SACRAMENTO — Bringing California’s historic drought directly to every home and business in the state, the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday imposed the first mandatory urban water conservation rules in state history.
Turning aside complaints that the targets are too tough, the State Water Resources Control Board approved the rules by a 5-0 vote after a marathon, 10-hour meeting, saying that requests for voluntary conservation haven’t worked sufficiently to save enough water to keep California from running perilously low if the drought drags on for years to come.
“We’re in an emergency,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the board. “It might not rain or snow much this year or next year. It is better to be safe than sorry.”
The rules take effect June 1 and will remain in effect until next February. Although the impacts will vary by community, generally speaking they will result in broad new water restrictions for most of the state’s 38 million residents, including limits on lawn watering, bans on various types of water use such as washing cars or filling pools in some places and, in some communities, water cops writing tickets for people who waste water or water their lawns on the wrong days.
Under the rules, every city and water district with more than 3,000 connections was given a mandatory water conservation target ranging from 8 percent to 36 percent, based on their per capita use last year. The idea, board members said, was to reward communities that already have been conserving water, while placing more of a burden on those who consume disproportionately more.
It will be up to each community to figure out how best to meet its target.
Communities with the lowest per capita use, such as San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Hayward, were assigned the lowest target of 8 percent, and those with the highest use, like Hillsborough, Bakersfield, Beverly Hills and Atherton, were given the highest mandatory target of 36 percent.
Cities and water districts not meeting their targets will be subject to state fines of up to $10,000 a day later this summer.
In the Bay Area, the San Jose Water Company was given a target of 20 percent. The East Bay Municipal Utility District, which serves 1.3 million people in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, was assigned a 16 percent target, and the Contra Costa Water District was given a 28 percent target.
The board’s decision came after it released new figures Tuesday showing how the state continued to lag in its conservation efforts, falling far short of Brown’s mandate that communities cut water use by 25 percent.
Statewide, the largest 410 cities and water districts reduced water use by only 3.6 percent in March, compared to the baseline year of 2013.
“I keep thinking that we are in some stages of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross — grief, denial, bargaining, and eventually we get to acceptance, and that can’t come too soon,” said Marcus.
Cumulatively, since detailed record keeping began last June, California’s urban residents have cut water use 8.6 percent, said Max Gomberg, a staff member for the board.
“We have done well, but we have a long way to go,” he said
During Tuesday’s meeting, more than 50 people testified, including representatives from small towns, the state’s largest cities and some of its leading industries. Many said the rules were too strict, and should be changed in various ways, such as allowing places with hotter weather to use more water, or allowing easier standards for cities with ample groundwater storage.
“This will force me to be in a position to choose between meeting my conservation standard and taking care of public safety and public health,” said Marc Marcantonio, general manager of the Yorba Linda Water District in Orange County.
The district’s customers cut water use by only 5 percent last year and have a residential use of 220 gallons per person per day, double the state average. But Marcantonio said the community is next to Chino Hills State Park, which has high fire danger so it should be given relaxed standard.
Under questioning from Marcus, however, he acknowledged that only 10 gallons per day of the district’s per capita water use is due to fire reduction efforts.
From the other end of the state, city officials from Lincoln, a town in Placer County that used 251 gallons per person per day and is also facing a mandatory 36 percent reduction, said the target was too tough.
“We are going to have to require our water users to limit their watering to one day a week at the maximum,” said Jennifer Hansen, the city’s public services director. “We will be seeing brown lawns. We will be seeing lots of vegetation dying.”
Large Bay Area water districts, however, said they support the rules.
“We think the targets are achievable,” said Marty Grimes, a spokesman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District. “Our main concern is keeping our groundwater levels from dropping further.”
Added Tyrone Jue, a spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which supplies water to 2.6 million Bay Area residents through the Hetch Hetchy system: “The new mandatory targets are going to be tough but are a necessity given this historic drought.”
Some cities already have begun to put in place rules to meet the targets. Last month, San Jose banned all home car washing and filling of swimming pools and limited lawn watering to two days a week. East Bay MUD limited lawn watering to two days a week and passed a surcharge for excessive water use. Santa Cruz imposed a rationing system that gives each house 10 units of water a month, with a $50 per unit cost above the 11th unit.
Gomberg said that an economic study by the board found that the new rules will cost cities, water districts and private water companies at least $600 million from lost water sales. That will have to be made up for in higher rates, he said, adding that the state doesn’t have much choice.
“It’s not an easy trade off. But this is a sort of desperate-times approach that’s being taken here.”
Paul Rogers covers resources and environmental issues. Contact him at 408-920-5045. Follow him at Twitter.com/PaulRogersSJMN.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: Emergency Regulations
www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought, then click on Proposed Emergency Regulations to Achieve 25% Urban Conservation (04/29/15)
