Adapting to Change: Informing Water Use Efficiency and Adjusting to Declining Flows

Webcast
Description

 

Date: January 28, 2020

This webcast investigated the impacts observed by utilities due to declining flows, including during California’s 2015-16 emergency water conservation mandate, which required a 25% statewide reduction in urban water use. The webcast is based on two studies by the California Urban Water Agencies (CUWA) and also featured three agencies’ experiences with declining flows and impacts on water, wastewater, and recycled water. CUWA’s 2017 white paper, Adapting to Change: Utility Systems and Declining Flows, incorporates survey data and case study interviews to analyze impacts of declining flows resulting from substantial reductions in indoor water use, and describes how utilities are adapting to these circumstances. WRF provided co-funding to this effort. The 2019 issue brief, Adapting to Change: Informing Water Use Efficiency and Adjusting to Declining Flows, builds on the white paper to inform future standards, implications, and adaptions following the 2018 California legislation that set a provisional standard for indoor residential water use of 55 gallons per capita per day.

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