Bill Text: CA AB754 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Water management planning: water shortages.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2023-09-01 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB754 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB754-Amended.html
Bill Title: Water management planning: water shortages.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2023-09-01 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB754 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB754-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 25, 2023 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
March 09, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 754
| Introduced by Assembly Member Papan |
February 13, 2023 |
An act to amend Sections 10620, 10631, and 10826 of the Water Code, relating to water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 754, as amended, Papan.
Water management planning: automatic conservation plan.
(1) Existing law, the Urban Water Management Planning Act, requires every public and private urban water supplier that directly or indirectly provides water for municipal purposes to prepare and adopt an urban water management plan. Existing law requires an urban water management plan to quantify past, current, and projected water use, identifying the uses among water use sectors, including, among others, commercial, agricultural, and industrial. Existing law requires an urban water management plan to identify and quantify, to the extent practicable, the existing and planned sources of water available to the supplier over a specified period of time, providing supporting and related information, including, among other things, a description of the management of each supply in correlation with the other identified supplies when multiple sources of water supply are
identified.
This bill would additionally require an urban water management plan, if a reservoir is identified as an existing or planned source of water available to the supplier, to include specified information related to water storage and conservation, including, among other things, a target water supply storage curve, calculated as provided,
based on target carryover levels of water sufficient to satisfy water users and streamflow requirements, as specified, and an automatic conservation plan that would be implemented when the reservoir storage level falls below the target water supply storage curve. The bill would require the automatic conservation plan to contain specified information regarding, among other things, response actions to be taken when water storage falls to specified storage levels. related to water storage, including, among other things, reservoir storage levels relative to a target water supply storage curve that will trigger shortage response actions.
(2) Existing law requires an agricultural water supplier to prepare and adopt an
agricultural water management plan with specified components on or before December 31, 2012, and to update those plans on or before December 31, 2015, and on or before April 1, 2021, and thereafter on or before April 1 in the years ending in 6 and one. Existing law requires an agricultural water supplier to submit its plan to the Department of Water Resources no later than 30 days after the adoption of the plan and requires the department to review an agricultural water management plan and notify an agricultural water supplier if the department determines that it is noncompliant, as provided. Existing law requires an agricultural water supplier to submit copies of its plan to specified entities no later than 30 days after the department’s review of the plan and requires the department to submit its report summarizing the status of the plans to the Legislature on or before April 30 in the years ending in 7 and 2.
This bill would additionally require an agricultural
water management plan, if a reservoir is identified as an existing or planned source of water available to the supplier, to include specified information related to water storage and conservation, including, among other things, a target water supply storage curve, calculated as provided, and an automatic conservation plan that is implemented when the reservoir storage level falls below the target water supply storage curve. The bill would require the automatic conservation plan to contain specified information regarding, among other things, response actions to be taken when water storage falls to specified storage levels.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 10620 of the Water Code is amended to read:10620.
(a) Every urban water supplier shall prepare and adopt an urban water management plan in the manner set forth in Article 3 (commencing with Section 10640).(b) Every person that becomes an urban water supplier shall adopt an urban water management plan within one year after it has become an urban water supplier.
(c) An urban water supplier indirectly providing water shall not include planning elements in its water management plan as provided in Article 2 (commencing with Section 10630) that would be applicable to urban water suppliers or public agencies directly providing water, or to their customers, without the consent of those suppliers
or public agencies.
(d) (1) An urban water supplier may satisfy the requirements of this part by participation in areawide, regional, watershed, or basinwide urban water management planning where those plans will reduce preparation costs and contribute to the achievement of conservation, efficient water use, and improved local drought resilience.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), each urban water supplier shall develop its own water shortage contingency plan and automatic conservation plan, but an urban water supplier may incorporate, collaborate, and otherwise share information with other urban water suppliers or other governing entities participating in an areawide, regional, watershed, or basinwide urban water management plan, an agricultural management
plan, or groundwater sustainability plan development.
(3) Each urban water supplier shall coordinate the preparation of its plan with other appropriate agencies in the area, including other water suppliers that share a common source, water management agencies, and relevant public agencies, to the extent practicable.
(e) The urban water supplier may prepare the plan with its own staff, by contract, or in cooperation with other governmental agencies.
(f) An urban water supplier shall describe in the plan water management tools and options used by that entity that will maximize resources and minimize the need to import water from other regions.
SEC. 2.
Section 10631 of the Water Code is amended to read:10631.
A plan shall be adopted in accordance with this chapter that shall do all of the following:(a) Describe the service area of the supplier, including current and projected population, climate, and other social, economic, and demographic factors affecting the supplier’s water management planning. The projected population estimates shall be based upon data from the state, regional, or local service agency population projections within the service area of the urban water supplier and shall be in five-year 5-year increments to 20 years or as far as
data is available. The description shall include the current and projected land uses within the existing or anticipated service area affecting the supplier’s water management planning. Urban water suppliers shall coordinate with local or regional land use authorities to determine the most appropriate land use information, including, where appropriate, land use information obtained from local or regional land use authorities, as developed pursuant to Article 5 (commencing with Section 65300) of Chapter 3 of Division 1 of Title 7 of the Government Code.
(b) Identify and quantify, to the extent practicable, the existing and planned sources of water available to the supplier over the same five-year increments described in subdivision (a), providing supporting and related information, including all of the following:
(1) A detailed discussion of anticipated supply availability under a normal water year, single dry year, and droughts lasting at least five years, as well as more frequent and severe periods of drought, as described in the drought risk assessment. For each source of water supply, consider any information pertinent to the reliability analysis conducted pursuant to Section 10635, including changes in supply due to climate change.
(2) When multiple sources of water supply are identified, a description of the management of each supply in correlation with the other identified supplies.
(3) For any planned sources of water supply, a description of the measures that are being undertaken to acquire and develop those water
supplies.
(4) If groundwater is identified as an existing or planned source of water available to the supplier, all of the following information:
(A) The current version of any groundwater sustainability plan or alternative adopted pursuant to Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720), any groundwater management plan adopted by the urban water supplier, including plans adopted pursuant to Part 2.75 (commencing with Section 10750), or any other specific authorization for groundwater management for basins underlying the urban water supplier’s service area.
(B) A description of any groundwater basin or basins from which the urban water supplier pumps groundwater. For basins that a court or the board has adjudicated the rights
to pump groundwater, a copy of the order or decree adopted by the court or the board and a description of the amount of groundwater the urban water supplier has the legal right to pump under the order or decree. For a basin that has not been adjudicated, information as to whether the department has identified the basin as a high- or medium-priority basin in the most current official departmental bulletin that characterizes the condition of the groundwater basin, and a detailed description of the efforts being undertaken by the urban water supplier to coordinate with groundwater sustainability agencies or groundwater management agencies listed in subdivision (c) of Section 10723 to maintain or achieve sustainable groundwater conditions in accordance with a groundwater sustainability plan or alternative adopted pursuant to Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720).
(C) A detailed description and analysis of the location, amount, and sufficiency of groundwater pumped by the urban water supplier for the past five years. The description and analysis shall be based on information that is reasonably available, including, but not limited to, historic use records.
(D) A detailed description and analysis of the amount and location of groundwater that is projected to be pumped by the urban water supplier. The description and analysis shall be based on information that is reasonably available, including, but not limited to, historic use records.
(5) If a reservoir is identified as an existing or planned source of water available to the supplier, all the following information:
(A) (i) A target water supply storage curve based on target carryover levels sufficient to satisfy water users and ecological stream flow needs streamflow requirements for at least five years, with reasonably predicted inflow calculations considering local conditions and climate change.
(ii) The reservoir storage level shall be calculated each month based on reservoir capacity, projected inflows, evaporation, water demands from all users, and streamflow requirements. The reservoir storage level shall be plotted against the target water supply storage curve on a calendar to ensure that
target storage levels are met.
(B) An automatic conservation plan that is implemented when the reservoir storage level falls below the target water supply storage curve determined in subparagraph (A). When both an automatic conservation plan and a water shortage contingency plan pursuant to Section 10632 are in effect, the more restrictive of the two plans shall govern. An automatic conservation plan shall include all of the following:
(i) Six standard water shortage levels corresponding to progressive ranges of up to 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 percent 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, and 50-percent shortages below the
target water supply curve and greater than 50 percent 50-percent shortage.
(ii) At each water shortage level, urban water suppliers shall initiate conservation response actions that align with the defined shortage levels and include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(I) Locally appropriate water supply augmentation actions.
(II) Locally appropriate water demand reduction actions to adequately respond to shortages.
(III) Locally appropriate operational changes.
(IV) Mandatory prohibitions against specific water use practices that are in addition to state-mandated prohibitions and appropriate to the local conditions.
(iii) For each action, an estimate of the extent that the gap between target reservoir storage level and the actual reservoir storage level will be reduced by implementation of the action.
(iv) For each action, an estimate of impacts to other water resources, including any increase in groundwater extraction.
(v) Water demand reduction actions shall be applied to all customer classes, and may include any of the following:
(I) Water waste prevention
ordinances.
(II) Metering.
(III) Conservation pricing.
(IV) Public education and outreach.
(V) Programs to assess and manage distribution system real loss.
(VI) Water conservation program coordination and staffing support.
(vi) Other demand management measures that have a significant impact on water use as measured in gallons per capita per day, including innovative measures, if implemented.
(vii) Other demand management measures that have a significant impact on water
used by downstream water rights holders.
(c) Describe the opportunities for exchanges or transfers of water on a short-term or long-term basis.
(d) (1) For an urban retail water supplier, quantify, to the extent records are available, past and current water use, over the same five-year increments described in subdivision (a), and projected water use, based upon information developed pursuant to subdivision (a), identifying the uses among water use sectors, including, but not necessarily limited to, all of the following:
(A) Single-family residential.
(B) Multifamily.
(C) Commercial.
(D) Industrial.
(E) Institutional and governmental.
(F) Landscape.
(G) Sales to other agencies.
(H) Saline water intrusion barriers, groundwater recharge, or conjunctive use, or any combination thereof.
(I) Agricultural.
(J) Distribution system water loss.
(2) The water use projections shall be in the same five-year increments described in subdivision (a).
(3) (A) The distribution system water loss shall be quantified for each of the five years preceding the plan update, in accordance with rules adopted pursuant to Section 10608.34.
(B) The distribution system water loss quantification shall be reported in accordance with a worksheet approved or developed by the department through a public process. The water loss quantification worksheet shall be based on the water system balance methodology developed by the American Water Works Association.
(C) In the plan due July 1, 2021, and in each update thereafter, data shall be included to show whether the urban retail water supplier met the distribution loss standards enacted by the board pursuant to
Section 10608.34.
(4) (A) Water use projections, where available, shall display and account for the water savings estimated to result from adopted codes, standards, ordinances, or transportation and land use plans identified by the urban water supplier, as applicable to the service area.
(B) To the extent that an urban water supplier reports the information described in subparagraph (A), an urban water supplier shall do both of the following:
(i) Provide citations of the various codes, standards, ordinances, or transportation and land use plans utilized in making the projections.
(ii) Indicate the extent that the water use projections
consider savings from codes, standards, ordinances, or transportation and land use plans. Water use projections that do not account for these water savings shall be noted of that fact.
(e) Provide a description of the supplier’s water demand management measures. This description shall include all of the following:
(1) (A) For an urban retail water supplier, as defined in Section 10608.12, a narrative description that addresses the nature and extent of each water demand management measure implemented over the past five years. The narrative shall describe the water demand management measures that the supplier plans to implement to achieve its water use targets pursuant to Section 10608.20.
(B) The narrative pursuant to this paragraph shall include descriptions of the following water demand management measures:
(i) Water waste prevention ordinances.
(ii) Metering.
(iii) Conservation pricing.
(iv) Public education and outreach.
(v) Programs to assess and manage distribution system real loss.
(vi) Water conservation program coordination and staffing support.
(vii) Other demand management measures that have a significant impact on water use as measured in
gallons per capita per day, including innovative measures, if implemented.
(2) For an urban wholesale water supplier, as defined in Section 10608.12, a narrative description of the items in clauses (ii), (iv), (vi), and (vii) of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), and a narrative description of its distribution system asset management and wholesale supplier assistance programs.
(f) Include a description of all water supply projects and water supply programs that may be undertaken by the urban water supplier to meet the total projected water use, as established pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 10635. The urban water supplier shall include a detailed description of expected future projects and programs that the urban water supplier may implement to increase the amount of the
water supply available to the urban water supplier in normal and single-dry water years and for a period of drought lasting five consecutive water years. The description shall identify specific projects and include a description of the increase in water supply that is expected to be available from each project. The description shall include an estimate with regard to the implementation timeline for each project or program.
(g) Describe the opportunities for development of desalinated water, including, but not limited to, ocean water, brackish water, and groundwater, as a long-term supply.
(h) An urban water supplier that relies upon a wholesale agency for a source of water shall provide the wholesale agency with water use projections from that agency for that source of water in five-year
5-year increments to 20 years or as far as data is available. The wholesale agency shall provide information to the urban water supplier for inclusion in the urban water supplier’s plan that identifies and quantifies, to the extent practicable, the existing and planned sources of water as required by subdivision (b), available from the wholesale agency to the urban water supplier over the same five-year increments, and during various water-year types in accordance with subdivision (f). An urban water supplier may rely upon water supply information provided by the wholesale
agency in fulfilling the plan informational requirements of subdivisions (b) and (f).
SEC. 3.
Section 10826 of the Water Code is amended to read:10826.
An agricultural water management plan shall be adopted in accordance with this chapter. The plan shall do all of the following:(a) Describe the agricultural water supplier and the service area, including all of the following:
(1) Size of the service area.
(2) Location of the service area and its water management facilities.
(3) Terrain and soils.
(4) Climate.
(5) Operating rules and
regulations.
(6) Water delivery measurements or calculations.
(7) Water rate schedules and billing.
(8) Water shortage allocation policies.
(b) Describe the quantity and quality of water resources of the agricultural water supplier, including all of the following:
(1) Surface water supply.
(2) Groundwater supply.
(3) Other water supplies, including recycled water.
(4) Source water quality monitoring practices.
(5) Water uses within the agricultural water supplier’s service area, including all of the following:
(A) Agricultural.
(B) Environmental.
(C) Recreational.
(D) Municipal and industrial.
(E) Groundwater recharge, including estimated flows from deep percolation from irrigation and seepage.
(c) Include an annual water budget based on the quantification of all inflow and outflow components for the service area of the agricultural water supplier. Components of inflow shall include surface
inflow, groundwater pumping in the service area, and effective precipitation. Components of outflow shall include surface outflow, deep percolation, and evapotranspiration. An agricultural water supplier shall report the annual water budget on a water-year basis. The department shall provide tools and resources to assist agricultural water suppliers in developing and quantifying components necessary to develop a water budget.
(d) Include an analysis, based on available information, of the effect of climate change on future water supplies.
(e) Describe previous water management activities.
(f) Identify water management objectives based on the water budget to improve water system efficiency or to meet other water management
objectives. The agricultural water supplier shall identify, prioritize, and implement actions to reduce water loss, improve water system management, and meet other water management objectives identified in the plan.
(g) Include in the plan information regarding efficient water management practices required pursuant to Section 10608.48.
(h) Quantify the efficiency of agricultural water use within the service area of the agricultural water supplier using the appropriate method or methods from among the four water use efficiency quantification methods developed by the department in the May 8, 2012, report to the Legislature entitled “A Proposed Methodology for Quantifying the Efficiency of Agricultural Water Use.” The agricultural water supplier shall account for all water uses, including
crop water use, agronomic water use, environmental water use, and recoverable surface flows.
(i) If a reservoir is identified as an existing or planned source of water available to the supplier, all of the following information shall be contained in the plan:
(1) (A) A target water supply storage curve based on target carryover levels sufficient to satisfy water users and ecological stream flow needs streamflow requirements for at least five years, with reasonably predicted inflow calculations considering local conditions and climate change.
(B) The reservoir storage level shall be calculated each month based on reservoir capacity, projected inflows, evaporation, water demands from all users, and streamflow requirements. The reservoir storage level shall be plotted against the target water supply storage curve on a calendar to ensure that target storage levels are being met.
(2) An automatic conservation plan that is implemented when the reservoir storage level falls below the target water supply storage curve determined in subparagraph (A). When both an automatic conservation plan and a drought plan pursuant to Section 10826.2 are in effect, the more restrictive of the two plans shall govern. An automatic conservation plan shall include all of the following:
(A) Six standard water shortage levels
corresponding to progressive ranges of up to 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 percent 10-, 20-, 30-, 40-, and 50-percent shortages below the target water supply curve and greater than 50 percent 50-percent shortage.
(B) At each water shortage level, agricultural water suppliers shall initiate conservation response actions that align with the defined shortage levels and include, at a minimum, all of the following:
(i) Locally appropriate
supply augmentation actions.
(ii) Locally appropriate demand reduction actions to adequately respond to shortages.
(iii) Locally appropriate operational changes.
(iv) Additional, mandatory prohibitions against specific water use practices that are in addition to state-mandated prohibitions and appropriate to the local conditions.
(C) For each action, an estimate of the extent that the gap between the target reservoir storage level and the actual reservoir storage level will be reduced by implementation of the action.
(D) For each action, an estimate of impacts to other water resources, including any
increase in groundwater extraction.
