‘Water Independent' Riverside Says Cali Cuts Don't Apply

As California cracks down on agricultural, urban, and industrial water users across the state, one district feels the cuts should not apply to it.

“For decades, Riverside has worked to be what officials consider ‘water independent’ by consolidating groundwater rights and building water treatment facilities,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

“And in recent years, the city-owned public utility appears to have achieved that goal. It has not imported water from outside sources for about seven years, and instead has relied on abundant groundwater, which officials say has been undiminished by the drought,” the report said.

Riverside is taking the state to court over the mandated cuts.  It says the state should include it in a category that allows suppliers to reduce water use by just 4 percent “if they do not import water and have at least a four-year supply,” per the report.

The state says Riverside cannot be included because of where its water comes from. “State officials reserved the 4% tier (significantly lower than the 28% by which Riverside Public Utilities was ordered to reduce) for suppliers that use surface water, not groundwater. That eliminated Riverside and several other water suppliers that had said they would be able to meet the requirements if groundwater was included,” the report said.

Cuts apply to virtually all other communities. The amount a community needs to cut under the new rules depends on how much they have already managed to conserve. "Some of California’s biggest water users...would have to cut their water consumption by 35 percent under the terms of a preliminary plan issued by state officials [in April] to meet a...mandatory statewide reduction in urban water use," The New York Times reported.

"While 135 communities face the stark 35 percent order, another 18 communities, including San Francisco, face reductions of just 10 percent, reflecting the progress they have made in cutting water consumption on their own. The remainder of the 400 California water agencies...would have to make cuts of 20 to 25 percent. Los Angeles would have to reduce its water use by 20 percent," the report continued.

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