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STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD <br />RESOLUTION NO. 2015-0032 <br /> <br />TO ADOPT AN EMERGENCY REGULATION FOR <br />STATEWIDE URBAN WATER CONSERVATION <br /> <br /> <br />WHEREAS: <br />1. On April 25, 2014, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. issued an executive order <br />(April 2014 Proclamation) to strengthen the State’s ability to manage water and habitat <br />effectively in drought conditions, and called on all Californians to redouble their efforts to <br />conserve water. The April 2014 Proclamation finds that the continuous severe drought <br />conditions present urgent challenges across the State, including water shortages in <br />communities and for agricultural production, increased wildfires, degraded habitat for fish <br />and wildlife, threat of saltwater contamination, and additional water scarcity, if drought <br />conditions continue into 2015. The April 2014 Proclamation also suspends the <br />environmental review required by the California Environmental Quality Act to allow the <br />emergency regulation and other actions to take place as quickly as possible; <br /> <br />2. The April 2014 Proclamation refers to the Governor’s Proclamation No. 1-17-2014, <br />issued on January 17, 2014, declaring a drought State of Emergency to exist in <br />California due to severe drought conditions (January 2014 Proclamation). The <br />January 2014 Proclamation finds that dry conditions and lack of precipitation present <br />urgent problems to drinking water supplies and cultivation of crops, which put farmers’ <br />long-term investments at risk. The conditions also threaten the survival of animals and <br />plants that rely on California’s rivers, including many species in danger of extinction. <br />The January 2014 Proclamation also calls on all Californians to reduce their water usage <br />by 20 percent; <br /> <br />3. On December 22, 2014, in light of the continued lack of rain, Governor Brown issued <br />Executive Order B-28-14, which extends the California Environmental Quality Act <br />suspension through May 31, 2016 for Water Code section 13247 and certain activities <br />identified in the January 2014 and April 2014 proclamations; <br /> <br />4. On April 1, 2015, Governor Brown issued a new Executive Order that directs the State <br />Water Board to impose restrictions on urban water suppliers to achieve a statewide <br />25 percent reduction in potable urban usage through February 2016; require <br />commercial, industrial, and institutional users to implement water efficiency measures; <br />prohibit irrigation with potable water of ornamental turf in public street medians; and <br />prohibit irrigation with potable water outside newly constructed homes and buildings that <br />is not delivered by drip or microspray systems; along with other directives; <br /> <br />5. Water Code section 1058.5 grants the State Water Board the authority to adopt <br />emergency regulations in certain drought years in order to: “prevent the waste, <br />unreasonable use, unreasonable method of use, or unreasonable method of diversion, <br />of water, to promote water recycling or water conservation, to require curtailment of <br />diversions when water is not available under the diverter’s priority of right, or in <br />furtherance of any of the foregoing, to require reporting of diversion or use or the <br />preparation of monitoring reports”; <br /> <br /> <br />10.A. - Page 9