Comment Log Display

COMMENTS ON AB 32 PROPOSED SCOPING PLAN,
SUBMITTED BY SIERRA CLUB CALIFORNIA, November 19, 2008

16. Water (p. 65)

•  We support a public goods charge for funding investments in
water efficiency that will lead to reductions in greenhouse gases.
•  We are pleased that CARB staff calls for a 20% reduction in
water use, but disappointed that agricultural water use is not
included among the efficiency targets. Agricultural water use
accounts for more than three quarters of the state’s total water
use.
•  Moving, treating, heating, and desalting water consumes energy.
 Producing energy consumes water.  Some innovative ideas to reduce
water consumption:

- Installation of smart water meters:
Install smart radio protocol meters (aka Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI)) and an associated remotely adjustable
pressure reduction valve to municipal and industrial water users
and similarly smart meters with appropriate transmission technology
to agriculture.  AMI allows leak detection and can also provide the
same differentiation between domestic and irrigation water use as
two separate meters.  Single-family dwelling water price could
depend on water use.  The associated valves could be authorized by
customers to reduce the pressure, should they be at risk of
excessive use of water for the month (financial penalty).  (A phone
call or web entry would allow customers to draw on “rollover” or
“banked” gallons or even to “sell” their banked gallons to others.)
 The smart water meters could communicate with the smart electric
and smart gas meters to quickly calculate the actual energy savings
of a solar hot water heater.  The pair could automatically adjust
the energy savings for a change in family size causing a change in
water use.

Local water agencies may conserve on water storage infrastructure
with the AMI meters.  Should the agency’s water be needed to fight
a fire or should a pipe failure or earthquake interrupt supply, the
agency can ration water use.  For example, if calculations suggest
homes need to reduce use to 100 gallons per day, the agency can
turn off the water for each home when the home use reaches 100
gallons each day.

Ask the California State Water Resources Board, the Public
Utilities Commission, and the California Air Resources Board to
coordinate.  Southern California Edison is installing AMI to relay
real-time data and possibly control use.  Local water agencies
could contract with or coordinate with electric utilities to relay
water use and control-valve communications. 

- Implement “Pay as You Save” utility programs for water
conservation, too:
By including water savings in “pay as you save” programs,
utilities could provide energy efficient appliances, solar water
heaters, insulation, solar energy systems, co-generation furnace
replacements, long-haul tractor conversions to electric-natural gas
hybrids etc.  Utility customers would pay for the equipment over
time, via their utility bills with no up-front payment, no debt
obligation, no credit checks, and no liens needed.  Utilities can
guarantee that the customers’ monthly utility bills will be less
than before the installation of the energy and water saving
technologies.  Because the arrangement is attached to a property
and not a person, even renters can benefit.

• Include greenhouse gas emissions credits for water savings:
Allow greenhouse gas emissions credits for the water purveyor
based on a calculation that includes greenhouse gas emissions from
the customer’s side of the water meter.