There is a device capable of reducing water bills for millions of California renters and conserving water. Too bad it's not available in the state, even though a stroke of a pen would make it happen.

Right now, water meters in California must conform to standards that were designed to measure traditional utility-type meters, not point-of-use submeters for apartment dwellers, which operate under different water-flow conditions. Because of California's stricter standard, submeters cannot be used.

Officials at the Division of Measurement Standards (DMS), the state agency responsible for approving commercial water meters, cite accuracy concerns. DMS says that affected parties should petition to relax the present standard. But that would require a multi-year review process.

California is the only state not recognizing the American National Standards Institute's measure for point-of-use submeters. These devices can be installed in apartments with vertical riser pipes to bill individual users for water consumption. Approximately 60 percent of apartment units in the state fit this configuration.

With submetering, a third party would provide residents with a bill that accurately measures their consumption, so individual costs can be compared to individual benefits and consumption altered accordingly. Large families or people who delight in long showers, or who wash clothes or dishes frequently, pay more. Single people or those who conserve water religiously pay less. It's simple, fair and saves water.

Without submeters, apartment residents' water costs are included in their rent. The costs are determined either by dividing equally or by "allocation," an estimate of use based on square footage and number of occupants. So conservation-minded residents pay the same as those who consume water freely, eliminating the incentive for millions of Californians to reduce water consumption.

As a result, in California one acre-foot of water, capable of meeting the annual indoor residential needs of 25 people, currently satisfies only 15, according to a recent study by the Oakland-based Pacific Institute.

Fortunately, there is another way to allow submeters and conserve our water. California's secretary of food and agriculture, A.G. Kawamura, has authority to accept the American National Standards Institute standard. A bill in the Legislature, AB 2655, by Assemblywoman Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, would reconfirm this authority.

This standard works for 49 other states. Water not individually metered is wasted. As California enters its high-water-demand season, Kawamura should immediately adopt the American National Standards Institute standard to conserve California's water.