BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 758 Page 1 Date of Hearing: July 14, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE Marc Levine, Chair SB 758 (Block) - As Amended June 2, 2015 SENATE VOTE: 38-0 SUBJECT: Atmospheric Rivers Research and Mitigation Program. SUMMARY: Establishes the Atmospheric Rivers program at the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to research, contingent on appropriation of special fund monies, the causes and effects of atmospheric rivers in order to increase California's water supply and water reliability and improve flood control. EXISTING LAW: 1)Requires DWR to plan for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and utilization of the resources of the State through the California Water Plan. 2)Requires, as part of the California Water Plan, that DWR study the amount of water needed to meet the state's future needs and recommend programs, policies, and facilities to meet those SB 758 Page 2 needs. 3)Establishes within DWR the Hydrology and Flood Operations Office, which 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. The Flood Operations Office also includes the California State Climatologist. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: 1)One-time costs of $2.5 million to unspecified special funds and private funds to DWR to expand its extreme precipitation network. 2)Ongoing costs of $1.25 million to unspecified special funds and private funds to operate and analyze the expanded extreme precipitation network. 3)One-time costs of $500,000 to unspecified special funds and private funds to DWR for a study to improve predictability of the formation and strength of atmospheric rivers. COMMENTS: This bill would, if special funds can be identified, establish an Atmospheric Rivers (AR) program at DWR in order to study the newly-recognized phenomenon that storm-driven water vapor can concentrate in the atmosphere in relative narrow bands and that understanding and predicting the behavior of these "rivers" and their subsequent rainfall can lead to better water supply management, including reservoir operations. SB 758 Page 3 1)Author's statement: The author states that California has the most variable annual precipitation of any state in the U.S., ranging from severe drought to major floods. The author adds that better forecasting of ARs has the potential to enable new levels of both water supply and flood protection through the use of "Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations" (FIRO). The author states that due to California's continued drought, now is the time for this critical research to ensure California accurately forecasts ARs and has the information needed to impact water management decisions. 2)Background: As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) Earth System Research Laboratory explains, better satellite imagery has enabled us to document that storm-associated winds can draw together water vapor into distinct long narrow bands that travel through the atmosphere like a river. One such event, documented by researchers in 2006, concluded that an AR produced roughly 10 inches of rain in 2 days and caused a flood on the Russian River in northern California. NOAA advises that it "is now recognized that the well-known 'Pineapple express' storms (a term that was used on the U.S. West Coast for many years) correspond to a subset of ARs, i.e. those that have a connection to the tropics near Hawaii. In some of the most extreme ARs, the water vapor transport is enhanced by the fact that they entrain (draw in) water vapor directly from the tropics." NOAA concludes that the "community of flood control, water supply and reservoir operators of the West Coast states see ARs as a key phenomenon to understand, monitor and predict as they work to mitigate the risk of major flood events, while maintaining adequate water supply" and that "better coupling of climate forecasts with seasonal weather forecasts of ARs can improve water management decisions." SB 758 Page 4 3)Prior legislation: AB 140 (Nunez), the Disaster Preparedness and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2006 passed the November 2006 general election as Proposition 1E and made $4.09 billion dollars available for flood protection improvements. The ballot pamphlet argument in favor of Prop. 1E recognized the "tragic lesson from Hurricane Katrina" and stated that a "catastrophic flood would impact the entire state and disrupt the supply of clean drinking water to major cities." 4)Supporting arguments: Supporters state that "only in recent years have scientists come to recognize that between 30 and 50% of annual precipitation in California and more than 90% of the major floods come from a very small number of storms each year generated by a well-documented condition known as an 'Atmospheric River.'" Supporters advise that this bill "lays out the foundation for developing a program to analyze and accurately predict precipitation from these atmospheric river events." Supporters add that "California experiences, on average, $300 million per year in flood damages and billions of dollars in economic and societal disruption during drought events. Implementation of [this bill] would lead to more accurate and quantitative prediction of precipitation form atmospheric rivers enabling reservoir operators to safely store additional water for use in drought periods." 5)Opposing arguments: None on file. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support SB 758 Page 5 Bay Area Flood Protection Agencies Association Orange County Water District San Diego County Water Authority Santa Clara Valley Water District Sonoma County Water Agency Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by:Tina Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096 SB 758 Page 6