| (a) An applicant, if not eligible for an exemption
under subsection (c) of this section, shall submit, with its application,
a copy of its water conservation plan for approval, in accordance
with Water Code §16.4021. The executive administrator shall review
all water conservation plans submitted as part of an application for
financial assistance for a project and shall determine if the plans
meet the requirements of this section.
(b) The water conservation plan required under subsection
(a) of this section must be new or revised to include five-year and
ten-year targets for water savings, unless the applicant has implemented
an approved water conservation plan that meets the requirements of
this section, and that has been in effect for less than five years.
The water conservation plan shall include an evaluation of the applicant's
water and wastewater system and customer water use characteristics
to identify water conservation opportunities and shall set goals to
be accomplished by water conservation measures. The water conservation
plan shall provide information in response to the following minimum
requirements. If the plan does not provide information for each minimum
requirement, the applicant shall include in the plan an explanation
of why the requirement is not applicable.
(1) Minimum requirements. Water conservation plans
shall include the following elements:
(A) a utility profile including, but not limited to,
information regarding population and customer data, water use data,
water supply system data, and wastewater system data at the most detailed
level of water use data currently available and in accordance with
the methodology and guidance for calculating water use and conservation
developed and maintained by the executive administrator in coordination
with the commission under Water Code §16.403. The utility profile
must include the classification of water sales and uses for the following
sectors, as appropriate:
(i) residential;
(I) single-family;
(II) multi-family;
(ii) commercial;
(iii) institutional;
(iv) industrial;
(v) agricultural; and
(vi) wholesale.
(B) specific, quantified five-year and ten-year targets
for water savings to include goals for water loss programs and goals
for municipal use in total gallons per capita per day and residential
gallons per capita per day. As used herein, "municipal use" means
the use of potable water or sewer effluent for residential, commercial,
industrial, agricultural, institutional, and wholesale uses by an
individual or entity that supplies water to the public for human consumption;
(C) a schedule for implementing the plan to achieve
the applicant's targets and goals;
(D) a method for tracking the implementation and effectiveness
of the plan;
(E) a master meter to measure and account for the amount
of water diverted from the source of supply;
(F) a program for universal metering of both customer
and public uses of water, for meter testing and repair, and for periodic
meter replacement;
(G) measures to determine and control water loss (for
example, periodic visual inspections along distribution lines; annual
or monthly audit of the water system to determine illegal connections,
abandoned services, etc.);
(H) a program of leak detection, repair, and water
loss accounting for the water transmission, delivery, and distribution
system;
(I) a program of continuing public education and information
regarding water conservation;
(J) a water rate structure which is not "promotional,"
i.e., a rate structure which is cost-based and which does not encourage
the excessive use of water;
(K) a means of implementation and enforcement which
shall be evidenced by:
(i) a copy of the ordinance, resolution, or tariff
indicating official adoption of the water conservation plan by the
applicant; and
(ii) a description of the authority by which the applicant
will implement and enforce the conservation plan;
(L) documentation that the regional water planning
groups for the service area of the applicant have been notified of
the applicant's water conservation plan; and
(M) a current drought contingency plan which includes
specific water supply or water demand management measures and, at
a minimum, includes, trigger conditions, demand management measures,
initiation and termination procedures, a means of implementation,
and measures to educate and inform the public regarding the drought
contingency plan.
(2) Additional conservation strategies. The water conservation
plan may also include any other water conservation practice, method,
or technique that the applicant deems appropriate.
(c) Pursuant to Water Code §16.4021, an applicant
is not required to provide a water conservation plan if the board
determines an emergency exists; the amount of financial assistance
to be provided is $500,000 or less; the applicant demonstrates and
the board finds that implementation of a water conservation program
is not reasonably necessary to facilitate water conservation; the
application is for flood control purposes under Water Code, Chapter
17, Subchapter G; the application is for a flood project under Water
Code, Chapter 15, Subchapter I; or the financial assistance is to
fund a project that consists of construction outside this state.
(1) An emergency exists when:
(A) a public water system or wastewater system has
already failed, or is in a condition which poses an imminent threat
of failure, causing the health and safety of the citizens served to
be endangered;
(B) sudden, unforeseen demands are placed on a water
system or wastewater system (i.e., because of military operations
or emergency population relocation);
(C) a disaster has been declared by the governor or
president; or
(D) the governor's Division of Emergency Management
of the Texas Department of Public Safety has determined that an emergency
exists.
(2) If the board determines that an emergency exists
and commits to financial assistance without requiring a water conservation
plan, the applicant must report whether the emergency continues to
exist every six months after the board commits to financial assistance.
If the Executive Administrator finds that the emergency no longer
exists, the applicant must submit a water conservation plan within
six months of the finding.
(d) Pursuant to Water Code §16.4021(g), if the
applicant will utilize the project financed by the board to furnish
water or wastewater services to another entity that in turn will furnish
the water or wastewater services to the ultimate consumer, the applicant
shall:
(1) submit its own water conservation plan before closing
on the financial assistance; and
(2) submit the other entity's water conservation plan,
if one exists, before closing on the financial assistance; and
(3) require, by contract, that the other entity adopt
a water conservation plan that conforms to the board's requirements
and submit it to the board. If the requirement is to be included in
an existing water or wastewater service contract, it may be included,
at the earliest of the renewal or substantial amendment of that contract,
or by other appropriate measures.
(e) The board will accept a water conservation plan
determined by the commission to satisfy the requirements of 30 TAC
Chapter 288 for purposes of meeting the minimum requirements of subsection
(b) of this section.
(f) Water conservation plans that are submitted to
the TCEQ and copied to the board under Water Code §16.402 must
contain the applicable minimum requirements for water conservation
plans established by the Commission in its rules at 30 TAC Chapter
288.
(g) Annual reports.
(1) Each entity that is required to submit a water
conservation plan to the board or the commission, other than a recipient
of financial assistance from the board, shall file a report annually
not later than May 1st to the executive administrator on the entity's
progress in implementing each of the minimum requirements in the water
conservation plan.
(2) Recipients of financial assistance from the board
shall maintain an approved water conservation plan in effect until
all financial obligations to the state have been discharged and shall
file a report with the executive administrator on the applicant's
progress in implementing each of the minimum requirements in its water
conservation plan and the status of any of its customers' water conservation
plans required by contract, within one year after closing on the financial
assistance and annually thereafter until all financial obligations
to the state have been discharged.
(3) Annual reports prepared for the Commission providing
the information required by this subsection may be provided to the
board to fulfill the board's reporting requirements.
(h) The following are violations of board rules for
purposes of Water Code §16.402:
(1) failure to submit a water conservation plan containing
the minimum requirements in subsections (b) and (f) of this section;
and
(2) failure to timely submit a complete annual report
on the entity's progress in implementing its plan that addresses each
element in its water conservation plan, as required by Water Code §16.402
and subsection (g) of this section.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §363.15 adopted to be effective July 19, 1991, 16 TexReg 3768; amended to be effective June 8, 1995, 20 TexReg 3898; amended to be effective December 6, 2004, 29 TexReg 11368; amended to be effective December 25, 2007, 32 TexReg 9721; amended to be effective June 1, 2008, 33 TexReg 4327; amended to be effective December 5, 2012, 37 TexReg 9522; amended to be effective February 3, 2021, 46 TexReg 832 |
