After years of focusing on water sustainability, Santa Monica recently ramped up efforts to save water. The Santa Monica City Council has officially signed off on the Water Neutrality Ordinance, which curbs water usage for major projects according to the site’s historic five-year average.

Historically, Southern California has always been plagued by droughts. So over the past few years, the city has worked at becoming self-sufficient with its water. The city seeks to maintain water usage at its current level in order to protect the community against emergencies and unpredictable climate changes.

The new ordinance doesn’t apply to projects already under review or those that received their appropriate permits before June 30, 2017. It also doesn’t apply to minor construction like kitchen or bathroom renovations. However, it does apply to new residential and commercial projects. That means larger water amenities such as community pools, spas, sprinklers, fountains, and ponds will have to follow stricter guidelines.

Per Santa Monica Daily Press, most of the affected developments will be single-family residence construction and large-scale renovations.

If it isn’t possible for a development to comply with the new law, once the water cap is reached, the remaining amount of water must be counteracted somewhere else within the community. The city will provide design consultants and retrofit programs to help with educating new applicants and installing water-saving fixtures at the best cost.

The Water Neutrality Ordinance will go into effect July 1, 2017.