BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 758 (Block) - Atmospheric Rivers Research and Mitigation
Program.
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|Version: April 30, 2015 |Policy Vote: N.R. & W. 8 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 11, 2015 |Consultant: Marie Liu |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 785 would require the Department of Water Resources
(DWR) to research the cause and effects of atmospheric rivers
and to take all actions to capture water generated by
atmospheric rivers.
Fiscal
Impact:
One-time costs of $2.5 million from the General Fund to DWR to
expand its extreme precipitation network.
Ongoing costs of $1.25 million from the General Fund to DWR to
operate and analyze the expanded extreme precipitation
network.
One-time costs of $500,000 from the General Fund to DWR for a
study to improve predictability of the formation and strength
of atmospheric rivers.
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Background: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), atmospheric rivers are relatively narrow
regions in the atmosphere that are responsible for most of the
horizontal transport of water vapor outside of the tropics. On
the west coast, 30-50% of the annual precipitation on average
comes from a few atmospheric river events.
Under existing law, DWR is responsible for managing the state's
water resources. Within DWR is the Hydrology and Flood
Operations Office that is responsible for directing DWR's flood
and water supply forecasting operations, hydrology and
climatology studies, emergency flood operations, and flood
control project inspections and encroachment permitting.
Proposed Law:
This bill would establish the Atmospheric Rivers and Research
and Mitigation Program. Under this program, DWR would be
required to study the causes and effects of atmospheric rivers.
DWR would also be required to take actions, including through
reservoir management, to increase water supply and reliability
of water resources by capturing water generated by atmospheric
rivers.
This bill would also create the Atmospheric Rivers Research and
Mitigation Fund in the State Treasury to fund this program.
Staff
Comments: DWR currently has invested into research regarding
atmospheric rivers including an extreme precipitation monitoring
network and improving forecasting of extreme precipitation.
According to DWR, this bill would necessitate an expansion of
these efforts to include items such as monitoring for flood
producing conditions, monitoring and forecasting reservoir and
river levels, and providing extreme hydrologic condition
response conditions for the state.
To accomplish this additional work, DWR would be required to
continue its extreme precipitation monitoring network. Currently
the network is being funded by the NOAA Office of Atmospheric
Research through 2019. However, according to DWR, if this
network becomes an operational network rather than a research
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network, federal funds may end before 2019. The network
currently costs $750,000 annually to operate.
To accomplish this bill, DWR would need to expand the existing
network at a one-time cost of $2.5 million for additional
sensors. The expanded network would also require an additional
$500,000 in annual operation costs, for a total of $1.25 million
in ongoing costs.
DWR would also anticipate needing an additional $500,000 in
one-time funding to study the formation zones of atmospheric
rivers to improve the predictability of this phenomenon.
This bill would create a new special fund in the State Treasury
but does not specific a funding source. Staff notes that
establishing a new account increases administrative costs. While
these costs are likely minor, it is unclear why a special fund
would be necessary in order to fund this program. Staff
recommends the author delete the creation of the special fund.
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