Extension penalizes Western and other inland water agencies for responsible water management
Riverside, Calif. – The State Water Resources Control Board voted yesterday for the adoption of revised emergency urban water conservation regulations that extend the emergency conservation mandate another 270 days through October 2016; the regulation will be revisited in April after a better sense of the drought to evaluate additional modifications or cancellation.
Western, along with many stakeholders across the state, worked diligently to provide reasonable adjustments as permitted by the Governor’s executive order to help account for the District's proactive conservation efforts leading up to the drought.
"We will continue to look toward additional opportunities to strengthen the State Water Resources Control Board's understanding that the climate in the inland Southern California region is different and greatly impacts water use," explained General Manager John Rossi.
The State Board modified the Emergency Urban Conservation Regulations, although stopped short of fully integrating recommendations from Western and other inland region water agencies to provide equitable credits for climate, growth and proactive alternative local supply development.
“Our agency’s responsible water management should be recognized, not penalized,” said Rossi. "We received a fraction of fairness and will keep working with the State Board to provide information on elements of the framework that we believe need further adjustment."
Western's new conservation target is expected to drop a few percent; the exact amount will be finalized once the supporting data are approved by the State Board in March.
“Our customers have worked hard to be efficient and Western has long been an early adopter of a diverse array of efficiency measures, ranging from the implementation of water-budget-based rates and development of a drought-resilient water supply in our region. Our District, along with agencies in our region, has been leading the way for water savings in the state,” Rossi noted. “We would like to have seen our prior conservation and investment in supply infrastructure more fully considered when extending the mandates.”
Western provides a diverse suite of customer support programs to continue to use water as efficiently as possible during the extended emergency regulation and beyond. “We’re deeply committed to doing our part during the current drought and embracing efficient water use as a way of life in California. We will continue to work with the State Board to request that any future mandates be fair and applied in a way that avoids disparate negative impacts on inland agencies. Mandates need to recognize water suppliers who have been proactively investing in both water use efficiency and in the development of alternative local supplies for drought resiliency and regional reliability,” Rossi added.
Since the original state mandate went into effect in May 2015, Western has cumulatively reduced water use by 25 percent, adding to the roughly 28 percent reduction in use that occurred in advance of the current drought due to the implementation of a Water Use Efficiency Master Plan and a budget-based rate structure. Currently, Western’s agency target is 32 percent.
For more information on Western’s initiatives and the drought, visit wmwd.com.
