BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 647
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
647 (Eggman) - As Amended April 15, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable:
SUMMARY:
This bill modifies the definition of the beneficial use of water
to include water stored in the ground for either or both of the
following purposes:
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1) To protect water quality, including providing a
hydrostatic (equilibrium of liquids) barrier to saline
water intrusion or other contamination.
2) To prevent or remediate significant and unreasonable
land subsidence that substantially interferes with surface
land uses.
Additionally, this bill provides that the period for a reversion
of a water right does not apply during the period groundwater is
used in the ground or held in storage for later application to
beneficial use.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor, if any state costs.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, groundwater recharge serves
as a practical way to augment California's water storage, and
helps mitigate the consequences of decades of chronic overuse.
This bill is intended to allow entities to recharge an
aquifer for the health of the basin without potentially
risking the forfeiture of their water right.
2)Background. California's system for surface water rights
recognizes both riparian rights and appropriative rights.
Riparian rights are based on applying water from a stream or
watercourse to the adjoining land. Appropriative rights allow
a person to acquire a right to divert, store, and use water
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regardless of whether the land it is used on is adjacent.
An appropriative water right is based on the concept of "first
in time is first in right" and is generally subject to the
issuance of a permit by the State Water Resources Control
Board (SWRCB) with the exception of pre-1914 appropriative
rights (those water rights initiated before 1914 when the
Water Commission Act took effect).
Groundwater storage or recharge refers to the injection of
surface water into the aquifer.
3)Reasonable and Beneficial use. California's water law and
policy, Article X, Section 2 of the California Constitution,
requires that all uses of the state's water be both reasonable
and beneficial. It places a significant limitation on water
rights by prohibiting the waste, unreasonable use,
unreasonable method of use, or unreasonable method of
diversion of water.
A portion of an appropriative water right that is not used
beneficially during a five-year period may be considered
abandoned and available for use by others.
This bill prevents the reversion of a water right during a
five-year period in which the water is used for groundwater
recharge consistent with the provisions of the bill.
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Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081