BILL NUMBER: AB 2304 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 3, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Huffman
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Eng and Ruskin )
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,
An act to amend Sections 10752, 10753.5, and 10753.7
of the Water Code, relating to groundwater.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2304, as amended, Huffman. Groundwater management plans:
components.
(1) Existing
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
that elects to develop a groundwater management plan
to hold a hearing prior to adopting a resolution of in
tention to draft a plan and, after the plan is prepared, to hold a
second hearing to determine whether to adopt the plan. Existing law
requires the local agency to publish a specified notice before each
of these hearings.
This bill would require the local agency, upon written request,
to provide specified information relating to the proposed groundwater
management plan to an interested person. The bill would require the
local agency to provide each of those interested persons with a
specified notice at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the
second hearing to determine whether to adopt the 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 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 prime recharge
areas to the list of authorized components of a groundwater
management plan.
The
This 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 a map identifying the
recharge areas, as defined, for the groundwater basin
and identification of potential threats to the capability of those
areas to replenish 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 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.
(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 1. 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 or subbasin
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 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 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.
(i)
(h) "Recharge area" means the area that supplies water
to an aquifer in a groundwater basin and includes multiple wellhead
protection areas.
(j)
(i) "Watermaster" means a watermaster appointed by a
court or pursuant to other provisions of law.
(k)
(j) "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. 2. Section 10753.5 of the Water
Code is amended to read:
10753.5. (a) After a groundwater management plan is prepared, the
local agency shall hold a second hearing to determine whether to
adopt the plan. Notice of the hearing shall be given pursuant to
Section 6066 of the Government Code. The notice shall include a
summary of the plan and shall state that copies of the plan may be
obtained for the cost of reproduction at the office of the local
agency.
(b) At the second hearing, the local agency shall consider
protests to the adoption of the plan. At any time prior to the
conclusion of the second hearing, any landowner within the local
agency may file a written protest or withdraw a protest previously
filed.
(c) (1) Upon receipt of a written request prior to the
commencement of the second hearing, the local agency shall provide an
interested person with information about the proposed groundwater
management plan and maps identifying recharge areas that are prepared
pursuant to this part.
(2) At least 30 days prior to the commencement of the second
hearing, the local agency shall provide notice of the date, time, and
place of the second hearing, either by mail or electronically, to
each interested person who requests information pursuant to paragraph
(1) prior to that date.
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, a local agency seeking
state funds 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 purposes of 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 purposes of 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 groundwater.
a map identifying the recharge areas for the groundwater basin.
(B) The local agency shall provide the information
map required pursuant to subparagraph (A) to the
appropriate local planning agencies after adoption of the
groundwater management plan .
(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.
(C) For purposes of this paragraph, "map identifying the recharge
areas" means a map that identifies, or maps that identify, the
current recharge areas that substantially contribute to the
replenishment of the groundwater basin. The map shall include a
description of how the recharge areas substantially contribute to the
replenishment of the groundwater basin.
(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.
(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 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 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.
(E) A local agency may request state funds to map groundwater
recharge areas pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) to the
extent that the request for state funds is consistent with
eligibility requirements that are applicable to the use of the
requested funds.
(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.
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 prime recharge areas.