AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2025

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2025

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

97

Introduced by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris

February 10, 2025

An act to add Section 106.6 to the Water Code, relating to water.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law, the Urban Water Management Planning Act, requires every public and private urban water supplier that directly or indirectly provides water for municipal purposes to prepare and adopt an urban water management plan. The act requires an urban water management plan to include a water shortage contingency plan, as provided.

This bill would declare that it is the established policy of the state to encourage, but not mandate, the development of emergency water supplies by both local and regional water suppliers, as defined, and to support their use during times of drought or unplanned service or supply disruption, as provided.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:

(a) California has a climate that cycles between periods of large amounts of precipitation and times of drought.

(b) California’s weather cycles are already affecting water resources throughout the state, which in turn negatively impact ecosystems, economies, and communities.

(c) In addition to enhancing water efficiency, California can and should take action to build additional water resilience into its water resource management and planning that accounts for these changes, allowing better adaptation to and mitigation of the impacts of climate change on water supplies and watersheds.

(d) With climate change likely bringing more frequent and intense droughts to California, the state needs to evaluate how sufficient water supplies will be ensured during times of shortage.

(e) Encouraging both locally developed and regionally developed emergency water supplies is one way the state can support sufficient water supplies during times of drought, and the development of emergency water supplies can aid in mitigating the impacts of more frequent droughts and unplanned water service or supply disruptions.

(f) While water suppliers have invested in water reliability and resilience, the number of emergency water supplies developed to date has been limited.

(g) Establishing as state policy a role for both locally developed and regionally developed emergency water supplies can help encourage and incentivize greater investment and development of those supplies across the state.

SEC. 2.

Section 106.6 is added to the Water Code, to read:

106.6.

(a) It is hereby declared to be the established policy of this state to encourage, but not mandate, the development of emergency water supplies by both local and regional water suppliers, and to support their use during times of drought or unplanned service or supply disruption.

(b) For purposes of this section, both of the following definitions apply:

(1) “Emergency water supplies” means water supplies supplies, to which a water supplier has an established legal right, that a local or regional water supplier has developed and identified in a water shortage contingency plan or drought plan by a local or regional water supplier that have been developed to increase a the water supplier’s water supply reliability during a drought or unplanned service or supply disruption and that are in addition to the baseline water supplies the water supplier draws on during nonshortage times to meet water demands within its service area.

(2) “Water supplier” means a public or privately owned supplier that provides water for municipal or agricultural purposes.

(c) This section does not require a water supplier to add or modify any operation or demand management plan, does not authorize a water supplier to interfere with any water right, contractual right, or statutory obligation related to water exchange, conveyance, or storage, and does not require a water supplier to modify a water shortage contingency or drought plan.