BILL NUMBER: SB 228	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Cannella

                        FEBRUARY 13, 2015

   An act to amend Section 1242 of the Water Code, relating to water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 228, as introduced, Cannella. Groundwater storage: beneficial
use.
   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 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 declare that the recharging of a groundwater basin
by a local groundwater management agency or a local groundwater
sustainability agency for the purposes of repelling saline intrusion
and recovering basin groundwater levels constitutes a beneficial use
of water if the recharge is consistent with the local agency's
groundwater management plan or groundwater sustainability plan.
   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 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 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. 
   (b) The recharging of a groundwater basin by a local groundwater
management agency or a local groundwater sustainability agency for
the purposes of repelling saline intrusion and recovering basin
groundwater levels, including the diversion of streams, the flowing
of water on lands, or other similar means necessary for the
accomplishment of groundwater recharge for these purposes,
constitutes a beneficial use of water if the local agency has
determined that the recharge is consistent with the local agency's
groundwater management plan or groundwater sustainability plan
adopted pursuant to Part 2.75 (commencing with Section 10750) or Part
2.74 (commencing with Section 10720) of Division 6, respectively.