Two bills (SB 606 and AB 1668) passed in 2018 directed the Department of Water Resources and the State Water Board to develop regulations for the next generation of California water savings requirements. The Making Water Conservation a California Way of Life framework aims to give each water agency an objective, or target, for residential and outdoor water use.
The State Water Board released a draft regulation in August of 2023.
DWA submitted a comment letter on the regulation in October of 2023.
The Public Policy Institute of California issued an assessment of the draft regulation in December of 2023.
The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) issued a report that assesses early implementation of the legislation on Jan. 4, 2024.
The State Water Board released changes to proposed regulation on March 12, 2024
The current draft of the regulation appears to require DWA to make significant cuts to water sold in order to meet its objective. Early state estimates show DWA needing customers to reduce by 20-30% – this is equivalent to removing all of the grass at Sunrise Park and the baseball field more than 30 times over.
DWA promotes conservation and invests in incentive programs. The community DWA serves has also invested heavily in effective water management for decades. The DWA team is working to provide comments to the state about the local impacts and factors to consider.
Questions? email conservation@dwa.org