The State Water Resources Control Board adopted emergency regulations April 1, 2015 to safeguard the State’s remaining water supplies by imposing mandatory water restrictions.  These restrictions were more stringent than those of IWVWD’s Ordinance 93 – Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance adopted in May 2010, so the District adopted Ordinance 100 – Emergency Water Conservation Regulation to comply with these new restrictions, which was in effect until the State’s mandates were lifted and eventually replace with Ordinance 103 in September 2017.  Scroll down to the Policies section and click on Ordinance 103 for the specific regulations.

After a relatively good snow pack in northern California during the winter of 2015/2016, the State decided to approach conservation requirements differently.  The State Water Resources Control Board allowed water agencies to “self-certify” their conservation standard that would remain in effect until January 2017.  The procedure for self-certification included the assumption of a continuing drought for the next 3 years and determining what water supplies are available.  Because the IWVWD is dependent upon groundwater and there was sufficient supply for the next three years, using the State’s method resulted in a target of 0% conservation.  However, the Department of Water Resources has classified our basin as a high priority basin in critical overdraft based on chronic lowering of the aquifer level. Consequently, the Board of Directors and staff of IWVWD believed it was prudent to continue conservation efforts while the local Groundwater Sustainability Agency was formed and allowed to develop the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (The plan was approved in January 2022).  At the June 13, 2016 meeting, the Board voted to keep Ordinance 100 in place and establish a conservation target of 20% for the period of June 2016 and extending at least through the end of January 2017. The 20% conservation target remains in effect to this day and Ordinance 103 was adopted to make water conservation a way of life for customers of the Indian Wells Valley Water District.

You may view the calculation used for the self-certification :  

The Certification of the Self-Certified Conservation Standard may be viewed: