Existing law requires every public and private urban water supplier that directly or indirectly provides water for municipal purposes to prepare and adopt an urban water management plan and to update its plan once every 5 years on or before December 31 in years ending in 5 and zero, except as specified. Existing law also requires an agricultural water supplier to prepare and adopt an agricultural water management plan with specified components on or before December 31, 2012, and to update those plans on or before December 31, 2015, and on or before December 31 every 5 years thereafter.

This bill would require the Department of Water Resources, no later than January 1, 2020, in consultation with the State Water Resources Control Board and other relevant state and local agencies and stakeholders, to use available data to identify small water suppliers and rural communities that may be at risk of drought and water shortage vulnerability and would require the department to notify counties and groundwater sustainability agencies of those suppliers or communities. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the board, to propose to the Governor and the Legislature, by January 1, 2020, recommendations and guidance relating to the development and implementation of countywide drought and water shortage contingency plans to address the planning needs of small water suppliers and rural communities, as provided.