Amended in Senate June 19, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 5, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 15, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 647

Introduced by Assembly Member Eggman

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Olsen)

(Coauthor: Senator Berryhill)

February 24, 2015

An act to begin delete amend end delete begin insert repeal and add end insert Section 1242 of the Water Code, relating to water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 647, as amended, Eggman. Beneficial use: storing of water underground.

Under existing law, the right to water or to the use of water is limited to that amount of water that may be reasonably required for the beneficial use to be served. Existing law provides for the reversion of water rights to which a person is entitled when the person fails to beneficially use the water for a period of 5 years. Existing law declares that the storing of water underground, and related diversions for that purpose, constitute a beneficial use of water if the stored water is thereafter applied to the beneficial purposes for which the appropriation for storage was made.

This bill would begin insert repeal that declaration and instead end insert declare that the begin delete storing end delete begin insert diversion end insert of water begin insert to end insert underground begin insert storage end insert constitutes a beneficial use of water if begin insert the water so stored is thereafter applied to the beneficial purposes for which the appropriation for storage was made, or if end insert the begin delete diverted water is used while it is in underground storage end delete begin insert water is so stored consistent with a sustainable groundwater management plan, statutory authority to conduct groundwater recharge, or a judicial decree and is end insert for specified purposes. This bill would begin delete state the intent of the Legislature that this storage of water underground not injure any legal user of the water involved. end delete begin insert require any person, regardless of an existing water right, seeking to store water underground to first apply to the State Water Resources Control Board for a permit to appropriate water or petition the board for a change. This bill would require the board to include specified conditions in an approved permit or petition. end insert This bill would provide that the period for the reversion of a water right does not include any period when the water is being used in the aquifer or storage area or is being held in storage for later application to beneficial use, as prescribed.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 1242 of the end insert begin insert Water Code end insert begin insert is repealed. end insert

begin delete

1242.  

The storing of water underground, including the diversion
of streams and the flowing of water on lands necessary to the
accomplishment of such storage, constitutes a beneficial use of
water if the water so stored is thereafter applied to the beneficial
purposes for which the appropriation for storage was made.

end delete

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 1242 is added to the end insert begin insert Water Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 1242. end insert   

(a) The diversion of water to underground storage
constitutes a beneficial use of water if either of the following
conditions are met:

(1) The water so stored is thereafter applied to the beneficial
purposes for which the appropriation for storage was made.

(2) The water is so stored consistent with a sustainable
groundwater management plan developed pursuant to Part 2.74
(commencing with Section 10720) of Division 6, statutory authority
to conduct groundwater recharge, or a judicial decree and is for
one of the following purposes:

(A) Protecting water quality from saline water intrusion or
other contamination.

(B) Preventing or remediating significant and unreasonable
land subsidence that substantially interferes with surface land
uses.

(C) Preventing or remediating chronic lowering of groundwater
levels indicating a significant and unreasonable depletion of supply
if continued over the planning and implementation horizon of the
sustainable groundwater management plan.

(b) (1) Any person, regardless of an existing water right,
seeking to use water for a purpose described in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (a) shall first apply to the board for a permit to
appropriate water or a person holding a water right subject to
this division, or a pre-1914 appropriative water right, shall petition
the board for a change to that water right. The board shall review
the application or petition pursuant to this part.

(2) An order by the board approving an application or petition
described in paragraph (1) shall include conditions that prohibit
the diversion of water at times when a legal user of water on the
watercourse from which water is proposed for diversion is
releasing previously stored water or is restricted from diverting
water from that watercourse either due to requirements established
by the board or a regional board to carry out water quality control
plans prepared pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with Section
13000) or imposed pursuant to the Fish and Game Code or the
federal Endangered Species Act of 1973.

(3) In addition to the conditions described in paragraph (2), an
order by the board approving an application or petition to
appropriate water from a stream tributary to the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta, as defined in Section 12220, shall include
conditions that prohibit the diversion of water at either of the
following times:

(A) If the delta is in “balanced water conditions,” as that term
is defined by the Agreement Between the United States of America
and the State of California for the Coordinated Operation of the
Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, dated
November 24, 1986.

(B) When the Central Valley Project, the State Water Project,
or other permitted storage project is making releases of previously
stored water for instream purposes or delta outflow.

(4) Conditions that prohibit the diversion of water imposed
pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3) shall not apply
when upstream releases are made for compliance points upstream
of the diversion.

(c) The forfeiture periods in Sections 1240 and 1241 do not
include any period when, consistent with this section, the water is
being used in the aquifer or storage area or is being held in storage
for later application to beneficial use.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 1242 of the Water Code is amended to
read:

1242.  

(a) The storing of water underground, including the
diversion of streams and the flowing of water on lands necessary
to the accomplishment of that storage, constitutes a beneficial use
of water if the water so stored meets one or both of the following
conditions:

(1) Is thereafter applied to the beneficial purposes for which the
appropriation for storage was made.

(2) Is used while it is in underground storage for one or both of
the following express purposes:

(A) Protecting water quality, including providing a hydrostatic
barrier to saline water intrusion or other contamination.

(B) Preventing or remediating significant and unreasonable land
subsidence that substantially interferes with surface land uses.

(b)

 
The forfeiture periods in Sections 1240 and 1241 do not include
any period when, consistent with this section, the water is being
used in the aquifer or storage area or is being held in storage for
later application to beneficial use.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that any storage of water
underground pursuant to subdivision (a) not injure any legal user
of the water involved.

end delete