California drops mandatory water cutbacks for cities and towns
State officials, in a major policy shift that reflects California’s easing drought conditions, decided Wednesday to scrap the emergency conservation mandates that have forced cities and towns to cut water use as much as 36 percent — and have prompted unprecedented water restrictions for residents.
[...] the State Water Resources Control Board adopted regulations that allow urban water providers to set their own water-reduction targets, a change that enables local suppliers to loosen rules they’ve put on outdoor watering and indoor consumption over the past year.
“I’m looking forward to a good-faith effort by the water agencies,” said state water board member Steven Moore, acknowledging that residents may get too much leeway at the spigot if local suppliers don’t act responsibly.
The planned relaxation of the state emergency mandates already had several local water agencies undoing the strict rules they slapped on customers.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District, the Bay Area’s largest water retailer, decided last month to stop requiring customers to cut back 20 percent, making the reduction voluntary and halting what amounted to some of the state’s stiffest fines for guzzlers.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which serves the city and 26 other communities, is considering dropping its mandatory 25 percent water cut for irrigation accounts like golf courses and office parks.
[...] several other Bay Area suppliers are similarly looking to ease statutes put in place after the state’s emergency water limits took effect in June.
San Francisco and the suburban communities that share a water source with the city have more than than three years’ worth in their Sierra reservoirs, according to the Public Utilities Commission.
The new regulations, which take effect next month, also extend a number of statewide conservation measures that were enacted alongside the community reduction targets.
Residents are prohibited from watering their lawns to the point of causing runoff, washing cars without a shut-off nozzle, using potable water in a fountain and spraying down driveways and sidewalks.
Many water agencies have lost water sales and revenue because of the emergency mandates, a financial hang-up that Quinn said could prompt suppliers to sell more water than their supplies warrant.
State officials have said that, under the proposed rules, they will strictly audit local water supplies and make sure the self-regulated conservation targets are appropriate.