There is a variety of useful information located at the California State Water Board's Emergency Water Conservation Regulations Portal Emergency Water Conservation Regulations Portal. You can subscribe to receive e-mail updates here.

California Urban Water Conservation Council - Water Shortage Tool Kit

Click here to download 9 tools from hundreds of member and non-member water utilities across the State of California:

Tool 1: Model Water Shortage Contingency Plans
Tool 2: Water Waste Ordinances and Enforcement Primer
Tool 3: Water Shortage Pricing Primer
Tool 4: Water Loss and Supply Alternatives
Tool 5: Customer Programs and Communication
Tool 6: Water Supply Fact Sheet
Tool 7: Water Use Awareness - AquaHawk Alerting is featured in this Tool Kit
Tool 8: Water School Curriculum
Tool 9: Water Resources Funding

Here are some important documents:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Proposed Emergency Regulations to Achieve 25% Urban Conservation

Here are some cool ideas:

5 Water-Saving Ways to Replace Lawns During California's Drought. Homeowners are replacing water-thirsty green grass with more eco-friendly alternatives, from rocks to native shrubs.

In early 2009, American Conservation & Billing Solutions, Inc. (AmCoBi) launched its multifamily utility billing business. We offered third party billing services to utilities and multifamily complexes--apartments, condominiums, and affordable housing.

Many of the complexes we billed had implemented utility submetering systems. These metering systems were capable of recording hourly/daily usage values for water, electricity, and gas. The data could be accessed remotely and were of tremendous interest to our engineering team.

Members of our team had previously worked in the network testing industry and had developed software applications to evaluate massive volumes of network traffic data. Their hardware and software systems identified problems that caused data networks to fail or operate inefficiently.

They believed some of the same analytical methods used for network troubleshooting could be applied to utility consumption data. And since submetering systems did not offer any capabilities to evaluate usage data, they developed a series of programs to do so.

These programs analyzed water, electric, and gas consumption values to determine when a residence might be experiencing:

• A water leak
• Failing HVAC equipment
• Wasteful electric usage and more.

When problems were identified, our team would contact the property manager or owner  We were routinely catching problems that otherwise would have caused property damage or unnecessary utility expense. Our multifamily clients loved the notifications and their residents were soon requesting alerts too.

About the same time, AmCoBi started providing billing services to smaller water utilities. Some of these organizations had implemented fixed base Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems that could also gather hourly/daily consumption data. Some had Automated Meter Reading (AMR) systems that recorded reads on a monthly or bimonthly basis.

Water, electric and gas providers were looking to provide a way for their consumers to leverage the data being collected by these "smart" metering systems. They wanted tools to help customers:

• Better understand how they're using water, gas, and electricity
• Answer their own questions
• Manage their utility expenses
• Identify ways to be more efficient.

In 2011, AmCoBi launched AquaHawk, a customer portal solutions for water utilities. About two years later, the application was expanded to suppor electric and naturgal gas data with UtilityHawk. It enabled utilities to present usage information in a secure, password-protected website. It integrated data from the utility's metering system, the billing or accounting application, and local weather stations.

Knowing that there were a variety of different manufacturers developing and implementing meter reading networks, AmCoBi engineered the application to be vendor-neutral or platform independent. Our portal solutions can integrate consumption data from any commercial AMI/AMR system.

World-class Data Analytics

Having spent years performing statistical analysis on water consumption data, our team developed a sophisticated set of tools for identifying potential leaks and abnormal use patterns. We evaluate consumption data on an account-by-account basis and apply different analyses for different account types.

Because the system integrates with leading AMI systems, we've been able to compare our leak detection results with other solutions. Our system is not only more accurate but it also ignores issues that other systems incorrectly flag as problems. With AquaHawk, your organization will spend less time managing the leak detection and notification process.

Proactive Customer Notification

Accurately detecting leaks was just the beginning. We also needed an integrated workflow process that enables utility staff members to:

• Notify customers in their preferred communications mode
• Keep a record of actions that have been performed for the customer
• Enable the customer to communicate back to the utility
• Track problems to a resolution.

The process needed to be easily manageable by utility employees.

The AmCoBi Difference

We develop world class software applications that are reliable, intuitive and user-friendly. We include high value capabilities that your utility, and its customers, will actually use. We de-skill complex processes so that they're immediately understandable and manageable…not by engineers but by your employees and end-users.

We deliver world class training and support. We don't want you to purchase our software and park it on the shelf. We'll provide the guidance and assistance you need to understand and operate our consumer engagement system like a pro.

You have a voice in our organization. Every one of our clients has contributed ideas and suggestions that have been incorporated into the portal application. We may not get every feature and function right on the first go, but we are obsessive about continuous improvement.

Our software applications will be better this week, than they were last week.

Our team has worked in the software industry fordecades. We have a clear understanding of what works and what doesn't...and we are world class listeners.

We hope you'll check out our solutions and give us call. We expect it will dramatically enhance the online services you offer your clients, and create a better customer experience.

When it comes to helping consumers understand how they're using utilities, and what they can do to be more efficient, you'll be hard pressed to find a solution that does it better.

And the best news is…it's affordable!

Give us a call today!