Water Quality and Supply Issues Monthly Update - May 2025
Spring is in full bloom across California, and so is the activity around water policy, legislation, and infrastructure. As always, CICWQ is here to keep you informed on the developments that impact your projects, your compliance responsibilities, and your bottom line.
Here’s what you need to know this month:
➡️ Water Supply Outlook: Good News from State Reservoirs
Thanks to strong winter snowpack and timely spring rain, many of California’s water storage reservoirs are at or above normal levels. 💧
👉 Learn more from the California Department of Water Resources and see the latest update from the State Water Contractors, who recently announced a 50% allocation for 2025.
➡️ Legislative Alert: AB 1313 (Papan) Returns
A familiar bill is back—AB 1313, a revised version of legislation previously vetoed by the Governor in 2022, that would create a new stormwater permit program targeting commercial, industrial, and institutional properties.
⚠️ This proposal means:
New compliance requirements
Increased permitting fees
Greater risk of third-party lawsuits
Stay alert and learn how this bill could affect your operations.
➡️ SCOTUS Ruling Causes Permit Delays in SoCal
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision (City and County of San Francisco v. U.S. EPA) has introduced new legal uncertainty around water quality permit language.
📍 The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board has postponed the long-awaited MS4 permit renewal, impacting municipal stormwater regulation across the region.
Find out what this delay means and what to expect moving forward.
➡️ Spotlight on Innovation: Pure Water Reuse Project Moves Ahead
CICWQ supports innovative, resilient water infrastructure. One exciting project in the works:
🚰 A new 150-million-gallon-per-day recycled water program led by the Metropolitan Water District and LA County Sanitation District.
✅ Highlights include:
Advanced water purification technologies
Modern distribution systems
Underground aquifer storage and recovery
Learn how this project boosts local water reliability and efficient resource use.
👇Scroll down to learn more!
MAY NEWSWORTHY ITEMS
California Snowpack and Runoff Conditions and Water Supply Allocation– May 2025
Really good news this month from the Department of Water Resources (DWR) who announced an increase to the State Water Project allocation forecast for 2025. The allocation has increased to 50 percent of requested water supplies, up from 40 percent last month. The first allocation, made by DWR in late 2024, started at just 5%. Read more about the conditions behind the allocation increase and latest news from DWR below.
The State Water Contractors, a group of water suppliers in California founded in 1982, released a statement on the revised allocation and urged for continued consideration of greater flexibility by water managers when addressing spring runoff system operations.
2025 California Legislative Session Bill Alert: AB 1313 (Papan)
Last month we alerted our readers to the dangers of SB 601 (Allen). This month, we want our readers to be on the lookout and oppose AB 1313 (Papan). This bill, which seeks to impose a new stormwater permit structure for commercial, institutional, or industrial properties throughout California is a legislative re-do from 2022, when it was first introduced as AB 2106 (Rivas).
AB 2106 passed the Assembly and Senate back in 2022 but was VETOED by Governor Newsom for being unnecessary and redundant with existing water quality regulations and Board authority in California. Absolutely nothing has changed since 2022 which requires legislative action in 2025 to improve water quality in urban areas, so we encourage everyone in the construction industry to take a close look at AB 1313 (Papan) and alert your legislative advocates to oppose it.
Santa Ana Regional Board Delay Release of DRAFT Regional MS4 Permit for Portions of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties -- Fallout from SCOTUS Decision (City and County of San Francisco v. U.S. EPA) in March 2025
In mid-April representatives from the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) met with MS4 permit co-permittees from Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties (known as Tri-County Group) to discuss remaining concerns and any potential legal barriers to the suggested changes made by the Tri-County Group during comment periods in 2024. Comments addressed at the meeting pertained to important TMDL and receiving water quality standards language in the DRAFT MS4 permit.
During the April 2025 meeting, Regional Board staff stated that the permit process is currently on hold, pending guidance from the State Water Board’s Office of Chief Counsel regarding how to proceed in light of the SCOTUS decision on SFO v. U.S. EPA. The State Water Board and Regional Water Boards are coordinating to adopt a consistent approach statewide in responding to the ruling. However, the strategy for publicly sharing the information has not yet been determined.
Once Regional Boards receive direction on how to apply the SCOTUS decision to permits, the current version of the Santa Ana Regional Watershed Tentative Order (aka MS4 Permit) will be revised and subsequently released for a second round of public comment.
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California – Pure Water Project Advances Local Water Supply Reliability
The Pure Water Southern California program is a partnership between the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD)and the Los Angeles County Sanitation District. The program would create a new water supply to help meet the region’s needs by providing up to 150 million gallons of water daily, enough for 1.5 million people. The purified water would replenish groundwater basins, be used by industries and provide additional supplies for the region’s drinking water treatment and delivery system.
MWD representatives recently gave a detailed presentation of the program at our April 2025 CICWQ board meeting, covering the program and describing key goals and milestones in a nearly 10 year effort to ultimately build the new water resource and urban delivery system.
