Welcome to What the Framework!? a blog for keeping you up to date on the latest developments as the SWRCB and DWR go through the rulemaking process to make water conservation a california way of life. Have something you think we should be covering? Reach out to us at [email protected]
The State Water Board released their updates to the Making Conservation a California Way of Life regulation on May 20, 2024. For your convenience, CalWEP has summarized these changes on our blog.
Confused by some of the new terminology in the proposed regulation? Check out Lisa Cuellar’s blog post to help gain some clarity!
Recent milestones:
March 12, 2024: State Water board releases next round of proposed regulation. Read CalWEP’s blog on the update.
January 4, 2024: The Legislative Analyst Office released their report Assessing Early Implementation of Urban Water Use Efficiency Requirements.
November 14, 2023: Download DWR’s updated Interim Reporting Packet here. Reports are due by 1/1/24. Register to attend DWR’s information webinar on 11/17/23.
On August 18, 2023, The State Water Board released their Proposed Regulatory Text for Making Conservation a California Way of Life. CalWEP held a Framework 101 Webinar on September 27, 2023 at 10am. The recording and slides are available on the event page.
On March 15, 2023, The State Water Board released their Draft Staff Framework for the Making Conservation a California Way of Life Regulation (Proposed Regulatory Framework). You can find the full document here. CalWEP has reviewed the State Board’s draft framework and provided a high-level summary on our blog.
On October 28, 2022, the Department of Water Resources provided supplemental documents to the State Water Board, including technical studies and guidelines and methodologies for calculating the annual water use objective. A list of all documents can be accessed here. The documents can be accessed directly from CalWEP’s Framework Resource Hub or on DWR’s website here.
On September 29, 2022, the Department of Water Resources sent their final recommendations to the State Water Resources Control Board. Read CalWEP’s blog about the recommendations here.
Available to the public
SB 606 and AB 1668, signed in 2018 and referred to as the Long-Term Framework legislation, are intended to make conservation a California way of life. The legislation tasked the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) with providing regulation recommendations to the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) that include water use efficiency standards and performance measures for urban retail water suppliers. Both are intended to improve water efficiency at an urban retail water supplier level. Standards establish quantitative requirements, such as annual water use relative to water budgets, that must be tracked and reported. Performance measures are more qualitative in nature and will require implementation of various conservation measures and programs, for example.
This cut sheet provides a general overview of the regulation as well as a “cheat sheet” of calculations for each standard included in the urban water use objective. This cut sheet is available to the general public.
Proposed Timeline from State Water Board:
September 27, 2023: Framework 101 Presentation
August 21, 2023: Framework Regulation General PPT (Google Drive Link)
May 31, 2023: Urban Water Use Efficiency Objectives (as proposed by the State Water Resources Control Board in March 2023), Maddaus Water Management at Peer to Peer 2023
February 2, 2022: Framework updates for Sonoma Marin Water Saving Partnership, CalWEP
September 29, 2021: Road to Water Use Efficiency Standards , SDCWA Presentation
ACWA/CMUA Outdoor Standard Comment Letter – August 17, 2021
ACWA Coalition Indoor Standard Comment Letter – June 4, 2021
RWA Indoor Standard Comment Letter – June 4, 2021
CalWEP Indoor Standard Comment Letter – June 4, 2021
CalWEP Members: Framework Resource Hub
ACWA Members: Long-Term Water Use Efficiency Resources
For any specific questions reach out to:
Tia Lebherz, CalWEP – [email protected]
Chelsea Haines, ACWA – [email protected]
Amy Talbot, RWA – [email protected]
