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Staff describe lengthy stakeholder engagement behind California’s conservation regulation
Summary
State Water Board staff described the policy and rulemaking steps used to create and finalize the 'making conservation a California way of life' regulation, stressing intensive staff work, stakeholder work groups and alternative compliance pathways to address feasibility concerns.
State Water Board staff presented a case study on the regulation described in the meeting as the "making conservation a California way of life" effort, which staff said was driven by legislation and required a detailed, technical rulemaking effort.
Eric Oppenheimer, the State Water Board executive director, told the Water Quality Coordinating Committee that the regulation traces to two bills signed by the governor in 2018, and that the board’s work translated statutory requirements into efficiency standards, water‑use objectives and mechanisms for urban water suppliers to calculate annual water budgets. He described the regulation as technically complex and said the practice of creating service‑area specific budgets required many implementation details.
Staff recounted a contentious rulemaking process: a large number of formal comments, a lengthy public workshop and criticism from water suppliers and analysts that the draft regulation was infeasible. Oppenheimer said the board responded by expanding staff engagement and forming work groups with ‘‘thought leaders’’ from water suppliers and environmental groups over a roughly two‑month period to identify and refine concerns. "We made changes to the regulation … giving more time and creating alternative compliance pathways," he said, describing those as the primary adaptations that reduced opposition and moved the process forward.
The regulation as explained by staff included: state‑set residential indoor use metrics, budgets for outdoor residential and commercial/industrial irrigation, provisions for system water loss, and a ‘‘bonus incentive’’ credit for potable recycled water. Staff said the rules apply to roughly 400 urban suppliers, collectively serving about 95% of the state's urban water delivery volume, and that the compliance standards decline over time so budgets grow tighter through 2040.
Oppenheimer told the committee that adopting the regulation required a yearlong formal rulemaking timeline, close coordination with the Department of Water Resources, and substantial internal briefings and board education. He said the combined approach of skilled staffing, stepped engagement, and adapting the draft to create more time and compliance alternatives were essential to permitting the board to adopt the regulation and begin implementation.
