Senate Bill No. 1168

Introduced by Senator Pavley

February 20, 2014

An act to amend Sections 10752 and 10753.7 of the Water Code, relating to groundwater.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1168, as introduced, Pavley. Groundwater management plans.

Existing law authorizes local agencies, as defined, to adopt and implement a groundwater management plan. Existing law requires a groundwater management plan to contain specified components and requires a local agency seeking state funds administered by the Department of Water Resources for groundwater projects or groundwater quality projects to do certain things, including, but not limited to, prepare and implement a groundwater management plan that includes basin management objectives for the groundwater basin.

This bill also would require a local agency to determine sustainable yield for a groundwater basin in coordination with other applicable local agencies whose service areas overlie the groundwater basin.

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.  

(a) Groundwater is a crucial component of
California’s water supply and a primary water supply for many
areas in times of drought. In an average water year, groundwater
provides approximately 30 percent of California’s agricultural and
urban supply but during times of drought, groundwater provides
40 percent or more. Groundwater is one of the best drought
management tools providing the backup supply for many regions
of the state when surface supplies in our rivers and reservoirs are
depleted.

(b) In many areas of the state, the heavy reliance on groundwater
has resulted in its overuse. In aggregate, more groundwater has
been pumped and used each year than has been replenished,
resulting in groundwater overdraft in many areas. Groundwater
overdraft is known to cause numerous impacts including, but not
limited to, reduced drinking water quality, reduced surface water
flows that affect fish and downstream users, increased costs of
groundwater pumping and drilling, reduced future water storage
potential, and land subsidence which in turn threatens the integrity
of levees, wells, roads, and other critical infrastructure.

(c) It is in the best interest of the state that groundwater be
managed sustainably to protect California’s drought resilience,
public health, economic vitality, agricultural production, and
natural heritage.

(d) While many local agencies have improved groundwater
management in their regions by exercising existing authorities,
significant groundwater overdraft and impacts continue.

(e) Local agencies need additional legal authority to protect
groundwater supplies and the environment in times of drought,
and to ensure a healthy future for California’s farms and
communities.

SEC. 2.  

Section 10752 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10752.  

Unless the context otherwise requires, the following
definitions govern the construction of this part:

(a) “Groundwater” means all water beneath the surface of the
earth within the zone below the water table in which the soil is
completely saturated with water, but does not include water that
flows in known and definite channels.

(b) “Groundwater basin” means any basin or subbasin identified
in the department’s Bulletin No. 118, dated September 1975, and
any amendments to that bulletin, but does not include a basin in
which the average well yield, excluding domestic wells that supply
water to a single-unit dwelling, is less than 100 gallons per minute.

(c) “Groundwater extraction facility” means a device or method
for the extraction of groundwater within a groundwater basin.

(d) “Groundwater management plan” or “plan” means a
document that describes the activities intended to be included in
a groundwater management program.

(e) “Groundwater management program” or “program” means
a coordinated and ongoing activity undertaken for the benefit of
a groundwater basin, or a portion of a groundwater basin, pursuant
to a groundwater management plan adopted pursuant to this part.

(f) “Groundwater recharge” means the augmentation of
groundwater, by natural or artificial means, with surface water or
recycled water.

(g) “Local agency” means a local public agency that provides
water service to all or a portion of its service area, and includes a
joint powers authority formed by local public agencies that provide
water service.

begin insert

(h) “Overdraft” means the condition of the groundwater basin
where the average annual amount of water extracted exceeds the
average annual supply of water to groundwater.

end insert begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert i) end insert  “Person” has the same meaning as defined in Section 19.

begin delete

(i)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert j) end insert  “Recharge area” means the area that supplies water to an
aquifer in a groundwater basin and includes multiple wellhead
protection areas.

begin insert

(k) “Sustainable yield” means the average annual quantity of
groundwater that can be withdrawn over a specified planning
timeframe from a groundwater basin without resulting in or
aggravating conditions of overdraft, subsidence, ecosystem
degradation, streamflow depletion, or groundwater quality
degradation.

end insert begin delete

(j)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert l) end insert  “Watermaster” means a watermaster appointed by a court
or pursuant to other provisions of law.

begin delete

(k)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert m) end insert  “Wellhead protection area” means the surface and
subsurface area surrounding a water well or well field that supplies
a public water system through which contaminants are reasonably
likely to migrate toward the water well or well field.

SEC. 3.  

Section 10753.7 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10753.7.  

(a) For the purposes of qualifying as a groundwater
management plan under this section, a plan shall contain the
components that are set forth in this section. In addition to the
requirements of a specific funding program, a local agency seeking
state funds administered by the department for groundwater
projects or groundwater quality projects, including projects that
are part of an integrated regional water management program or
plan, and excluding programs that are funded under Part 2.78
(commencing with Section 10795), shall do all of the following:

(1) Prepare and implement a groundwater management plan
that includes basin management objectives for the groundwater
basin that is subject to the plan. The plan shall include components
relating to the monitoring and management of groundwater levels
within the groundwater basin, groundwater quality degradation,
inelastic land surface subsidence, changes in surface flow and
surface water quality that directly affect groundwater levels or
quality or are caused by groundwater pumping in the basin, and a
description of how recharge areas identified in the plan
substantially contribute to the replenishment of the groundwater
basin.

(2) For purposes of implementing paragraph (1), the local agency
shall prepare a plan to involve other agencies that enables the local
agency to work cooperatively with other public entities whose
service area or boundary overlies the groundwater basin.

(3) For purposes of implementing paragraph (1), the local agency
shall prepare a map that details the area of the groundwater basin,
as defined in the department’s Bulletin No. 118, and the area of
the local agency, that will be subject to the plan, as well as the
boundaries of other local agencies that overlie the basin in which
the agency is developing a groundwater management plan.

begin insert

(4) For the purposes of increasing the general understanding
of regional groundwater supplies, avoiding impacts due to
groundwater overdraft, improving drought preparedness, and
implementing paragraph (1), the local agency shall determine the
sustainable yield for the groundwater basin. The local agency
shall determine sustainable yield for a groundwater basin in
coordination with other applicable local agencies whose service
areas overlie the groundwater basin.

end insert begin delete

(4)

end delete

begin insert (5) end insert  (A) Commencing January 1, 2013, for purposes of
implementing paragraph (1), the groundwater management plan
shall include a map identifying the recharge areas for the
groundwater basin.

(B) The local agency shall provide the map required pursuant
to subparagraph (A) to the appropriate local planning agencies
after adoption of the groundwater management plan.

(C) Upon submitting a map pursuant to subparagraph (B), the
local agency shall notify the department and all persons on the list
established and maintained pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
10753.4.

(D) For purposes of this paragraph, “map identifying the
recharge areas” means a map that identifies, or maps that identify,
the current recharge areas that substantially contribute to the
replenishment of the groundwater basin.

begin delete

(5)

end delete

begin insert (6) end insert  The local agency shall adopt monitoring protocols that are
designed to detect changes in groundwater levels, groundwater
quality, inelastic surface subsidence for basins for which
subsidence has been identified as a potential problem, and flow
and quality of surface water that directly affect groundwater levels
or quality or are caused by groundwater pumping in the basin. The
monitoring protocols shall be designed to generate information
that promotes efficient and effective groundwater management.

begin delete

(6)

end delete

begin insert (7) end insert  Local agencies that are located in areas outside the
groundwater basins delineated on the latest edition of the
department’s groundwater basin and subbasin map shall prepare
groundwater management plans incorporating the components in
this subdivision, and shall use geologic and hydrologic principles
appropriate to those areas.

(b) (1) (A) A local agency may receive state funds administered
by the department for groundwater projects or for other projects
that directly affect groundwater levels or quality if it prepares and
implements, participates in, or consents to be subject to, a
groundwater management plan, a basinwide management plan, or
other integrated regional water management program or plan that
meets, or is in the process of meeting, the requirements of
subdivision (a). A local agency with an existing groundwater
management plan that meets the requirements of subdivision (a),
or a local agency that completes an update of its plan to meet the
requirements of subdivision (a) within one year of applying for
funds, shall be given priority consideration for state funds
administered by the department over local agencies that are in the
process of developing a groundwater management plan. The
department shall withhold funds from the project until the update
of the groundwater management plan is complete.

(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a local agency that
manages groundwater under any other provision of existing law
that meets the requirements of subdivision (a), or that completes
an update of its plan to meet the requirements of subdivision (a)
within one year of applying for funding, shall be eligible for
funding administered by the department. The department shall
withhold funds from a project until the update of the groundwater
management plan is complete.

(C) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), a local agency that
conforms to the requirements of an adjudication of water rights in
the groundwater basin is in compliance with subdivision (a). For
purposes of this subparagraph, an “adjudication” includes an
adjudication under Section 2101, an administrative adjudication,
and an adjudication in state or federal court.

(D) Subparagraphs (A) and (B) do not apply to proposals for
funding under Part 2.78 (commencing with Section 10795), or to
funds authorized or appropriated prior to September 1, 2002.

(E) A local agency may request state funds to map groundwater
recharge areas pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) to the
extent that the request for state funds is consistent with eligibility
requirements that are applicable to the use of the requested funds.

(2) Upon the adoption of a groundwater management plan in
accordance with this part, the local agency shall submit a copy of
the plan to the department, in an electronic format, if practicable,
approved by the department. The department shall make available
to the public copies of the plan received pursuant to this part.