California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2357

Introduced by Assembly Member Dahle

February 18, 2016

An act to amend Section 1840 of the Water Code, relating to water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2357, as introduced, Dahle. Water rights: measurement of diversion.

Existing law requires a person who diverts 10 acre-feet of water per year or more under a permit or license to install and maintain a device or employ a method capable of measuring the rate of direct diversion, rate of collection to storage, and rate of withdrawal or release from storage, as specified, and with certain exceptions.

This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision.

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 1840 of the Water Code is amended to
read:

1840.  

(a) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (b), a person
who, on or after January 1, 2016, diverts 10 acre-feet of water per
year or more under a permit or license shall install and maintain
a device or employ a method capable of measuring the rate of
direct diversion, rate of collection to storage, and rate of withdrawal
or release from storage. The measurements shall be made using
the best available technologies and best professional practices, as
defined in Section 5100, using a device or methods satisfactory to
the board, as follows:

(A) A device shall be capable of continuous monitoring of the
rate and quantity of water diverted and shall be properly
maintained. The permittee or licensee shall provide the board with
evidence that the device has been installed with the first report
submitted after installation of the device. The permittee or licensee
shall provide the board with evidence demonstrating that the device
is functioning properly as part of the reports submitted at five-year
intervals after the report documenting installation of the device,
or upon request of the board.

(B) In developing regulations pursuant to Section 1841, the
board shall consider devices and methods that provide accurate
measurement of the total amount diverted and the rate of diversion.
The board shall consider devices and methods that provide accurate
measurements within an acceptable range of error, including the
following:

(i) Electricity records dedicated to a pump and recent pump test.

(ii) Staff gage calibrated with an acceptable streamflow rating
curve.

(iii) Staff gage calibrated for a flume or weir.

(iv) Staff gage calibrated with an acceptable storage capacity
curve.

(v) Pressure transducer and acceptable storage capacity curve.

(2) The permittee or licensee shall maintain a record of all
diversion monitoring that includes the date, time, and diversion
rate at time intervals of one hour or less, and the total amount of
water diverted. These records shall be included with reports
submitted under the permit or license, as required under subdivision
(c), or upon request of the board.

(b) (1) The board may modify the requirements of subdivision
(a) upon finding either of the following:

(A) That strict compliance is infeasible, is unreasonably
expensive, would unreasonably affect public trust uses, or would
result in the waste or unreasonable use of water.

(B) That the need for monitoring and reporting is adequately
addressed by other conditions of the permit or license.

(2) The board may increase the 10-acre-foot reporting threshold
of subdivision (a) in a watershed or subwatershed, after considering
the diversion reporting threshold in relation to quantity of water
within the watershed or subwatershed. The board may increase
the 10-acre-foot reporting threshold to 25 acre-feet or begin delete above end delete begin insert more end insert
if it finds that the benefits of the additional information within the
watershed or subwatershed are substantially outweighed by the
cost of installing measuring devices or employing methods for
measurement for diversions at the 10-acre-foot threshold.

(c) At least annually, a person who diverts water under a
registration, permit, or license shall report to the board the
following information:

(1) The quantity of water diverted by month.

(2) The maximum rate of diversion by months in the preceding
calendar year.

(3) The information required by subdivision (a), if applicable.

(d) Compliance with the applicable requirements of this section
is a condition of every registration, permit, or license.