ACWA Members Attend Workshop on Proposed Water Use Efficiency Regulations by ACWA Staff Mar 22, 2023 Water News SACRAMENTO – The State Water Resources Control Board today held a pre-rulemaking workshop on the proposed regulatory framework for “Making Conservation a California Way of Life” and several ACWA members attended to provide comments. This new framework proposes unique water use efficiency goals for each urban retail water supplier, including urban water use efficiency standards, variances, an urban water use objective, and commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) performance measures. The workshop was held to gather public input and staff member input on the proposal before the State Water Board implements the rulemaking process. ACWA has been extremely engaged on this effort for the past several years and ACWA Regulatory Relations Manager Chelsea Haines provided verbal comments to address overarching concerns with the draft framework and technical concerns with the outdoor standard. “The key benefits and the overall intent of the regulation, which is to give suppliers flexibility to achieving the objective, is being lost by driving down and tightening all of the standards from the indoor and outdoor,” Haines said. In addition, 14 of ACWA’s member agencies also provided comments with specific examples that illustrated and highlighted the feasibility concerns of the proposed regulation. The State Water Board extended the written comment deadline and will be accepting comments through March 30. The formal rulemaking is anticipated to start in May with several comment periods before it is considered for adoption. More information is available for members in an ACWA Alert that was distributed on March 16.
