BILL NUMBER: AB 647	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 19, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 5, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 15, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Eggman
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Olsen)
   (Coauthor: Senator Berryhill)

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2015

   An act to  amend   repeal and add 
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  repeal that declaration and instead 
declare that the  storing   diversion  of
water  to  underground  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, or if  the  diverted water is used
while it is in underground storage   water is so stored
consistent with a sustainable groundwater management plan, statutory
authority to conduct groundwater recharge, or a judicial decree and
is  for specified purposes. This bill would  state the
intent of the Legislature that this storage of water underground not
injure any legal user of the water involved.   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.  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:

   SECTION 1.    Section 1242 of the   Water
Code   is repealed.  
   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. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 1242 is added to the  
Water Code   , to read:  
   1242.  (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.  
  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.