State water board bans watering 'non-functional' turf at businesses, institutions

Shopping centers, churches, homeowners associations and other businesses and institutions must stop watering their ornamental turf, under a drought-related emergency regulation approved by the State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday.

The action follows a March executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom which directed the board to consider adopting an emergency regulation by May 25 that bans the irrigation of non-functional turf in the commercial, institutional, and industrial sectors.

The ban is the latest effort by state officials to curb water use as drought conditions continue and Californians continue to fall short of voluntary conservation targets after Newsom called for Californians to reduce their water use by 15% compared to 2020.

"We know that coming into the summer months here, needing to prepare for a drier next year, we need to activate Californians and really lean in to the conservation that we're needing to see," water board chairman E. Joaquin Esquivel said during Tuesday's meeting.

The executive order also directed the state water board to define non-functional turf. The regulation defines non-functional turf as "turf that is solely ornamental and not regularly used for human recreational purposes or for civic or community events. Non-functional turf does not include sports fields and turf that is regularly used for human recreational purposes or for civic or community events."

The ban applies to places using potable water, meaning sites that water turf with recycled water would not be required to comply. The regulation also notes that the use of water is not prohibited where necessary to ensure the health of trees and other "perennial non-turf plantings."

Examples of  "non-functional turf" include things like grass on highway medians or in office parking lots. The definition of "commercial, industrial, and institutional" water users includes homeowners' associations and similar entities. While the ban would include ornamental grass in an HOA's common areas, it would not apply to individual homes within the HOA.

In a comment letter to the State Water Board, Desert Water Agency called on the board to remove HOAs from the regulation. The letter stated that HOAs, typically condos, are "prevalent in Desert Water Agency's service area, which is considered a Disadvantaged Community," and that removing non-functional turf from HOA common areas would be an environmental justice issue.

"Desert Water Agency serves a large number of HOAs, home to socioeconomically diverse residents and retirement communities, so many are fixed income seniors... HOA common areas are commonly designed in ways that are similar to a front yard for a single-family home, or common areas of apartment complexes. The emergency regulations are punitive to HOAs that have shared grass areas in-lieu of personal yards," said Vicki Petek of Desert Water Agency.

Chris Hyun, climate lead for the state water board, responded that if the turf is functional, irrigated with recycled water, or if there is an immediate human health and safety need for the turf, then it can continue to be irrigated.

Desert Water Agency also made several other comments on the regulation, including that the regulation lacks clear and formal enforcement procedures.

"Without a clearly defined and well publicized reporting system, local water agencies and residents alike will experience frustration in assisting with compliance," stated the letter.

Water suppliers are expected to communicate the ban to customers, and violations will be punishable with a fine of up to $500 for each day in which the violation occurs. The fine can come from any agency with the authority to enforce infractions, including many water suppliers, cities, counties, and the state water board.

"In terms of enforcement of infractions, it is still at the discretion of local entities for when and how to use their authority," Hyun said.

The regulation is expected to officially take effect during the week of June 6. The emergency regulations will remain in effect for one year, unless rescinded earlier or extended by the state water board.

On Monday, Newsom threatened to impose mandatory water restrictions if residents don't reduce their water use on their own, following the state's driest January through March in at least a century in the state's third year of drought.

“Every water agency across the state needs to take more aggressive actions to communicate about the drought emergency and implement conservation measures,” Newsom said in a statement.

In March, the state's water use went up dramatically, up 19% compared to the same month in 2020. Three Coachella Valley water agencies, including Desert Water Agency and Coachella Valley Water District, were among the state's top five residential water users in January. 

More drought restrictions coming

The emergency regulation approved Tuesday also requires urban water suppliers to implement Level 2 demand reduction actions by June 10. This requirement also stemmed from Newsom's March executive order.

After the last drought, the state started requiring cities and other water districts to submit drought response plans that detail six levels of conservation based on how much water is available, with districts setting their own rules for restrictions implemented at each level. Level 2 assumes a 20% water shortage.

Coachella Valley Water District already implemented its Level 2 actions in April, in anticipation of the potential requirement to do so from the state water board. CVWD's Level 2 conservation measures include a ban on outdoor water use for spray irrigation from 10 a.m. until sunset, requiring restaurants to only serve water upon request, and increasing the turf rebate amount. 

Other Coachella Valley water agencies will need to implement their own Level 2 actions by June 10 in order to comply with the emergency regulation.

According to Desert Water Agency, the combination of Level 2 actions and prohibiting non-functional turf would result in a water use reduction equivalent to a Level 3 or Level 4 shortage, meaning a 20 to 40% reduction "when no local shortage exists" due to the local groundwater basins.

"When DWA tells its customers that we conserve for the long-term and have a healthy water supplies, having mandated conservation actions results in frustration from customers and/or less trust in the messages we’ve been sending for year," the Desert Water Agency letter states.

Desert Water Agency argued that requiring state-mandated reductions undermines the local agency's water shortage contingency plan, and removes the incentive to create strong water shortage actions. Several other water districts made similar arguments on Tuesday that the state-mandated Level 2 restrictions disincentives districts that have sufficient water supply and have already made significant reductions.

In response to these concerns, the state water board changed the regulation's language to exempt a limited number of water districts that meet specific requirements, including an average of below 55 gallons per day for residential water use for 2020. To be exempt from Level 2 requirements, water suppliers would also need to not rely on the Colorado River, the State Water Project, or the Central Valley Water Project for any part of its supply, and no more than 10% of its supply can come from critically overdrafted groundwater basins.

Those exempt districts would still be required to implement alternate restrictions, which include limiting landscape irrigation to no more than two days per week and prohibiting landscape irrigation between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

"This adoption here and the direction from the governor isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, it is based on local plans. What we’re doing here is reflective of the good work that agencies have done, but we need to see a little more urgency, and need to see everyone move based off these local plans to a Level 2 water shortage contingency scenario… What we’re lacking right now is a unified message across the state that this is serious enough and we all need to be doing our part now," Esquivel said.

Previous reporting from the Associated Press was used in this report. 

Erin Rode covers the environment for the Desert Sun. Reach her at erin.rode@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @RodeErin. 

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California drought: State water board bans watering ornamental turf