California’s New Permanent Water Restrictions Will Hit These 3 Areas Hardest

New regulations approved last week by the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) will hit some cities harder than others. The biggest cuts are expected to hit water providers in the Golden State’s Central Valley.

The policy, called Making Conservation a California Way of Life, would require the state’s largest water utilities to reduce the amount of water they deliver to customers by nearly 40 percent over the next 15 years. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to $10,000 per day.

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The council’s goal is to increase the resilience and efficiency of California’s water management and avoid the need for government emergency measures during periods of drought.

This is the first time the state board has attempted to implement permanent water cuts, although formal adoption of the policy is now pending approval by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL). If approved, the regulation would go into effect by Jan. 1, 2025.

Suppliers will need to calculate water budgets based on the needs of the communities they serve, taking into account factors such as residential and outdoor water usage, commercial, industrial and institutional areas with dedicated irrigation meters, and the maximum volume of water the supplier itself could lose due to leakage.

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It is up to water suppliers, not individuals, to limit water use. They can do this by imposing water restrictions on consumers, raising rates, or encouraging low-flow devices.

Since not all of California faces the same water problems, it is expected that some areas will have much greater water shortages than others.

The board estimates that cuts of more than 30 percent will affect just six providers (two percent of all regulated providers in the state) by 2025 and 46 (12 percent) by 2040, meaning 118,370 people will be hit by the largest cuts by next year and 1,733,569 over 15 years.

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The regions where water providers will have to make the biggest water cuts (more than 30 percent) by 2040 are the South Coast, San Joaquin Valley and Tulare Lake, according to the board’s provisional data.

The reductions necessary to achieve the 2040 standards-based goal, for the subset of urban uses subject to the standards, are 92 percent for the City of Vernon, 58 percent for the City of Atwater, 50 percent for Oildale Mutual Water Company, 45 percent for the West Kern Water District, and 43 percent for the City of Glendora.

Sixty-five percent of suppliers serving 29,157,064 people would not experience any reductions by next year. By 2040, 31 percent of suppliers serving 12,459,736 people would avoid any water supply reductions at all. Eight percent would see a reduction of less than 5 percent; 13 percent would have to reduce water supply by 5 to 10 percent; 21 percent by 10 to 20 percent; and 15 percent by 20 to 30 percent.

The Bay Area, which has historically needed less water than other areas, will face very little reduction. Salinas’ California Water Service Company will have to cut supplies by just 1 percent by 2040, according to the Desert Sun.

The legislation has proven controversial in the Golden State, where it was criticized for being too modest in its approach to the drier state’s problem.

“It’s unfortunate that the council has been so slow to implement new water conservation regulations,” Richard M. Frank, a professor of environmental practice at the University of California, said earlier Newsweek.

“Many necessary conservation measures can and should be implemented more quickly.”