Headlines
State Releases "20x2020 Water Conservation Plan"
Friday, April 16, 2010
The final 20x2020 Water Conservation Plan, dated February 2010, has been released! On February 28, 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger wrote to leadership of the California State Senate, outlining key elements of a comprehensive solution to problems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The first element on the Governor's list was “a plan to achieve a 20 percent reduction in per capita water use statewide by 2020.” In March 2008, the 20x2020 Agency Team was convened to develop a plan to achieve a 20 percent reduction in per capita urban water use statewide by 2020.
The 20x2020 Water Conservation Plan sets forth a statewide road map to maximize the state’s urban water efficiency and conservation opportunities between 2009 and 2020, and beyond. It sets in motion a range of activities designed to achieve the 20 percent per capita reduction in urban water demand by 2020. These activities include improving an understanding of the variation in water use across California, promoting legislative initiatives that incentivize water agencies to promote water conservation, and creating evaluation and enforcement mechanisms to assure regional and statewide goals are met.
The draft of this plan served as a basis for legislation that was enacted in November 2009, to incorporate into law the goal to achieve a 20 percent reduction in urban per capita water use in California by 2020. Urban water suppliers are required to establish water conservation targets for the years 2015 and 2020.