BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 758 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 758 (Block) As Amended August 17, 2015 Majority vote SENATE VOTE: 38-0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Water |12-0 |Levine, Dahle, Dodd, | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Beth Gaines, Cristina | | | | |Garcia, Gomez, | | | | |Harper, Lopez, | | | | |Mathis, Rendon, | | | | |Salas, Williams | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bloom, Bonta, | | | | |Calderon, Chang, | | | | |Nazarian, Eggman, | | | | |Gallagher, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Holden, | | | | |Jones, Quirk, Rendon, | | SB 758 Page 2 | | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: Establishes the Atmospheric Rivers: Research, Mitigation and Climate Forecasting Program (AR Program) at the Department of Water Resources (DWR) in order to, contingent on appropriation of special fund monies, conduct research relating to climate forecasting and the causes and impacts that climate change has on atmospheric rivers (ARs). Directs DWR to take all actions within its existing authority to operate reservoirs in a manner that improves flood control and increases water supply, hydropower, and water reliability. 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 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. SB 758 Page 3 FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill creates the following special fund or private fund cost pressures: 1)Approximately $3.5 million for additional sensors to help monitor the formation of the Sierra Barrier Jet and the dynamics of moisture flow up the Central Valley and into the Burney Gap (includes operation and maintenance costs of $500,000 per year). 2)Approximately $750,000 per year to continue operations of the expanded extreme precipitation network. 3)Approximately $500,000 to improve predictability of the formation and strength of ARs. COMMENTS: This bill would, if special funds can be identified, establish an 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 so-called rivers and their subsequent rainfall can lead to better water supply management, including reservoir operations. 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 two 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 United States West Coast for many years) SB 758 Page 4 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. According to NOAA, the community of flood control, water supply and reservoir operators on the West Coast see understanding, monitoring, and predicting ARs as key to mitigating the risk of major flood events, while maintaining adequate water supply. The author states that California has the most variable annual precipitation of any state in the United States, 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. Other 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 known as ARs. Supporters advise that this bill lays out the foundation for developing a program to analyze and accurately predict precipitation from these AR 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. Supporters maintain that implementation of this bill would lead to more accurate and quantitative prediction of precipitation from ARs, thus enabling reservoir operators to safely store additional water for use in drought periods. There is no known opposition to this bill. SB 758 Page 5 Analysis Prepared by: Tina Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096 FN: 0001678