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GS:SES:SM:bmp Santa Monica, California
Council Meeting: September 24, 1991
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Request for Council Approval of a Memorandum of
Understanding Regarding Urban Water Conservation
in California
INTRODUCTION
This report requests that the City Council approve and become an
official signatory to a statewide Memorandum of Understanding
Regarding Urban Water Conservation which primarily contains a
description of the various "Best Management Practices" for water
conservation which each water supplier agrees to implement in
"good faith." The Memorandum of Understanding is a product of the
ongoing San Francisco Bay/San Joaquin Delta Estuary ("Bay/DeltaU)
hearings.
BACKGROUND
The Bay/Delta hearings are being held to determine present and
future water rights to the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta. During
Phase I of the Bay/Delta hearings, which concluded in February of
1988, the State Water Resources Control Board ( SWRCB) issued a
draft water quality control plan which required Southern
California to conserve more than one million acre-feet of water
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per year by the year 2010. Because of concerns expressed by many
Southern California water agencies, including the Metropolitan
Water District, the plan was withdrawn by the SWRCB.
Subsequently, working groups composed of representatives from
urban water suppliers, environmental groups, the Department of
Water Resources, the State Resources Control Board, trade
organizations, and others were established to work on the water
conservation issues associated with the Bay/Delta. The consensus
result of this process to resolve the conservation issues for the
Bay/Delta hearings are referred to as the "Urban Water
Conservation Best Management Practices" (BMP s ) as contained in the
a Memorandum of Understanding. The MOU document includes a list
of proven BMF s (water conservation measures), a schedule for
implementation of these BMPs, agreed-upon savings assumptions for
each BMP, and other recommendations to the SWRCB. It should be
noted that during this process, the City of Santa Monica was used
as a model for proactive and successful water conservation
programs.
DISCUSSION
The goal of the MOU is to reduce long-term urban water demand,
thereby ensuring the reliability of the state's and the region's
water supply. The purpose of the urban water conservation
practices included in the MOU are to expedite implementation of
reasonable water conservation measures in urban areas and to
establish generally-accepted assumptions for use in reliably
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estimating future water savings. Each signatory agrees to make
"good-faith efforts" to implement the BMPs in accordance with the
established implementation schedule, and study additional
conservation measures and implement those that prove to be
effective. "Good faith" entails proactive use of legal authority
to implement BMPs, use of financial incentives when appropriate,
optimization of savings from BMPs, and removal of all
institutional barriers to implementation of BMPs.
Although nearly all of the recommended BMPs have already been
implemented by the City of Santa Monica, many urban water agencies
in California will be committing, through the MOU agreement, to
much stricter water conservation practices than are currently in
place. For example, the City of Sacramento will be agreeing in
principle to the installation of water meters in new construction.
Water customers in Sacramento are currently unmetered. Also, the
MOU will impel a statewide water conservation focus and leave
wasteful water use practices in agriculture with few allies among
urban water agencies. The MOU therefore constitutes the first
commitment by most urban water agencies to the new "rules of the
game" vis-a-vis implementation of water conservation practices.
The specific Best Management Practices which signatory water
suppliers commit to implementing are:
1. Interior and exterior water audits and incentive programs for
single family residential, multi-family residential, and
governmental/institutional customers;
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2. Enforcement of water conserving plumbing fixture standards
including requirement for ultra low flush toilets in all new
construction beginning January 1, 1992;
3. Distribution system water audits, leak detection and repair;
4. Metering with commodity rates for all new connections and
retrofits of existing connections;
5. Large landscape water audits and incentives;
6. Landscape water conservation requirements for new and existing
commercial, industrial, inst itutional, governmental, and multi-
family developments;
7 . Public information;
8. School education;
9. Commercial and industrial water conservation;
10. New commercial and industrial water use review;
11. Conservation pricing;
12. Landscape water conservation for new and existing single
family homes;
13. Water waste prohibition;
14. Designation of a water conservation coordinator;
15. Creation of financial incentives; and
16. Programs for ultra low flush toilet replacement.
In return for this good faith commitment, environmental
organizations which sign the MOD would agree to recommend to the
SWRCB that implementing the BMP process is a sufficient water
conservation program and that it use only reliable estimates of
conservation savings for the agreed-upon BMPs in its water rights
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decisions for the Bay/Delta hearings. The MOU does not discuss
growth management, but each signatory must report annual impacts
of planning decisions involving projected growth on the
reliability of their water supply. Agreeing to the MOU also does
not signify that any position has been taken on the Bay/Delta
hearings or the issue of water diversion from northern California.
By becoming a signatory to the MOU, the City of Santa Monica will
become a member, along with other signatories such as the MWD,
City of Los Angeles, Orange County, and many environmental groups,
of the California Urban Water Conservation Council. The Council
will be responsible for reviewing and making recommendations on
the BMF process and submitting annual reports on the process to
the SWRCB and signatory organizations. This Council would be
divided into two voting groups: 1) urban water suppliers, and 2)
public advocacy groups. Other interested groups will serve in a
non-voting, advisory capacity. The initial term for the MOU is 10
years, beginning on September 1, 1991, and will be automatically
renewed thereafter on an annual basis. An historic signing
ceremony will be held in Sacramento on a date to be determined.
Representatives of all signatories to the MOU will be invited to
attend the ceremony.
The MOU has several benefits to Southern California, namely:
. A more reliable water suoolv - using only reliable estimates of
savings for proven conservation measures in Bay/Delta water
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rights decisions should increase the reliability of water
supplies to Southern California from the State Water Project;
. A statewide process - the BMP process would be implemented by
urban water suppliers statewide;
. Elimination of unreliable conservation auotas - using only
reliable savings estimates for proven conservation programs will
eliminate the unreliable conservation savings quotas included in
the first SWRCB draft plan;
. Industrv standard - the BMP process will create an industry
standard for conservation against which the need for other water
management measures, including facilities, can be measured;
. Local flexibility - the BMF process provides local flexibility
for both BMP measures and implementation schedules; and
. No new authority - the BMP process can be implemented within
the existing authority of all organizations participating in
the process.
As has been noted above, the City has already implemented or is
planning to implement all of the BMPs required by the MOU. The
MOD has much more significance, from a policy implementation
standpoint, on those water agencies which presently have few
conservation programs.
BUDGET/FINANCIAL IMPACT
Approval of the MOD by Council will not entail any budget or
financial impact.
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RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council approve and sign the
attached Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Urban Water
Conservation.
Prepared by: Craig Perkins, Environmental Services Manager
Susan Munves, Acting Conservation Coordinator
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