Permanent water restrictions

Gov. Brown orders permanent water restrictions for California

By Kurtis Alexander

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday ordered a set of water restrictions that have helped California weather its four-year drought to be made permanent, including bans on car-cleaning and hosing down driveways as well as mandatory water reductions for cities and towns.

The administration says it wants to be sure that the state doesn’t let up on its recent conservation success, even as rivers and reservoirs benefit from the wettest winter in five years.

“Californians stepped up during this drought and saved more water than ever before,” said Brown in a prepared statement. “But now we know that drought is becoming a regular occurrence and water conservation must be a part of our everyday life.”

The governor’s executive order directs the State Water Resources Control Board and the Department of Water Resources to develop long-term water reduction plans for each of the state’s 400 largest water suppliers.

The agencies have been operating under a temporary mandate, since last June, requiring cutbacks between 4 and 36 percent, depending on the provider’s historic water use.

State officials did not say Monday what the new conservation targets will look like, only that they will be working with communities to come up with plans to take effect next year. The targets, which will have to be met on a monthly basis, will go beyond the 20 percent per-capita reduction required by 2020 under current state law.

The new regulations will include many of the statewide restrictions introduced with the drought emergency measures in June. Bans on washing cars without a shut-off nozzle, spraying down hard surfaces like sidewalks and driveways and watering lawns to the point of causing runoff will remain in effect.

The state water board also announced Monday that it plans to relax current water rules, starting in June and remaining in place until the long-term measures commence. The adjustments, which are scheduled to be voted on next week, would eliminate the state’s tiered water-reduction mandates and allow water agencies to develop their own targets based on individual supply and demand.

Under the proposal, water agencies would evaluate how well they could survive dry conditions, similar to the worst three years of the current drought, and come up with an appropriate plan.
“It’s more than just riding a line, saying we’re OK,” assured Felicia Marcus, chair of the state water board. “We’ll be looking at (their plans). The public will be looking at it.”

The current rationing program has prompted a cumulative 23.9 percent drop in water use between June and March, compared to the same months in 2013 — before Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency.

While California has seen near-normal amounts of rain and snow this past year, the prior four winters were exceptionally dry. Consequently, nearly 90 percent of the state continues to suffer drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Water experts say a handful of wet years will be needed to bring relief to much of California.