8009 ‎(2)‎

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8009
• Author: Natural Resources Law Center.
• Title: Restoring the Waters.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: Boulder, CO.
• Copyright Material: YES

^ Since most of the key urban water
agencies in California are signatories to
the MOU and members of CUWCC,
any decision by the CUWCC to change
or create a new conservation BMF' is
effectively the same as a state require-
ment to implement the BMP. Thus, the
CUWCC has a statewide impact
through the action of a voluntary
association, without the need for
centralized government control.
Urban water agencies and environmen-
tal organizations must agree before the
Council can take any action. Thus,
urban water agencies and environmen-
tal groups have an equal say in how
water conservation will be carried out
in California.
As of 1996, the CUWCC was involved in
studies on cost-effectiveness analysis, rate-
setting (e.g., conservation rates that also
provide revenue stability), financial
incentives and the savings potential from
residential and commercial ultra love- flush
toilets. A new BMP requiring urban water
agencies to offer incentives to customers
for the purchase of high-efficiency washing
machines is likely to be enacted during
1997.
A Qualified Success
The California experiment in institutional-
izing water conservation -the develop-
ment of BMPs and the creation of the
CUWCC -has been a qualified success:
^ Over 150 urban agencies, representing
over 13,000,000 customers, haves signed
the urban conservation MOU.
^ Total annual expenditures for urban
conservation exceed $30 million. By the
year 2010, savings from implementation
of the BMPs should exceed 1,000,000
acre-feet per year -valued at over 10
times expected expenditures.
^ Most major urban water agencies now
treat water conservation as a source of
new supplies on an equal basis with
other possible water supplies.
^ The Council has become the key urban
conservation forum in California.
Within the Council, urban agencies and
environmental groups have worked
constructively to support legislation,
perform technical studies, upgrade the
BMPs and encourage implementation of
the BMPs.
On the other hand, there are still prob-
lems:
^ The MOU is voluntary and unenforce-
able.
^ Many agencies have not signed the
MOU.
^ Of those agencies that have signed,
some are not implementing the BMPs at
required levels and others are not
implementing the BMPs at all.
For this reason, conservation is reemerging
as a major issue for environmental groups.
Environmental groups and some urban
agencies have begun to support state-
imposed sanctions on urban agencies that
fail to comply with the BMPs. Negotia-
tic,ns are currently underway in California
to make the BMPs enforceable without
losing the flexibility and collegiality
generated by the CUWCC.
Folr More Information Contact:
Gregory Thomas, President
Natural Heritage Institute
114 Sansome Street, Suite 1200
San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
n
49
Water conservation is a
source of new water supply
for urban water agencies.
Principal non-utility
signatories of MOU
^ Natural Resources Defense
Council
^ Sierra Club
^ Mono Lake Committee
^ National Wildlife Federation
^ League of Women Voters of
California
^ Save San Francisco Bay
Association
^ Planning and Conservation
League
^ Natural Heritage Institute
^ Heal the Bay
^ Environmental Defense Fund
^ Friends of the River
^ California Trout, Inc.