BILL NUMBER: AB 2304 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Huffman
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Section 65352.5 of the Government Code, and
to amend Sections 10752, 10753.7, and 10753.8 of the Water
Code, relating to groundwater.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2304, as amended, Huffman. Groundwater management plans:
components.
Existing
(1) Existing law authorizes
specified local agencies that provide water service to adopt and
implement a groundwater management plan. Existing law requires a
local agency seeking specified state funds to include in a
groundwater management plan that is adopted pursuant to that
authority to include various components, including
components relating to the monitoring and management of groundwater
levels within the groundwater basin. Existing law authorizes a
groundwater management plan to additionally include other components
relating to, among other things, identification and management of
wellhead protection areas and recharge areas, replenishment of
groundwater, and review of land use plans and coordination with land
use planning agencies.
This bill would add coordination with local planning agencies to
develop and implement land use strategies that protect
priority prime recharge areas to the list of
authorized components of a groundwater management plan.
The bill also would add to the list of components that are
required to be included in a groundwater management plan for the
specified funding purposes, an identification and map of prime
recharge areas, as defined, for the groundwater basin and
identification of potential threats to the capability of those areas
to replenish high-quality groundwater.
(2) Existing law establishes in each city and county a planning
agency and imposes various requirements on cities and counties with
respect to the preparation, adoption, and amendment of general plans
and elements of general plans. Existing law requires a public water
system, as defined, with 3,000 or more service connections, upon
receiving notification of a city's or county's proposed action to
adopt or substantially amend a general plan, to provide the local
planning agency with specified information pertaining to existing and
future water supplies.
This bill would additionally require a public water system that is
subject to those requirements to provide a description of prime
recharge areas and potential threats to those recharge areas
identified in groundwater management plans or programs.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 65352.5 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
65352.5. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that it
is vital that there be close coordination and consultation
between California's water supply agencies and California's land use
approval agencies is vital to ensure that proper water
supply planning occurs in order to accommodate projects that will
result in increased demands on water supplies.
(b) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature to provide a
standardized process for determining the adequacy of existing and
planned future water supplies to meet existing and planned future
demands on these water supplies.
(c) Upon receiving, pursuant to Section 65352, notification of a
city's or a county's proposed action to adopt or substantially amend
a general plan, a public water system, as defined in Section 116275
of the Health and Safety Code, with 3,000 or more service
connections, shall provide the planning agency with the following
information, as is appropriate and relevant:
(1) The current version of its urban water management plan,
adopted pursuant to Part 2.6 (commencing with Section 10610) of
Division 6 of the Water Code.
(2) The current version of its capital improvement program or
plan, as reported pursuant to Section 31144.73 of the Water Code.
(3) A description of the source or sources of the total water
supply currently available to the water supplier by water right or
contract, taking into account historical data concerning wet, normal,
and dry runoff years.
(4) A description of the quantity of surface water that was
purveyed by the water supplier in each of the previous five years.
(5) A description of the quantity of groundwater that was purveyed
by the water supplier in each of the previous five years.
(6) A description of all proposed additional sources of water
supplies for the water supplier, including the estimated dates by
which these additional sources should be available and the quantities
of additional water supplies that are being proposed.
(7) A description of the total number of customers currently
served by the water supplier, as identified by the following
categories and by the amount of water served to each category:
(A) Agricultural users.
(B) Commercial users.
(C) Industrial users.
(D) Residential users.
(8) Quantification of the expected reduction in total water
demand, identified by each customer category set forth in paragraph
(7), associated with future implementation of water use reduction
measures identified in the water supplier's urban water management
plan.
(9) A description of prime recharge areas, as defined in Section
10752 of the Water Code, and potential threats to those areas that
have been identified in a groundwater management plan adopted by a
local agency pursuant to Section 10753.7 of the Water Code or any
other specific authorization for groundwater management, or
identified by a watermaster pursuant to a court order, judgment, or
decree.
(9)
(10) Any additional information that is relevant to
determining the adequacy of existing and planned future water
supplies to meet existing and planned future demands on these water
supplies.
SEC. 2. Section 10752 of the Water Code
is amended to read:
10752. Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this part:
(a) "Groundwater" means all water beneath the surface of the earth
within the zone below the water table in which the soil is
completely saturated with water, but does not include water which
flows in known and definite channels.
(b) "Groundwater basin" means any basin identified in the
department's Bulletin No. 118, dated September 1975, and any
amendments to that bulletin, but does not include a basin in which
the average well yield, excluding domestic wells that supply water to
a single-unit dwelling, is less than 100 gallons per minute.
(c) "Groundwater extraction facility" means any
a device or method for the extraction of groundwater
within a groundwater basin.
(d) "Groundwater management plan" or "plan" means a document that
describes the activities intended to be included in a groundwater
management program.
(e) "Groundwater management program" or "program" means a
coordinated and ongoing activity undertaken for the benefit of a
groundwater basin, or a portion of a groundwater basin, pursuant to a
groundwater management plan adopted pursuant to this part.
(f) "Groundwater recharge" means the augmentation of groundwater,
by natural or artificial means, with surface water or recycled water.
(g) "Local agency" means any a local
public agency that provides water service to all or a portion of its
service area, and includes a joint powers authority formed by local
public agencies that provide water service.
(h) "Prime recharge area" means an area in which the surface
topography, subsurface geologic composition and structures, and rates
of water infiltration render the area a principal contributor to the
replenishment of the groundwater basin, either under natural
conditions, artificially augmented groundwater recharge, or both.
(h)
(i) "Recharge area" means the area that supplies water
to an aquifer in a groundwater basin and includes multiple wellhead
protection areas.
(i)
(j) "Watermaster" means a watermaster appointed by a
court or pursuant to other provisions of law.
(j)
(k) "Wellhead protection area" means the surface and
subsurface area surrounding a water well or well field that supplies
a public water system through which contaminants are reasonably
likely to migrate toward the water well or well field.
SEC. 3. Section 10753.7 of the Water
Code is amended to read:
10753.7. (a) For the purposes of qualifying as a groundwater
management plan under this section, a plan shall contain the
components that are set forth in this section. In addition to the
requirements of a specific funding program, any
a local agency seeking state funds administered
by the department for the construction of groundwater
projects or groundwater quality projects, excluding programs that are
funded under Part 2.78 (commencing with Section 10795), shall do all
of the following:
(1) Prepare and implement a groundwater management plan that
includes basin management objectives for the groundwater basin that
is subject to the plan. The plan shall include components relating to
the monitoring and management of groundwater levels within the
groundwater basin, groundwater quality degradation, inelastic land
surface subsidence, and changes in surface flow and surface water
quality that directly affect groundwater levels or quality or are
caused by groundwater pumping in the basin.
(2) For the purposes of carrying out
implementing paragraph (1), the local agency
shall prepare a plan to involve other agencies that enables the local
agency to work cooperatively with other public entities whose
service area or boundary overlies the groundwater basin.
(3) For the purposes of carrying out
implementing paragraph (1), the local agency
shall prepare a map that details the area of the groundwater basin,
as defined in the department's Bulletin No. 118, and the area of the
local agency, that will be subject to the plan, as well as the
boundaries of other local agencies that overlie the basin in which
the agency is developing a groundwater management plan.
(4) (A) For purposes of implementing paragraph (1), the
groundwater management plan shall include an identification and map
of the prime recharge areas for the groundwater basin and
identification of any potential threats to the capability of the
prime recharge areas to continue to replenish high-quality
groundwater due to future changes in land use, urban development, or
instream flow modifications.
(B) The local agency shall provide the information required
pursuant to subparagraph (A) to the appropriate local planning
agencies to assist in the development of the open-space element of
the general plan and future land use and zoning decisions.
(C) For purposes of this paragraph, "map of the prime recharge
areas" means a surface map of prime recharge areas that identifies
topography, surface water features, vegetation, and overlying land
uses.
(4)
(5) The local agency shall adopt monitoring protocols
that are designed to detect changes in groundwater levels,
groundwater quality, inelastic surface subsidence for basins for
which subsidence has been identified as a potential problem, and flow
and quality of surface water that directly affect groundwater levels
or quality or are caused by groundwater pumping in the basin. The
monitoring protocols shall be designed to generate information that
promotes efficient and effective groundwater management.
(5)
(6) Local agencies that are located in areas outside
the groundwater basins delineated on the latest edition of the
department's groundwater basin and subbasin map shall prepare
groundwater management plans incorporating the components in this
subdivision, and shall use geologic and hydrologic principles
appropriate to those areas.
(7) The local agency shall update the groundwater management plan
required by this subdivision at least once every five years on or
before December 31, in years ending in zero and five.
(b) (1) (A) A local agency may receive state funds
administered by the department for the construction of
groundwater projects or for other projects that directly affect
groundwater levels or quality if it prepares and implements,
participates in, or consents to be subject to, a groundwater
management plan, a basinwide management plan, or other integrated
regional water management program or plan that meets, or is in the
process of meeting, the requirements of subdivision (a). A local
agency with an existing groundwater management plan that meets the
requirements of subdivision (a), or a local agency that completes an
upgrade of its plan to meet the requirements of subdivision (a)
within one year of applying for funds, shall be given priority
consideration for state funds administered by the department over
local agencies that are in the process of developing a groundwater
management plan. The department shall withhold funds from the project
until the upgrade of the groundwater management plan is complete.
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a local agency that manages
groundwater under any other provision of existing law that meets the
requirements of subdivision (a), or that completes an upgrade of its
plan to meet the requirements of subdivision (a) within one year of
applying for funding, shall be eligible for funding administered by
the department. The department shall withhold funds from a project
until the upgrade of the groundwater management plan is complete.
(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a local agency that conforms
to the requirements of an adjudication of water rights in the
groundwater basin is in compliance with subdivision (a). For purposes
of this section subparagraph , an
"adjudication" includes an adjudication under Section 2101, an
administrative adjudication, and an adjudication in state or federal
court.
(D) Subparagraphs (A) and (B) do not apply to proposals for
funding under Part 2.78 (commencing with Section 10795), or to funds
authorized or appropriated prior to September 1, 2002.
(2) Upon the adoption of a groundwater management plan in
accordance with this part, the local agency shall submit a copy of
the plan to the department, in an electronic format, if practicable,
approved by the department. The department shall make available to
the public copies of the plan received pursuant to this part.
SECTION 1. SEC. 4. Section 10753.8
of the Water Code is amended to read:
10753.8. A groundwater management plan may include components
relating to all of the following:
(a) The control of saline water intrusion.
(b) Identification and management of wellhead protection areas and
recharge areas.
(c) Regulation of the migration of contaminated groundwater.
(d) The administration of a well abandonment and well destruction
program.
(e) Mitigation of conditions of overdraft.
(f) Replenishment of groundwater extracted by water producers.
(g) Monitoring of groundwater levels and storage.
(h) Facilitating conjunctive use operations.
(i) Identification of well construction policies.
(j) The construction and operation by the local agency of
groundwater contamination cleanup, recharge, storage, conservation,
water recycling, and extraction projects.
(k) The development of relationships with state and federal
regulatory agencies.
( l ) The review of land use plans and coordination
with land use planning agencies to assess activities that create a
reasonable risk of groundwater contamination.
(m) Coordination with local planning agencies to develop and
implement land use strategies that protect priority
prime recharge areas.