In the wake of two rainy winters, it's easy to forget how close some parts of California came to running out of water just a few years ago. But this climate amnesia will not help us prepare for the inevitable drought to come. Since before the state was founded, booms and busts caused by drought and floods have shaped our landscape. In this era of climate change, extreme weather events are becoming more common and more severe.
The robust water supplies of the 20th century are no longer reliable. California recently agreed to reduce water imports from the Colorado River by 10%, not out of altruism, but because we have to. The Department of Water Resources expects the Sierra snowpack – a major source of water for farms and cities – to decline by up to 65% by the end of the century. California's water supply is expected to decline by 10% by 2040. Now is the time to prepare for a drier and less predictable future.
That's why we spent nearly two years drafting legislation designed to do just that. We developed and sponsored the passage of two water conservation bills, Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668, in 2018. This legislation created a framework to establish long-term water efficiency standards for urban water suppliers that would govern Indoor use, permitted water loss and outdoor use. The State Water Resources Control Board is charged with drafting the standards, working with the Department of Water Resources, businesses, environmental advocates and water utilities.
The process required compromise everywhere. Standards for indoor use and allowable water loss have been reached by 2023, but there has been a delay in finalizing efficiency standards for outdoor use.
Largely because of this delay, the Water Board is about to undo the hard-won work done so far by allowing water utilities until 2035 or later to make meaningful reductions. Under the current proposal, according to “interim data” from the council, 72% of Californians would not have to save any additional water for another ten years. But climate change is not waiting another decade to deepen its effects. We need to extend every drop from the years we get enough snow, like this year, to carry us through the hot droughts to come.
SB 606, AB 1668 and the standards being established would not tell Californians how many times a week to shower or when they can water their yards. The framework creates “water budgets” for water suppliers—customized baselines based on population, water use in the service area, climate and the like—that utilities and their customers can meet in ways that best suit their individual situations.
The goal of budgets is to keep faucets flowing and water bills monitored by getting utilities to invest in efficiency. This means replacing old infrastructure to reduce wasteful leaks. It means incentivizing users to replace their lawns with California-friendly plants and upgrade their washers, toilets and faucets — all of which utilities can promote through rebates or even by doing the work themselves for families who can't afford to pay upfront and wait for payment.
Because the Water Board's latest plan to implement efficiency standards includes an extended timeline, water will inevitably become more expensive, including for low-income families and communities. While investing in efficiency costs money, it is the cheapest and fastest way to balance water demand with an increasingly limited supply. It can give us more flexibility, so we don't face mandatory cuts or situations where families worry they won't be able to buy water to meet their basic needs.
Dollars not invested in improving efficiency will not be saved; Instead, it will have to be spent on more expensive options to achieve water sustainability, such as wastewater recycling and desalination plants. These are important and necessary tools to improve our water security, but building them takes time. Whether water utilities enhance efficiency or recycle wastewater into drinking water, these costs are ultimately passed on to customers. Viewed in this full context, prioritizing investment in efficiency constitutes extreme logic.
It is essential that country leaders work to develop sustainable and responsible policies that are rooted in today's climate reality. Our water supplies are under severe pressure.
It's not too late to turn this ship around. We can end delays in implementing our environmental legislation by returning to previously proposed standards for urban outdoor water use and finally connecting utilities to appropriate water budgets.
The State Water Board must do what is right for our communities, our environment, and our future: make efficiency a top priority. Don't leave Californians waiting decades longer to make greening a way of life.
Robert Hertzberg is a former Speaker of the Assembly and former Majority Leader of the State Senate. Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) is running to replace Adam Schiff in the US House of Representatives.
