CPUC Water/Energy/Communications Nexus
Commissioner Catherine Sandoval
California Public Utilities Commission
October 17, 2014
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Drought in California
The Facts
• 2013 was the driest year on record for most of California.
• 2014 is the third consecutive dry year in CA
• About 1/2 of all CA precipitation is from December through February.
• On January 17, Governor Brown declared a drought emergency for CA.
• Governor Brown asked Californians to voluntarily reduce water use by 20%, but did
not rule out mandatory conservation measures later.
• Even after late storms, the Sierra snow pack, which is the mountain snow that slowly
melts and flows to cities, farms, and lakes/ reservoirs, is approximately 9% of normal.
• The highest driver of CA water demand is agriculture, not population. Farmers use,
on average, 80% of all water consumed from rivers, lakes, and groundwater.
• According to the USDA, “at [the current] usage rate, California has less than two
years of water remaining”
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California and the World
How does California’s rainfall compare with known dry regions outside of the state?
• CA average annual rainfall : 21 inches, but this includes very wet areas in the northwest
and the deserts.
• Average rainfall Morocco: 13-14 inches
• Average rainfall Tucson, AZ: 11-12 inches
California rainfall as of May 2014
• Average rainfall San Diego: 10-11 inches, to date (2013-14 water year) 5 inches, approx.
50% normal
• 2014 statewide weighted average for basins is 42.9% of normal
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Statewide Drought Conditions
Extreme Drought
82%
Exceptional Drought
58%
United States Drought Monitor
August 5, 2014
The CPUC in Action
Rulemaking R.13-12-011 opened December, 2013
Order Instituting Rulemaking into Policies to Promote a Partnership
Framework between Investor Owned Utilities and the Water Sector to Promote
Water-Energy Nexus Programs
Goal is to examine the relationship between water and energy, especially in light of
the drought.
• Gather and analyze data, consider policies, programs, and pilots to maximize effort
• Will include several workshops and a consultant “calculator” to determine how
much energy and water are saved by each effort, to determine funding and
marketing
• Development of a water energy cost effectiveness tool
• Multiple actions to address nexus, including landscaping, recycling, and
conveyance
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R.13-12-011 cont.
•  Examine funding and cost sharing
-Allocation methodology
-Strategies for overcoming barriers to joint funding
-Availability of outside funding, including grants, programmatic
funds, and cost matching
•  Evaluate current & future programs to determine efficacy and
barriers
- Pilots, leak detection
•  Identify safety concerns, including reliability, water quality, and
public safety including fire-fighting resources
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R.13-12-011 cont.
Water-Energy-Communications Nexus
Examine the nexus of water, energy, and communications
(e.g., the use of information management and data
systems, high-speed internet access and apps, Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)) systems for water
management and treatment and the communications needs
to SCADA systems, and steps to foster access to energy,
communications technologies, and facilities that enable
water management, storage, treatment, and use, including
for wildfire and other public safety measures.
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IOU Water Energy Nexus Pilots
•  San Diego Gas and Electric has formed partnerships
with San Diego County Water Authority (SDCWA) and
Metropolitan Water District (MWD) to implement their
pilots. These currently include programs for more
efficient use of water in landscaping; a leak loss
protection program at customer sites; the Water
Infrastructure System Efficiency program (WISE) which
provides benchmarking reports for water agencies;
distribution of low flow showerheads and aerators
through the Energy Savings Assistance (ESA) program;
and distribution of efficiency spray head valves to
restaurants.
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IOU Water Energy Nexus Pilots cont.
•  Southern California Gas Company is partnering with Metropolitan
WD and its local government partnerships on the following pilots:
Utilization of water agency rebates to co-fund it’s ESA water savings
program; hosting Agricultural Forums in Tulare County to learn the
needs of the agricultural community; partnering with Los Angeles
Metropolitan Water District (LAMWD) to market water and energy
savings measures to over 300 cities; conducting a targeted
requisition for the Water Loss Control program through the IDEEA
365 solicitation process; holding Energy Smart Landscaping
classes at the Energy Resource Center; including aerators and low
flow showerheads in their Energy Efficiency kits, which are given
away at events, trade shows and workshops; offering direct installs
of showerheads and aerators to ESA customer; educational kits to
6th graders to educate them about energy and water conservation;
and rebates on pre-rinse spray valves for commercial facilities
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IOU Water Energy Nexus Pilots cont.
•  Pacific Gas and Electric partners with local water agencies and
local governments to offer the following: rebates for efficient clothes
washers; the WISE program (see SDG&E, above, for details); the
Low Pressure Irrigation Direct Install program for agricultural
customers; an emerging technology program that is researching
new ways for auditing and benchmarking water usage at small and
medium-sized water agencies; incentives for pump efficiency testing
and retrofit projects for agricultural customers; partnering with CSU
Fresno to assess emerging water and energy saving measures and
market intervention strategies; water conservation trainings at their
training centers, including the annual Water Conservation Showcase
event; low cost or free upgrades to water and energy efficient
products through the ESA program; water heater replacement and
leak inspection through the ESA program; an increase in effort in the
most drought impacted counties of their service territory; and
10 communicating potential drought impacts through numerous ME&O
channels.
IOU Water Energy Nexus Pilots cont.
•  Southern California Edison established the local Water-Energy
Program Advisory Groups; is partnering with the Association of
California Water Agencies (ACWA), the California Water-Energy
Coalition (Cal-WEC) and the California Association of Sanitation
Agencies (CASA) to build better channels of communication and
education for water conservation; has a hydraulic pump test
efficiency program for industrial and commercial customers; is
promoting auto-demand response with water agencies; offers a leak
loss detection pilot with local government partners; and is leveraging
data from the Pump Efficiency Services Program with the WISE
program
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Drought Events Timeline
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January 17 Declaration of State of Emergency
March 1 Emergency Drought Legislation
April 25 Executive Order
May 23 Drought Response Survey
July 15 Emergency Regulations adopted
July 28 Office of Administrative Law approves
Emergency Regulation
•  August 14 CPUC passes Resolution W-5000
•  August 15 First Reporting Deadline
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CPUC Drought Mitigation
February 27, 2014 – CPUC adopted Resolution W-4976
-  Drought procedures for water conservation, rationing and service connection
moratoria.
-  Comply with Governor’s call for 20% conservation
Tariff Rule No. 14.1
–  Water Conservation and Rationing Plan
–  Lists non-essential and unauthorized water uses
Tariff Schedule 14.1
–  Mandatory rationing
–  Requires DWA approval
August 14, 2014- CPUC adopted Resolution W-5000
- Ensures that IOUs comply with State Water Board Emergency Measures
All Class A utilities have voluntary conservation measures in place
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CPUC monitoring vulnerable systems
Thanks & Questions
Catherine J.K. Sandoval, Commissioner
California Public Utilities Commission
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