State Water Board Updates Proposed Framework Regulations (May 2024)

Published: May 21, 2024

The State Water Board released its third round of proposed Long-term Framework regulations on Monday, May 20, 2024. They can be accessed here. A 15-day comment period is now underway. Interested parties can summit written comments to the State Water Board no later than June 4, 2024. Reference this formal notice for all of the details.

CalWEP has summarized the major changes from the previous version of proposed regulations released this past March. Highlights include the addition of anti-backsliding provisions based on a supplier’s 20-by-2020 target as well as both a residential and CII variance for existing trees beginning in 2040. Read on for CalWEP’s summary of the eight most noteworthy changes:

NEW Anti-Backsliding Provisions

  1. Section 966(h) – Anti-backsliding provisions
    • If the sum of a suppliers UWUO + “excluded demands” is larger than the sum of their SB-X7-7 target + demands not included in their target such as process and recycled water, then the UWUO shall be as follows:

UWUO = SB-X7-7 Target – “Excluded Demands"

Where,

        • Excluded Demands = “other” and “CII” delivery categories as defined within Health and Safety Code 116530.
        • SB-X7-7 Target = A suppliers individual 10608.20 target (aka “20-by-2020 target”)

Note:

    • Must be calculated in gallons/year.
    • Before July 1, 2040, this subdivision of the regulations does not apply for any supplier who has NOT met their individual 20-by-2020 target but is achieving its target on a regional basis.

In layman’s terms: This section was intended to prevent an urban retail water supplier from “backsliding” beyond their 20-by-2020 target. In other words, a supplier’s Urban Water Use Objective cannot be higher than their 20-by-2020 target.

To avoid “backsliding”, a supplier must compare their Objective plus demands not factored into the Objective with their 20-by-2020 target plus any other demand that wasn’t included in the target. If the former is greater than the latter, the Objective then becomes the 20-by-2020 target (minus any “other” or “CII” delivery categories reported within one’s electronic annual report to the State Water Board).

 

NEW Tree Provisions

  1. Section 968(f)(2)(G) - NEW residential variance for irrigating trees
    • Beginning July 1, 2040, an urban supplier can apply for a variance for irrigating existing residential trees. The keyword here is “existing”.
    • To calculate the water use, suppliers shall use the square footage of existing residential tree canopy within the supplier’s residential landscape area.
    • Section 968(g)(7)(C) includes the criteria that a supplier must meet to apply for the tree variance. One of these criteria includes demonstrating to the State Water Board that the supplier cannot meet its UWUO by “first taking other feasible actions, including causing or compelling the conversion of high-water use landscapes to climate-ready landscapes.
  1. Section 969(e)(2)(D) - NEW CII-DIM variance for irrigating trees
    • Beginning July 1, 2040, an urban supplier can apply for a variance for irrigating existing trees on CII landscapes with DIMs. The keyword here is “existing”.
    • To calculate the water use, suppliers shall use the square footage of existing tree canopy within the square footage of CII landscapes with DIMs. This measurement will not be provided by DWR with the CII-DIM_LUCD dataset.
    • Section 968(f)(4)(C) includes the criteria that a supplier must meet to apply for the tree variance. One of these criteria includes demonstrating to the State Water Board that “meeting the budget for efficient outdoor use on CII landscapes with DIMs would unavoidably and adversely affect tree health”.
  1. Section 968(g)(7) and Section 969(f)(4) - NEW tree canopy LEF
    • Beginning in 2040, those suppliers utilizing the residential and/or CII-DIM tree variance can essentially apply a landscape efficiency factor (LEF) of 0.63 for calculating the existing trees water budget. See the regulation sections cited above on how to perform these calculations per Standard.
  1. Section 968(i)(1) – Temporary provisions for planting climate-ready trees
    • A temporary provision for the volume of water associated with planting climate-ready trees can be calculated using an area of 4 square feet per tree and the number of watering days based on climate zones. See the regulation sections cited above on how to perform these calculations.

 

Miscellaneous Changes

  1. Section 968(g)(5)(B)(iii) – Recycled water with high TDS
    • A correction to a formula error related to high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) provisions has been included.
  1. Section 975 – Reporting
    • Additional reporting requirements for residential and CII special landscape areas irrigating with recycled water.
    • Additional reporting requirements for variance related to irrigating landscapes with recycled water containing high TDS.
    • NEW reporting requirements for the variance related to irrigating exiting trees.
    • Additional reporting requirements for the bonus incentive for potable reuse (Section 971).
    • Additional reporting requirements for the Annual Water Use report, including “Residential Recycled Water Demand” and “Residential Non-potable Water Demand”.
  1. Global clarifications – CII “water users”
    • A global change of CII “connections” to CII “water users” to account for both customers and connections.
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