and other state officials have recommended that water districts meet their targets using approaches such as changing prices and enforcing restrictions on watering times.

During Tuesday's meeting, the state water board for the first time released data on the actions that agencies have taken to enforce rules against wasting water, including issuing fines. The board said 290 of the 411 water suppliers provided data on their enforcement during March, and most of them issued 20 or fewer notices for incidents of water waste.

Water agencies reported a total of 10,877 complaints of wasteful water use or violations of drought rules, as well as 8,762 warnings issued and 682 penalties assessed.

Marcus and other state officials said they're focusing on ways to reduce the amounts of water used for lawns and other "ornamental" landscaping outdoors, which accounts for the biggest share of Californians' residential water use. They also are trying to move quickly to put the rules in place before the summer months, when the heaviest outdoor water use typically occurs.

With the extreme drought now in a fourth year in California, Marcus said, the latest measures aim to "ensure urban resilience" if the drought persists for another year or beyond.

"It is better to prepare now than to face much more painful cuts should it not rain in the fall," she said. "I do get all the fears and the concerns, but I do think this is a moment to rise to an occasion and an all-hands-on-deck kind of a moment."



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