Urban water use: water efficiency.

Existing law requires the state to achieve a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use on or before December 31, 2020, and to make incremental progress toward that state target by reducing urban per capita water use by at least 10% on or before December 31, 2015. Existing law requires each urban retail water supplier to develop urban water use targets and an interim urban water use target, in accordance with specified requirements. This bill would revise the definitions of "gross water use" and "recycled water" for these purposes. The bill would require the Department of Water Resources to reconvene its Urban Stakeholder Committee by April 1, 2018, composed as specified, and would require, by July 1, 2019, the department, in consultation with the committee, to develop certain methodologies. The bill would require the committee, by January 1, 2020, and every 5 years thereafter, to develop a report to provide information and recommendations to the department and the Legislature about new demand management measures, technologies, and approaches, and would require the department to review the committee report and include the department's recommendations and comments in a final report to the Legislature. The bill would require, by December 31, 2025, the committee, in consultation with the department and the State Water Resources Control Board, to submit a report to the Legislature recommending for potential adjustments to water efficiency targets and commercial, industrial, and institutional performance measures, as defined. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the board, to convene a commercial, industrial, and institutional water use efficiency task force by July 1, 2018, to recommend appropriate water efficiency measures for various segments of the commercial, industrial, and institutional water use sector and would require the task force, by December 31, 2019, in consultation with the department and the board, to submit a specified report to the Legislature. Existing law, the Urban Water Management Planning Act, requires every public and private urban water supplier that directly or indirectly provides water for municipal purposes to prepare and adopt an urban water management plan and to update its plan once every 5 years on or before December 31 in years ending in 5 and zero, except as specified. This bill would require each urban retail water supplier to develop a water efficiency target, as defined, for 2025 in its 2020 urban water management plan required to be submitted by July 1, 2021, and to achieve that target. The bill would authorize an urban retail water supplier to adjust and update the water efficiency target, as appropriate, when the supplier reports its compliance in achieving the water efficiency targets and its implementation of the identified performance measures in its 2025 urban water management plan required to be submitted by July 1, 2026. The bill would require each urban retail water supplier to meet its adjusted 2025 water efficiency target by December 31, 2025, unless the supplier makes a certain report to the department. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2019, to provide to urban retail water suppliers in electronic form a database of validated aerial imagery and measured irrigable area, as specified, and to conduct a statistically valid review of the accuracy of the information in the database before providing the database to an urban retail water supplier. The bill would extend the deadline for an urban retail water supplier to submit its urban water management plan if the department does not release the database by July 1, 2019, as prescribed.