We're Serious This Time: Reduce H2O Use or Pay $10,000

“So let it be written; so let it be done.” (Topical reference to “The Ten Commandments”) The State Water Resources Control Board, after eight hours of mostly fervent testimony, unanimously approved an emergency order mandating a 25% reduction in urban water use – the first in California’s history.

The cuts in urban water use will fall hardest on the Sacramento region and other parts of inland California, which traditionally has been an area of heavy residential water use. For example, 10 of the Sacramento area’s 23 large water districts must cut usage by 36 percent during the next nine months compared to 2013. All but two must cut usage by 28 percent.

The State Water Resources Control Board, charged with overseeing California’s water rights system, took the action even as local water officials from across the state argued that the board’s proposed regulations were Draconian (a great word), and in some cases unattainable (ya think!?) Fortunately, the Water Resources Control Board saw through the facts and acted anyway.

The five-member board expressed sympathy (at times, almost like they already knew what the were going to do - hmm) but made only a few revisions to the plan and gave urban water agencies nine months to cut consumption anywhere from 4 percent to 36 percent.

And don’t forget the $10,000 a day fine for egregious water use and the fact that the larger water agencies are actually hiring ‘Water Police’ to enforce the state’s edicts, though most are counting on residents to rat out their neighbors’ water habits.

Unfortunately, cities throughout the state pay dramatically different costs for the same amount of water.

Foster City is a classic example of doing the right thing and still getting penalized. Targeted for a 20% reduction, Foster City leaders noted the proposal unfairly punishes communities that conserved before September 2013 (such as Foster City) which is the baseline period being used to evaluate future conservation efforts.

Then there’s Daly City… done in by three-fifths of a gallon. The city was initially marked for just a 10% cut, a level reserved for 18 areas in the state whose per-capita water consumption was just 55 gallons a day or less. It turns out, however, that Daly City’s consumption – according to State Water Resources Control Board – was 55.6 gallons a day, pushing the city into the group targeted for a 20 percent reduction.

A study of 217 water-delivery agencies serving single-family residences reviewed showed total monthly bills ranging from just under $23 in Oroville to $190 in a small Humboldt County district. The study, conducted in 2013, examined rates regionally in the state’s southern, northern and central zones, and the San Joaquin Valley.