Cities and urban water districts welcome the changes to the state's draft conservation rules, which they said would have been too costly for ratepayers, estimated at $13-and-a-half billion, and too difficult to achieve.
But environmentalists are dismayed by the revisions, which they said won't save enough water to weather shortages as climate change continues to squeeze supplies.
Tracy Quinn, CEO and president of Heal the Bay, a Los Angeles County environmental group, told CalMatters, "The updated standards are weak, and the regulation includes semi-truck sized loopholes that make it too easy for water suppliers to shirk their obligation to use water more efficiently."
Mandated by a package of laws enacted in 2018, the rules from the State Water Resources Control Board aim to make "water conservation a California way of life" by mandating cuts in water use among more than 400 cities and water agencies that supply the vast majority of Californians.
The regulation won't set mandatory conservation targets for individuals. Instead, it creates water budgets for cities and districts, which would meet them through rebates, new rate structures and other efforts to cut their customers' use.
The Legislative Analyst's Office, in a January report, heavily criticized the original rules, saying they would set "such stringent standards for outdoor use that suppliers will not have much 'wiggle room' in complying."
