SAN DIEGO — Many Californians could soon be required to cut back on their water use, but some question if it will go far enough.
In a marathon eight-hour workshop Wednesday, the state's Water Resources Control Board gave the public a chance to weigh in on its new strategy to increase water supplies statewide to protect against future drought conditions.
The state's new plan to save water over the years has a catchphrase, promoting water conservation as "A California Way of Life".
This is also something that's been a 'way of life' here in San Diego County for decades now.
"We're supportive of what the state's trying to do because we've done it here in San Diego, and we know that it works," said Jeff Stephenson, Director of Water Resources for the San Diego County Water Authority.
He said San Diego has been successfully achieving its water conservation goals since the early 1990s.
"We've achieved about a 50% reduction per person use." he added, "so what the state through their proposed regulations is trying to do is implement something similar to that statewide."
These newly proposed cutbacks to water use are not as drastic as those initially proposed last summer, which many water agencies criticized as being too complex, costly and unrealistic.
Under these new regulations, the timeline for water reductions would be extended an additional five years, to 2040.
"We're really preparing for the long term," Stephenson said.
Under this new strategy, each water supplier or agency would be required to adopt a water-use budget specific to their individual landscape, communities and needs, and would then have the flexibility to meet those individual goals.
While ongoing conservation is encouraged, San Diego would not be significantly impacted.
"We've achieved the conservation savings we need here in the region," Stephenson told CBS 8. "So we're ahead of the game. There are other parts of the state that haven't done as much in conservation, and the process at the State Water Board is really trying to address those regions that haven't addressed water demand over the years.
These include areas like California's Central Valley where, in some cases, agencies will need to decrease their water use by half by 2040.
Under the state's original proposal, California's urban water use would have been reduced by an estimated 12% by 2035.
Under these more relaxed rules now under consideration, the state estimates water use statewide would be reduced by 7% by 2035 and by 9% by 2040.
Many water agencies throughout the state applauded these revisions.
"These changes and time extensions are a step in the right direction toward ensuring successful implementation," said Amy Talbot of the Sacramento Regional Water Authority.
But many critics of the revised rules, including environmentalists, had serious concerns about these "watered-down" regulations.
"The Board has potentially missed the mark with this latest iteration of these conservation regulations," said Ashley Overhouse, Water Policy Advisor for Defenders' California Program.
"These impacts will affect every living thing that relies on water, including threatened and endangered species," she added.
Public comment on these new regulations will continue through Wednesday, March 27, with the state water board likely voting on these rules sometime in July.
For more information on submitting your feedback to the state on this, click here.
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