Section 973 - [Operative 1/1/2025] Threshold for converting Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional landscapes with mixed meters to Dedicated Irrigation Meters or employing in-lieu water management technologies(a) Each urban retail water supplier shall either: (1) By June 30, 2027, identify all existing commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) water users associated with large landscapes; or(2) By June 30, 2029, identify all existing CII water users associated with a large landscape and for which estimated outdoor water use exceeds the water budget calculated pursuant to subdivision (c)(1).(b)(1) For existing CII water users identified pursuant to subdivision (a), a supplier shall either install dedicated irrigation meters (DIMs) or employ at least one of the in-lieu technologies from paragraph (2) and offer the best management practices (BMPs) from paragraph (3).(2) In-lieu technologies include: (A) Water budget-based management program without a rate structure(B) Water budget-based rate structures(C) Installation of technologies that enables the supplier to identify, estimate, and analyze outdoor water use, which may include but is not limited to Advanced Metering Infrastructure(D) Use of technologies that enable suppliers to identify, estimate, and analyze outdoor water use, which may include but are not limited to remote sensing(E) Other in-lieu technologies that enable suppliers to identify, estimate, and analyze water use or improve outdoor water use efficiency, subject to Board approval.(3) Best management practices include, at a minimum, one BMP from section 974(f)(1) and at least two BMPs identified in section 974(f)(3), including (B) and (C).(c)(1) A supplier that calculates a budget for commercial, industrial, and institutional water users associated with large landscapes (CIIMUM) pursuant to subdivision (a)(2) shall do so by multiplying the area of those landscapes (LALL) by net reference evapotranspiration (Net ET0), by 0.63 or, for Special Landscape Areas, 1.0, and by a unit conversion factor of 0.62. This formula is expressed mathematically as follows: Click here to view image
(2) For purposes of this section, the area of the landscapes (LALL) shall include only CII water users associated with large landscapes and shall be quantified and substantiated by the supplier using data generated by the Department.(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2), a supplier may use data that it has demonstrated to the Department, in coordination with the Board, to be equivalent or superior in quality and accuracy.(d) By June 30, 2039, a supplier shall have either installed dedicated irrigation meters (DIMs) on, or employed in-lieu water technologies for and offered BMPs to, all the water users identified pursuant to subdivision (a). By June 30, 2040 and thereafter, the supplier shall either have installed a DIM on, or employed in-lieu water technologies for and offered BMPs to, at least 95 percent of all commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) water users associated with large landscapes, as assessed on a reporting year basis.(e) For systems that do not meet the criteria to be considered an urban retail water supplier until after the effective date of this section, and for a system that hydraulically consolidates with a supplier, this section applies beginning fifteen (15) years after the system meets the criteria to be considered a supplier or consolidates with a supplier.Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 23, § 973
Note: Authority cited: Sections 1058 and 10609.10, Water Code. Reference: Article X, Section 2, California Constitution; and Sections 102, 104, 105, 350, 1122, 1123, 1124, 1846, 1846.5, 10608.12, 10609.2 and 10609.10, Water Code.
1. New section filed 9-30-2024; operative 1/1/2025 (Register 2024, No. 40).