The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Adequate water supply reliability for all uses is essential to the future economic and environmental health of California.
(b) Environmentally sound strategies to meet future water supply and wastewater treatment needs are key to protecting and restoring aquatic resources in California.
(c) There is a pressing need to address water supply reliability issues raised by growing urban areas.
(d) Economic analysis by urban water agencies has identified urban water conservation as a cost-effective approach to addressing water supply needs.
(e) There are many water conservation practices that produce significant energy and other resource savings that should be encouraged as a matter of state policy.
(f) Since the 1991 signing of the “Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Urban Water Conservation in California,” many urban water and wastewater treatment agencies have gained valuable experience that can be applied to produce significant statewide savings of water, energy, and associated infrastructure costs. This experience indicates a need to regularly revise and update water conservation methodologies and practices.
(g) To address these concerns, it is the intent of the Legislature to require that residential and commercial real property built and available for use or occupancy on or before January 1, 1994, be equipped with water-conserving plumbing fixtures.
(h) It is further the intent of the Legislature that retail water suppliers are encouraged to provide incentives, financing mechanisms, and funding to assist property owners with these retrofit obligations.
(Added by Stats. 2009, Ch. 587, Sec. 1. (SB 407) Effective January 1, 2010.)