the water efficiency and legal landscapes€¦ · insight into national effort in critical areas...
TRANSCRIPT
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The Water Efficiency and Conservation State Scorecard:
An Assessment of Laws
Legal Landscapes:How State Laws Do (and Don’t) Support
Water Efficiency and Conservation
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State Scorecards Scorecards have been regularly prepared on energy efficiency programs for many years
They encourage competition among the states for best score, most improved score
Energy efficiency state policies and programs have progressed significantly as a result of this scorecard spotlight
AWE wanted the same encouragement for water efficiency
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Problematic Issues The Energy Efficiency Scorecards cover policies as well as implemented programs
Given the large fragmentation in the water sector, compiling and scoring water conservation implementation program data was not possible given the funding constraints
Our Scorecards only focus on adopted legislative and regulatory policy
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History of the AWE State Scorecard AWE has been working to identify and raise awareness around state‐level laws that encourage water conservation and efficiency 2009 survey, 11 questions 2012 State Scorecard Report 2017 State Scorecard Report
Why state‐level laws? State‐level activity on conservation and efficiency provides insight into national effort in critical areas such as water loss control that is not obtainable by review of federal laws alone
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Why a Five‐Year Update?
Five‐years is enough time to realize legal changes (good or bad)
Want to create healthy competition among states to improve and/or update laws Expanding resource offerings
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Changes in the Survey and Report
Question topics are generally the same Many are expanded and some are new Q8 ‘12: Does the state have any regulations or policies for water utilities regarding water loss in the utility distribution system? Q8 ‘17: Also asks about application of the law, acceptable leakage, audit requirements, leak detection and correction etc.
New! Climate Change Resiliency section Received a separate grade
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Grading
Many more questions = many more points Project team tried to maintain question weighting in line with 2012 report
Still no review of program implementation, only laws on the books
Points were awarded only for enforceable laws currently in place
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Grades—Conservation & Efficiency
In the water conservation and efficiency survey, the 50 states earned an average of 19 points 2 “A” grades (California and Texas) 17 “B” grades 14 “C” grades 17 “D” grades
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Grades—Conservation & Efficiency
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Comparing 2012 and 2017 Grades The conservation and efficiency grades for 27 states went up, while the grades for 6 states went down
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Findings—Conservation & Efficiency
Most grades were up by one step There have been notable developments in states with low scores
A few states that had taken steps by 2012 have added significantly to those efforts in the five years since
Progress continues to be made by the top‐scoring states
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Findings—Conservation & Efficiency
Plumbing Fixture and Appliance Standards Only a few states made improvements here, but several were significant
Drought Planning Requirements Only 19 states obligate suppliers to create and/or implement drought plans Of the 6 states that made strides in this area, 4 were in the Southeast
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Findings—Conservation & Efficiency
Funding The number of states offering financial support for urban water conservation projects (from sources other than State Revolving Funds) decreased from 22 states in 2012 to 18 states in 2017
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Findings—Conservation & Efficiency
Metering and Billing 31 states have some kind of requirement for metering connections
11 states have volumetric billing requirements, 3 more than in 2012
8 states require water suppliers to implement rate structures that send a conservation signal
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Grading—Resiliency
In the climate resiliency survey, the 50 states earned an average of 7 points 2 “A” grades (California and Oregon) 17 “B” grades 9 “C” grades 22 “D” grades
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Grades—Resiliency
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Findings—Resiliency Points were awarded to resiliency plans and laws if their effect was to mitigate the impacts on water resources of conditions associated with climate change
Even if the word “climate” never appeared in the language, a plan or law could still fall within the Scorecard’s consideration
Despite the broad spectrum of plans that could be considered, only roughly half of the states have plans that received credit
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Findings—Resiliency
Plan strategies vary significantly from vague recommendations to specific objectives
Only 6 states require regular updates (every five years or fewer)
Only 3 states have guidance or provisions in place requiring action on the part of water or wastewater systems to plan for climate change related drought, flooding, and system stability and capacity
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Findings—Combined
California Colorado Connecticut Massachusetts Minnesota New Hampshire
North Carolina Oregon Rhode Island Washington Wisconsin
Only 11 states received some combination of “A”s and “B”s for both conservation and efficiency laws and climate resiliency plans and/or laws:
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Online Access to State Summaries
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6 Steps to Improving Your Score
1. Identify areas of your state’s low scoring in the Scorecard report – there is a lot of explanatory detail
2. Match up those areas of low scores with your own state needs
3. Where appropriate, develop legislative or regulatory amendments similar to those states who scored highly in those areas
4. Consult with AWE for example language
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6 Steps to Improving Your Score
5. Find a legislative or regulatory advocate for championing your changes
6. Encourage water efficiency stakeholder support for the changes among utility, plumbing, irrigation, and environmental stakeholders
Don’t give up! It often takes several tries (ask Colorado!)
Next AWE State Scorecard revision will be in 2022
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Questions?
Mary Ann DickinsonPresident and CEO
Alliance for Water Efficiency773‐360‐5100
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