Section 10608.12.
Cal. Water Code - WAT § 10608.12.
in effectUnless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern the construction of this part:
(a)
“Affordable housing” has the same meaning as defined in Section 34191.30 of the Health and Safety Code.
(b)
“Agricultural water supplier” means a water supplier, either publicly or privately owned, providing water to 10,000 or more
irrigated acres, excluding recycled water. “Agricultural water supplier” includes a supplier or contractor for water, regardless of the basis of right, that distributes or sells water for ultimate resale to customers. “Agricultural water supplier” does not include the department.
(c)
“Base daily per capita water use” means any of the following:
(1)
The urban retail water supplier’s estimate of its average gross water use, reported in gallons per capita per day and calculated over a continuous 10-year period ending no earlier than December 31, 2004, and no later than December 31, 2010.
(2)
For an urban retail water supplier that meets at least 10 percent of its 2008 measured retail water demand through recycled
water that is delivered within the service area of an urban retail water supplier or its urban wholesale water supplier, the urban retail water supplier may extend the calculation described in paragraph (1) up to an additional five years to a maximum of a continuous 15-year period ending no earlier than December 31, 2004, and no later than December 31, 2010.
(3)
For the purposes of Section 10608.22, the urban retail water supplier’s estimate of its average gross water use, reported in gallons per capita per day and calculated over a continuous five-year period ending no earlier than December 31, 2007, and no later than December 31, 2010.
(d)
“Baseline commercial, industrial, and institutional water use” means an urban retail water supplier’s base daily per capita water use
for commercial, industrial, and institutional users.
(e)
“CII water use” means water used by commercial water users, industrial water users, institutional water users, and large landscape water users.
(f)
“Commercial water user” means a water user that provides or distributes a product or service.
(g)
“Common area” means that portion of a common interest development or of a property owned or managed by a homeowners’ association or a community service organization or similar entity that is not assigned or allocated to the exclusive use of the occupants of an individual dwelling unit within the property.
(h)
“Common interest development” has the same meaning as in Section 4100 of the Civil Code.
(i)
“Community service organization or similar entity” has the same meaning as in Section 4110 of the Civil Code.
(j)
“Community space” means an area designated by a property owner or a governmental agency to accommodate human foot
traffic for civic, ceremonial, or other community events or social gatherings.
(k)
“Compliance daily per capita water use” means the gross water use during the final year of the reporting period, reported in gallons per capita per day.
(l)
“Disadvantaged community” means a community with an annual median household income that is less than 80 percent of the statewide annual median household income.
(m)
“Functional turf” means a ground cover surface of turf located in a recreational use area or community space. Turf enclosed by fencing or other barriers to permanently preclude human access for recreation or assembly is not functional turf.
(n)
“Gross water use” means the total volume of water, whether treated or untreated, entering the distribution system of an urban retail water supplier, excluding all of the following:
(1)
Recycled water that is delivered within the service area of an urban retail water supplier or its urban wholesale water supplier.
(2)
The net volume of water that the urban retail water supplier places into long-term storage.
(3)
The volume of water the urban retail water supplier conveys for use by another urban water supplier.
(4)
The volume of water delivered for agricultural use, except as otherwise provided in subdivision (f) of Section 10608.24.
(o)
“Homeowners’ association” means an “association” as defined in Section 4080 of the Civil Code.
(p)
“Industrial water user” means a water user that is primarily a manufacturer or processor of materials as defined by the North American Industry Classification System code sectors 31 to 33, inclusive, or an entity that is a water user primarily engaged in research and development.
(q)
“Institutional water user” means a water user dedicated to public service. This type of user includes, among other users, higher education institutions, schools, courts, churches, hospitals, government facilities, and nonprofit research institutions.
(r)
“Interim urban water use
target” means the midpoint between the urban retail water supplier’s base daily per capita water use and the urban retail water supplier’s urban water use target for 2020.
(s)
“Large landscape” means a nonresidential landscape as described in the performance measures for CII water use adopted pursuant to Section 10609.10.
(t)
“Locally cost effective” means that the present value of the local benefits of implementing an agricultural efficiency water management practice is greater than or equal to the present value of the local cost of implementing that measure.
(u)
“Nonfunctional turf” means any turf that is not functional turf, and includes turf located within street rights-of-way and parking lots.
(v)
“Performance measures” means actions to be taken by urban retail water suppliers that will result in increased water use efficiency by CII water users. Performance measures may include, but are not limited to, educating CII water users on best management practices, conducting water use audits, and preparing
water management plans. Performance measures do not include process water.
(w)
“Potable reuse” means direct potable reuse, indirect potable reuse for groundwater recharge, and reservoir water augmentation as those terms are defined in Section 13561.
(x)
“Potable water” means
water that is suitable for human consumption.
(y)
“Process water” means water used by industrial water users for producing a product or product content or water used for research and development. Process water includes, but is not limited to, continuous manufacturing processes, and water used for testing, cleaning, and maintaining equipment. Water used to cool machinery or buildings used in the manufacturing process or necessary to maintain product quality or chemical characteristics for product manufacturing or control rooms, data centers, laboratories, clean rooms, and other
industrial facility units that are integral to the manufacturing or research and development process is process water. Water used in the manufacturing process that is necessary for complying with local, state, and federal health and safety laws, and is not incidental water, is process water. Process water does not mean incidental water uses.
(z)
“Public water system” has the same meaning as defined in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(aa)
“Recreational use area” means an area designated by a property owner or a governmental agency to accommodate human foot traffic for recreation, including, but not limited to, sports fields, golf courses, playgrounds, picnic grounds, or pet exercise areas. This recreation may be either formal or informal.
(ab)
“Recycled water” means recycled water, as defined in subdivision (n) of Section 13050.
(ac)
“Regional water resources management” means sources of supply resulting from watershed-based planning for sustainable local water reliability or any of the following alternative sources of water:
(1)
The capture and reuse of stormwater or rainwater.
(2)
The use of recycled water.
(3)
The desalination of brackish groundwater.
(4)
The conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater in a manner that is consistent with the safe yield of the groundwater basin.
(ad)
“Reporting period” means the years for which an urban retail water supplier reports compliance with the urban water use targets.
(ae)
“Turf” has the same meaning as defined in Section 491 of Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations.
(af)
“Urban retail water supplier” means a water supplier, either publicly or privately owned, that directly provides potable municipal water to more than 3,000 end users or that supplies more than 3,000 acre-feet of potable water annually at retail for municipal purposes.
(ag)
“Urban water supplier” has the same meaning as defined
in Section 10617.
(ah)
“Urban water use objective” means an estimate of aggregate efficient water use for the previous year based on adopted water use efficiency standards and local service area characteristics for that year, as described in Section 10609.20.
(ai)
“Urban water use target” means the urban retail water supplier’s targeted future daily per capita water use.
(aj)
“Urban wholesale water supplier” means a water supplier, either publicly or privately owned, that provides more than 3,000 acre-feet of water annually at wholesale for potable municipal purposes.
References
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 34191.30.
referencesCal. Civil Code - CIV § 4100.
referencesCal. Civil Code - CIV § 4110.
referencesCal. Civil Code - CIV § 4080.
referencesCal. Health and Safety Code - HSC § 116275.
referencesCal. Water Code - WAT § 10608.22.
referencesCal. Water Code - WAT § 10608.24.
referencesCal. Water Code - WAT § 10609.10.
referencesCal. Water Code - WAT § 13561.
referencesCal. Water Code - WAT § 13050.
referencesCal. Water Code - WAT § 10617.
referencesCal. Water Code - WAT § 10609.20.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026