Thomas J. Graff is Senior Counsel at EDF.
AB 2175 would require Californians to cut per capita water use by 20%. As noted in a recent LA Times editorial this is the first serious effort to impose a statewide water conservation target, following up on Governor Schwarzenegger’s promise to cut urban water use by 20% by 2020.
AB 2175 (authors Laird and Feuer and sponsored by NRDC) passed the Assembly last week 48-30. How it will fare in the Senate and, should it get there, on the Governor’s desk, is hard to foresee. If the Times is right and an overall 20% cut would be “painful” for California residents, chances are it will take a while for this concept to be converted into a legal requirement.
But if there’s actually quite a lot of marginal water use in the state and incentives can be lined up so that people’s water bills reflect what water actually costs to deliver in the state (including offsets of the environmental damages caused by water storage and distribution), then we might just find that a 20% cut wouldn’t be so painful after all.
Check out the recent highly-touted Public Policy Institute of California report, Envisioning Futures for the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta, at pages 99 through 128.
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2 Comments
Tom — you're totally right. If people faced higher prices, they could adjust their behavior. The trouble is that most people imagine 2 minute showers when most of the water conservation will come from reducing outdoor use (responsible for 50%(?) of total urban use).
Of course, they may use a command and control method to cut use by EVERYONE by at least 20%. That will be silly, since it will penalize misers at the same rate as wasters.
The key solution lies in increasing block rates.
Hi Tom,
I'm glad to see you're still keeping on.
I retired from SCVWD almost five years ago, but I'm still monitoring the District and trying to get the whole truth out to the local media and residents.
I have a blog that you and your staff are welcome to read when doing research:
http://neverthirstpatferraro.blogspot.com/
On the subject of this post, I share my response to Senator Boxer's recent e-newsletter:
http://neverthirstpatferraro.blogspot.com/2008/06/response-to-senator-boxer-re-water.html
Response to Senator Boxer re. Water Conservation
Today I received an e-newsletter appeal from Senator Boxer asking that I conserve water because of the current drought in California. It's admirable that our members of Congress are joining local and State government efforts to reduce water consumption. But there has always been an underbelly to our efforts to reduce per capita water use during droughts.
Below is my response to the Senator through her web site. If I receive anything other than an automatic robo-reply, I'll add it to this post at that time.
Senator Boxer:
Recently, a insightful letter was published in the San Jose Mercury News. It was a short but powerful statement. It said "I'll believe there is a drought when they stop issuing building permits."
I have spent 35 years in water management, 23 as an elected member of the Santa Clara Valley Water District.I have watched this District surcharge water rates so current residents pay for water systems that will be used to serve future growth, while discounting agricultural rates 90% to farmers, until they sell to developers and make millions on the land that many would like to keep in production as a local food supply.
I have been through several droughts and have watched businesses and residents respond to both voluntary and mandatory rationing. Despite all these admirable responses, people did notice that building permits continued to be issued without any concern for the shrinking water supply. Because public entities are often separated between land use agencies and water agencies, there is no nexus to control this problem.
If you want public support for achieving more water use efficiency, I would suggest that you work with the California legislature to find other ways to pay for the State's future growth than on the backs of its current residents and businesses, many of whom have already reduced their per capita water use to minimal levels.
Never Thirst!