California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1755

Introduced by Assembly Member Dodd

February 2, 2016

An act to add Part 4.9 (commencing with Section 12400) to Division 6 of the Water Code, relating to water data.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1755, as introduced, Dodd. The Open and Transparent Water Data Act.

Existing law imposes on the Department of Water Resources various duties with respect to water in the state. Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board administers a water rights program pursuant to which the state board grants permits and licenses to appropriate water. Existing law regulates water transfers and authorizes a permittee or licensee to change the point of diversion, place of use, or purpose of use due to a transfer or exchange of water or water rights if certain conditions are met.

This bill would enact the Open and Transparent Water Data Act. The act would require the department to establish a public benefit corporation that would create and manage (1) a statewide water information accounting system to improve the ability of the state to meet the growing demand for water supply reliability and healthy ecosystems, that, among things, would integrate existing water data information from multiple databases and (2) an online water transfer information clearinghouse for water transfer information that would include, among other things, a database of historic water transfers and transfers pending responsible agency approval and a public forum to exchange information on water market issues.

The act would require the department, the state board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to develop protocols for data sharing, documentation, quality control, public access, and promotion of open source platforms and decision support tools related to water data. The act would specify that a recipient of state funds for research or projects relating to the improvement of water data shall adhere to those protocols or be ineligible for state funding. The act would impose various other duties on the department, state board, and Department of Fish and Wildlife related to the improvement of water data, including submitting reports to the Legislature on the protocols the agencies develop and on the feasibility of creating a better surface water and groundwater monitoring network.

The act would create the Water Information System Administration Fund. The act would specify that moneys in the fund would be available, upon appropriation, to the department for the improvement of water data and for the purposes of the act.

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.  

Part 4.9 (commencing with Section 12400) is
added to Division 6 of the Water Code, to read:

 

PART 4.9.  The Open and Transparent Water Data
Act

 

Chapter  1. General Provisions

 

12400.  

This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the Open
and Transparent Water Data Act.

12401.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The recent drought reveals that California needs a real-time,
accessible statewide water information accounting system to help
water managers operate California’s water system more effectively
and help water users make informed decisions based on water
availability and allocation.

(b) California has a number of databases containing information
on hydrology, biology, water quality, the physical environment,
and water rights and use. The passage of the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (Part 2.74 (commencing with
Section 10720)) will result in more data on groundwater use and
availability. Unfortunately, current water data is often challenging
to obtain, outdated, and not always readily available to water
managers and the public due to its collection by numerous entities
and storage in disparate databases that often rely on tools that do
not keep pace with technological advances.

(c) The ability to measure stream flow is hampered for some
streams that lack gauges.

(d) The need to account for California’s water is essential, yet
water managers must make decisions about water resources while
relying on outdated and incomplete information. A greater
understanding of and ability to access existing water data will
support more timely and science-based decisions related to water
planning, water allocations, water transfers, and water use
efficiency that will lead California to a more sustainable water
future.

(e) On October 2, 2015, the Delta Stewardship Council released
a white paper entitled “Enhancing the Vision for Managing
California’s Environmental Information.” The white paper and the
Environmental Data Summit were a collaborative effort of the
Delta Stewardship Council and its Delta Science Program, the
Department of Water Resources, the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta Conservancy, the State Water Resources Control Board, the
Department of Fish and Wildlife, the San Francisco Estuary
Institute, the State and Federal Contractors Water Agency, and 34
North. The white paper recommended four necessary actions to
achieve the goal of streamlining the collaboration of huge amounts
of environmental data between various state and federal agencies
and identified the need for new policies for managing California’s
large amounts of data: development of a system where data could
be accessed from a centralized source, implementing new methods
for clear documentation of existing data, and developing business
models that will better facilitate the management of data.

(f) The California Water Plan Update 2013, Volume 1, Chapter
6 entitled “Integrated Data and Analysis: Informed and Transparent
Decision-Making” describes key actions needed to improve water
resources information and analysis for integrated water
management and urges agencies that collect data to work together
to prioritize and align water resources information that is collected
by multiple agencies.

(g) The California Water Action Plan recognizes the need to
take bold action to transfer the state’s water management system
to face the challenges of the 21st century. Climate change,
population growth, and vulnerable ecosystems create greater
uncertainty in future water availability. To address these challenges
California needs to do both of the following:

(1) Invest in a 21st century water management system that can
adapt to wide variations in rainfall.

(2) Safeguard and restore California’s freshwater ecosystems
so they can withstand variations in climate and competing demands
for water.

(h) Standards for transparent access to data have changed with
the public demanding real-time information on demand. However,
the demand for available data currently outstrips the ability to
deliver information to water managers and the public.

(i) Clear data standards and protocols help to promote
compatibility among datasets, allowing for sharing, aggregation,
and analysis by multiple groups.

(j) Metadata summarizes basic information about data, which
can make finding and working with particular data easier. Clear
documentation of metadata avoids misunderstandings, reduces
disputes, and increases the effectiveness of management decisions.

(k) Water data and research that is gathered using state funds
should be made publicly accessible. State delegation of data
management to contractors should not result in the public losing
access to its own information.

(l) The availability of cheap and open-source tools could help
produce an online water transfer information clearinghouse without
the need to create an expensive new centralized database.

(m) An effective water market is one of several water
management tools needed to improve the state’s water supply
reliability.

12402.  

Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this part:

(a) “Clearinghouse” means the online water transfer information
clearinghouse created pursuant to Section 12415.

(b) “Department” means the Department of Water Resources.

(c) “Metadata” means data that describes data.

(d) “NGO” means a nongovernmental organization.

(e) “State board” means the State Water Resources Control
Board.

(f) “Water information system” means the statewide water
information accounting system created pursuant to Section 12410.

 

Chapter  2. Public Benefit Corporation Participation

 

Article 1.  General Provisions

 

12405.  

(a) The department shall establish a public benefit
corporation to house, manage, and oversee the statewide water
information accounting system created pursuant to Section 12410
and the online water transfer information clearinghouse created
pursuant to Section 12415.

(b) The public benefit corporation may, notwithstanding any
other law and not subject to otherwise applicable provisions of the
Government Code and Public Contract Code, operate the water
information system and the clearinghouse on its own, through a
third party, or by engaging the services of private consultants,
educational institutions, and NGOs to render professional and
technical assistance with and advice for carrying out creation and
management activities.

(c) To the extent permitted by federal law, the public benefit
corporation may receive gifts, grants, or donations of moneys from
any agency of the federal government, any agency of the state, or
any municipality, county, or other political subdivision thereof, or
from any individual, association, foundation, or corporation for
achieving any of the purposes of this part. These moneys shall be
deposited in the Water Information System Administration Fund
created pursuant to Section 12425.

 

Article 2.  Statewide Water Information Accounting System

 

12410.  

(a) The public benefit corporation established pursuant
to Section 12405 shall establish a statewide water information
accounting system to improve the ability of the state to meet the
growing demand for water supply reliability and healthy
ecosystems. The public benefit corporation shall create the water
information accounting system in collaboration with state and
federal agencies, water data users, and water experts.

(b) The water information accounting system shall, at a
minimum, do all of the following:

(1) Integrate existing water data information from multiple
autonomous databases managed by federal, state, and local agencies
and academia using consistent and standardized formats.

(2) Integrate, at a minimum, the following datasets:

(A) The department’s information on State Water Project
reservoir operations, groundwater use, and groundwater levels
through California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring
(CASGEM), urban water use, and land use.

(B) The state board’s data on water rights, water diversions,
and water quality through California Environmental Data Exchange
Network (CEDEN).

(C) The Department of Fish and Wildlife’s information on fish
abundance and distribution.

(D) The United States Geological Survey’s stream flow
conditions information through the National Water Information
System.

(E) The United States Bureau of Reclamation’s federal Central
Valley Project operations information.

(F) The United States Fish and Wildlife’s, United States Forest
Service’s, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Fisheries’ fish abundance information.

(3) Incorporate clear and careful documentation of data quality
and data formats through metadata.

(4) Adhere to data protocols developed by state agencies
pursuant to Section 12420.

(5) Be able to receive both spatial and time series data from
various sources.

(6) Enable custom dashboards, visualizations, graphing, and
analysis.

 

Article 3.  Online Water Transfer Information Clearinghouse

 

12415.  

The public benefit corporation established pursuant to
Section 12405 shall establish an online water transfer information
clearinghouse for water transfer information that shall include all
the following:

(a) A database of historic water transfers and transfers pending
responsible agency approval.

(b) A public forum to exchange information on water market
issues.

(c) Information to assist proponents with responsible agency
approval water transfer processes.

 

Chapter  3. State Agency Responsibilities

 

12420.  

(a) The department, the state board, and the Department
of Fish and Wildlife shall develop an open, transparent process to
develop protocols for data sharing, documentation, quality control,
public access, and promotion of open source platforms and decision
support tools related to water data. The agencies shall develop and
submit to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the
Government Code and before the establishment of a statewide
water information accounting system pursuant to Section 12410,
a report describing these processes and protocols.

(b) Grant recipients for research or projects relating to the
improvement of water data that receive state funds shall adhere to
the protocols developed by state agencies pursuant to subdivision
(a) for data sharing, transparency, documentation, and quality
control.

(c) A researcher or grant recipient that does not comply with
subdivision (b) is not eligible for state funding until the researcher
or grant recipient complies with those requirements.

12421.  

(a) The department, the state board, and the Department
of Fish and Wildlife shall, by ____, prepare and submit to the
Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
Code a report that identifies priority basins and subbasins that need
additional surface water or groundwater monitoring sites, evaluates
the feasibility of creating a better surface water and groundwater
monitoring network, and estimates the cost of and provides options
for funding the water information system.

(b) The department shall develop both of the following:

(1) A consistent method for estimating groundwater budgets.

(2) A system for forecasting water supply availability and
subbasin flows during wet, average, and dry periods.

12422.  

The state board shall do all of the following:

(a) Develop a consistent and documented approach for
estimating wet, average, and dry year water availability based on
existing water use data collected from all surface water right
holders that are required to file statements of diversion and use,
including riparian and pre-1914 appropriative rights, and, where
available, groundwater use information.

(b) (1) Require surface water right holders to electronically
report return flow quantities and develop criteria for the reporting
frequency that is required for different water rights holders.

(2) The state board may adopt a policy that requires more
frequent monitoring and reporting from water right holders with
water rights that are more likely to affect water availability than
others.

(c) (1) Set and make public other water allocation priorities
and quantities for wet, average, and dry periods for the environment
and public health and safety.

(2)  Categories of environmental flows shall include all of the
following:

(A) Biological opinions pursuant to the federal Endangered
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.).

(B) Federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.) flows
for water quality.

(C) Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. Sec. 703 et
seq.) requirements for wetlands.

(D) Section 5937 of the Fish and Game Code, which requires
fish flows downstream of dams.

12423.  

The Department of Fish and Wildlife shall share fish
and stream habitat data for inclusion in the water information
accounting system established by Section 12410.

 

Chapter  4. Water Information System Administration
Fund

 

12425.  

The Water Information System Administration Fund
is hereby created. All moneys in the fund are available, upon
appropriation, to the department for the improvement of water
data, including installing stream gauges and maintaining stream
gauge networks, and for the purposes of this part, including, but
not limited to, maintaining surface water and groundwater
monitoring networks, establishing and operating the public benefit
corporation created pursuant to Section 12405, maintaining and
updating the statewide water information accounting system and
online water transfer information clearinghouse, including the cost
to verify data, and modernizing water information databases.