The California Water Efficiency Partnership is seeking your support for an important and timely initiative: the development of a comprehensive Statewide Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Best Management Practice (CII BMP) Database to support statewide compliance with California’s Making Conservation a California Way of Life framework under SB 606 and AB 1668.
SB 606 and AB 1668 represent a fundamental shift in how CII water use is evaluated and managed across California. Urban water suppliers will now be required to classify CII customers, identify high water users, and implement BMPs across five required categories while documenting defensible water savings for state reporting. With compliance deadlines years away, we have a valuable opportunity to create a centralized, vetted repository of CII BMPs that standardizes savings assumptions, confidence levels, and implementation guidance across agencies. Without a shared solution, water suppliers risk inconsistent reporting, duplicated consultant costs, and increased regulatory uncertainty.
Project Overview: This project will equip CalWEP member agencies with a searchable, web-based library of CII BMPs to help them meet the Making Conservation a California Way of Life performance measure requirements. The database will include:
- 40+ documented CII conservation programs spanning rebates, audits, technical assistance, landscape BMPs, and operational programs (aligned with the five state-required BMP categories)
- Estimated water savings with assigned confidence levels, validation status, and supporting technical references to strengthen defensibility under state reporting requirements
- A member-facing online platform with filterable, searchable BMP entries that agencies can use to build program portfolios tailored to their customer types, staffing capacity, and regulatory requirements
Budget & Timeline: We are requesting member support to fund this project, with a total estimated cost of $100,000. Preliminary work is underway, with the database expected to launch in Winter 2026.
Why This Project Matters:
The CII sector represents a diverse and complex customer group with varying customer types and water use profiles. While many water agencies operate CII conservation programs (e.g., rebates, audits, technical assistance), there is no centralized, vetted source that catalogs program details, memorializes water savings assumptions, and evaluates real-world implementation examples.
This project will fill that gap by creating a CalWEP member-facing, searchable, web-based library of CII BMPs that CalWEP member agencies can use to:
- Identify effective, transferable CII conservation programs
- Understand the staffing resource and program implementation cost considerations associated with each conservation program
- Access savings assumptions vetted by subject matter experts
- Build “portfolios” or a catalogue of water conservation program offerings aligned with their agency’s goals, customer types, staffing considerations, and more
We invite you to join us in supporting this important work. If your agency is able to contribute financially to the development of the CII BMP Database, please contact [email protected].
Thank you for your partnership and leadership.
Sincerely,
Tia Fleming
Executive Director
California Water Efficiency Partnership