Cal Water news release

Cal Water Supports Conservation Emergency Regulation

With the State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Board) Drought Conservation Emergency Regulation going into effect tomorrow, Cal Water reaffirmed its support for the State Board’s measures to combat the continuing drought and the utility’s commitment to helping customers make meaningful water use reductions.

"While the rain and snow rainstorms we recently received were a welcome sight and helped alleviate such severe drought conditions, all of our service areas across the state are still in a drought," said Martin A. Kropelnicki, President and CEO. "We applaud the State Board for adopting the Drought Conservation Emergency Regulation to help address these dry conditions, and we are committed to helping our customers keep saving water every day."

The prohibited uses of water in the State Board’s emergency regulations are already included in appropriate stages of Cal Water’s Water Shortage Contingency Plan, which has six stages. The utility is currently observing Stage 2 of its plan in six districts and Stage 1 in the remainder of its districts. Some prohibited uses adopted by the State Board are included in Stage 3 of Cal Water’s plan and would be implemented if needed.

"We will continue to monitor local conditions in each of our service areas and make any changes to stages for each district based on ongoing supply and demand assessments, in order to ensure we have a sufficient water supply for our customers, both now and in the future," Kropelnicki said.

Cal Water reminds customers of numerous options available to them to conserve water, including:

  • Rebates on high-efficiency appliances and devices, with certain rebates doubled
  • A smart landscape tune-up program that includes an irrigation system evaluation along with installation of efficient devices and repair of most irrigation leaks at no cost to customers
  • A lawn-to-garden program that offers a rebate of $3 per square foot of lawn removed, with at least 50 percent converted to drought-tolerant landscaping
  • A spray-to-drip program that provides a rebate of $0.50 for every square foot of landscaping converted from standard spray irrigation to a drip system
  • A free conservation kit that includes a garden hose nozzle with shutoff valve, high-efficiency showerheads, faucet aerators, and more
  • Educational resources

Additionally, Cal Water reminds customers to continue observing the prohibited uses of water, which include, in part:

  • Using water on outdoor landscaping that causes runoff onto adjacent properties or paved areas
  • Using a hose to wash vehicles unless the hose has a shutoff nozzle or similar device
  • Irrigating during or within 48 hours of measurable rainfall, defined as a quarter-inch or more
  • Not repairing leaks within five days of notification
  • Irrigating outdoors between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., unless local ordinances state otherwise
  • Using water in a fountain or other decorative water feature, except where part of a recirculating system

Customers can visit the Conservation page for details on the conservation program along with a full list of prohibited uses of water.