Making Conservation a California Way of Life Regulation
Making Conservation a California Way of Life is a new way of managing urban water use. The regulation establishes unique efficiency goals for each Urban Retail Water Supplier in California and provides those suppliers flexibility to implement locally appropriate solutions. As part of the state’s all-of-the-above strategy to expand storage, develop new water supplies, and promote more efficient water use, this regulation seeks to cultivate long-term practices that help communities adapt to California's ongoing water challenges. The regulation will lessen the need for the emergency water use reduction targets that were important in recent droughts.
As part of the regulation, urban retail water suppliers – not individual households or businesses – will be held to “urban water use objectives.” An urban water use objective is the sum of standard-based budgets for a subset of water uses, such as residential outdoor use.
Public Meetings
Learn more about upcoming and past meetings
Objective Exploration Tool
Learn how the regulation may affect urban water use
Regulatory Documents
Find files associated with the official rulemaking process
Fact Sheets
Find fact sheets, FAQs, and Primer
Supporting Materials
Studies and recommendations
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Approved Regulation
- Regulation to Make Conservation a California Way of Life (Approved by the Office of Administrative Law, Effective on 1/1/2025)
- Board Resolution 2024-0019 (Adopted 7/3/2024)
Public Meetings
Upcoming Meetings and Workshops
Stay informed of upcoming meetings by subscribing to the Water Conservation Regulations Email List.
Past Meetings and Workshops
- Agenda | Agenda en Español
- Board Resolution 2024-0019 (Adopted on 7/3/2024)
- Presentation
- Recorded Board Meeting
October 4, 2023, Board Workshop: Proposed Regulation to Make Conservation a California Way of Life
Presentations
March 22, 2023, Board Workshop: Proposed Regulatory framework for Making Conservation a California Way of Life
Materials for workshop:
Presentations:
August 12, 2022, Public Stakeholder Webinar: Urban Trees and Parklands
Public Stakeholder Webinar: Urban Trees and Parklands
- Friday, August 12, 2022
- Agenda | Notice
- Agenda en Español | Aviso
Material for Workshop
The following materials are subject to changes based on stakeholder input, as the stakeholder process is ongoing.
- State Water Board’s Staff Preface to Task 5 – Urban Trees and Parklands
- Task 5 – Summary of Environmental Effects (Urban Trees and Parklands)
- Outdoor Residential Water Use Standard Draft Recommendation
Presentations
May 11, 2022, Staff Workshop: How Forthcoming Efficiency Standards May Impact Local Wastewater Management
Public Stakeholder Webinar: Wastewater
- Wednesday, May 11th, 2022
- Agenda | Notice
- Agenda en Español | Aviso
Material for Workshop
The following materials are subject to changes based on stakeholder input, as the stakeholder process is ongoing.
- State Water Board’s Staff Preface to the Task 5 - Wastewater report
- Task 5 – Summary of Environmental Effects (Wastewater)
- Wastewater data informing Task 5 - Wastewater Report
- Nutrient Removal Analysis at California Wastewater Treatment Facilities
- Biochemical Oxygen Demand and Total Suspended Solids Summaries from California Wastewater Treatment Facilities
- Influent Parameter Concentrations, Mass Loading Values, and Influent Flow Values for Evaluating Operations During Dry Weather Flows at California Wastewater Treatment Facilities
- Results of the Indoor Residential Water Use Study
- Appendices for the Residential Water Use Study
Presentations
How forthcoming efficiency standards may impact local wastewater management PowerPoint Slides
December 3, 2021, Staff Workshop: Methods Used to Evaluate Efficiency Etandards’ Effects on Parklands and Urban Tree Health
Presentation
December 2, 2021, Staff Workshop: Methods Used to Evaluate Efficiency Standards’ Effects on Local Wastewater Management
Presentation
Regulatory Documents
- Final Text of Regulation and Adopted Resolution
- Regulation to Make Conservation a California Way of Life (Approved by the Office of Administrative Law, Effective on 1/1/2025)
- Board Resolution 2024-0019 (Adopted on 7/3/2024)
- Notice(s)
- Notice of Additional Changes to Proposed Regulation (7/26/2024)
- Notice of Additional Changes to Proposed Regulation (7/15/2024)
- Notice of Additional Changes to Proposed Regulation and Additional Reference Materials (6/14/24)
- Notice of Additional Changes to Proposed Regulation (5/20/2024)
- Notice of Changes to Proposed Regulation (3/12/2024)
- Notice of Proposed Regulatory Action (8/8/2023)
- Proposed Text of Regulation
- Updated Proposed Text v6 (7/26/2024)
- Updated Proposed Text v5 (7/15/2024)
- Updated Proposed Text v4 (6/14/2024)
- Updated Proposed Text v3 (5/20/2024)
- Updated Proposed Text (3/12/2024)
- Proposed Text
- Initial Statement of Reason (ISOR)
- Standardized Regulatory Impact Assessments (SRIA)
- Updated SRIA (dated 6/21/2024)
- SRIA submitted to Department of Finance (dated 3/10/2023)
- SRIA submitted to Office of Administrative Law (dated 05/19/2023)
- See Notice of Proposed Action for details on changes made in response to comments from the Department of Finance.
- Standard Form 399 and Attachment
Fact Sheets, FAQs, and Primer
- Making Conservation a California Way of Life Regulation FAQs (01/06/2025)
- Regulation Fact Sheet (03/12/2024)
- Hoja Informativa (03/26/2024)
- Legislation Fact Sheet (06/07/2018)
- Primer of 2018 Legislation on Water Conservation and Drought Planning
Supporting Materials
Studies
Research Contract
In June 2019, the State Water Board adopted Resolution Number 2019-0029, authorizing a contract to support the environmental and economic analysis of new water efficiency standards. The California Department of General Services approved Contract 19-058-240 on November 1, 2019. California State University (CSU) Sacramento led the work to generate water use scenarios given varying and reasonably foreseeable climatic and economic conditions. The scenarios informed both the environmental and economic impact analyses. Teams at the University of California (UC) Los Angeles, UC Davis, and CSU Sacramento carried out the environmental analyses, which include meeting CEQA obligations and evaluating impacts to local wastewater management, developed and natural parklands, and urban tree health. Teams at CSU Humboldt and CSU Sacramento carried out the economic impact analysis.
Deliverables
- Task 5 - Summary of Environmental Effects (Urban Trees and Parklands)
- Task 5 - Summary of Environmental Effects (Wastewater)
- Task 7 - Objective Exploration Tool
Indoor Water Use
Recommendations
The 2018 Legislation requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR), in coordination with the State Water Board, conduct necessary studies and investigations and develop recommendations for the State Water Board.
California Statutes Making Conservation a California Way of Life
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Contact Us
Conservation Unit
ORPP-WaterConservation@waterboards.ca.gov
