CHAPTER 1. The California Water Plan [10004 - 10013]
( Chapter 1 heading added by Stats. 2007, Ch. 319, Sec. 2. )
(a) The plan for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and utilization of the water resources of the state which is set forth and described in Bulletin No. 1 of the State Water Resources Control Board entitled “Water Resources of California,” Bulletin No. 2 of the State Water Resources Control Board entitled, “Water Utilization and Requirements of California,” and Bulletin No. 3 of the department entitled, “The California Water Plan,” with any necessary amendments, supplements, and additions to the plan, shall be known as “The California Water Plan.”
(b) (1) The department shall update The
California Water Plan on or before December 31, 2003, and every five years thereafter. The department shall report the amendments, supplements, and additions included in the updates of The California Water Plan, together with a summary of the department’s conclusions and recommendations, to the Legislature in the session in which the updated plan is issued.
(2) (A) The department shall establish an advisory committee, comprised of representatives of agricultural and urban water suppliers, local government, business, production agriculture, and environmental interests, and other interested parties, to assist the department in the updating of The California Water Plan. The department shall consult with the advisory committee in carrying out this section. The department shall provide written notice of meetings of
the advisory committee to any interested person or entity that request the notice. The meetings shall be open to the public.
(B) The department may add members to the advisory committee to carry out the purposes of Section 10004.7. Additional advisory committee members may include those from environmental justice sectors, local water supply agencies, and researchers and experts on climate science, climate
science solutions, water storage, water conveyance, and environmental protection.
(3) The department shall release a preliminary draft of The California Water Plan, as updated, upon request, to interested persons and entities throughout the state for their review and comments. The department shall provide these persons and entities an opportunity to present written or oral comments on the preliminary draft. The department shall consider these comments in the preparation of the final publication of The California Water Plan, as updated.
(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 624, Sec. 2. (SB 659) Effective January 1, 2024.)
As part of the requirement of the department to update The California Water Plan pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10004, the department shall include in the plan a discussion of various strategies, including, but not limited to, those relating to the development of new water storage facilities, water conservation, water recycling, desalination, conjunctive use, and water transfers that may be pursued in order to meet the future water needs of the state. The department shall also include a discussion of the potential for alternative water pricing policies to change current and projected uses. The department shall include in the plan a discussion of the potential advantages and disadvantages of each strategy and an identification of all federal and state permits, approvals, or entitlements that are anticipated to be required in order to implement the various components of the strategy.
(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 720, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2001.)
(a) As part of updating The California Water Plan every five years pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10004, the department shall conduct a study to determine the amount of water needed to meet the state’s future needs and to recommend programs, policies, and facilities to meet those needs.
(b) The department shall consult with the advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10004 in carrying out this section.
(c) On or before January 1, 2002, and one year prior to issuing each successive update to The California Water Plan, the department shall release a preliminary draft of the assumptions and other estimates upon which the study will be based, to interested persons and entities throughout the state for their review and comments. The department shall provide these persons and entities an opportunity to present written or oral comments on the preliminary draft. The department shall consider these documents when adopting the final assumptions and estimates for the study. For the purpose of carrying out this subdivision, the department shall release, at a minimum, assumptions and other estimates relating to all of the following:
(1) Basin hydrology, including annual rainfall, estimated unimpaired streamflow, depletions, and consumptive uses.
(2) Groundwater supplies, including estimates of sustainable yield, supplies necessary to recover overdraft basins, and supplies lost due to pollution and other groundwater contaminants.
(3) Current and projected land use patterns, including the mix of residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and undeveloped lands.
(4) Environmental water needs, including regulatory instream flow requirements, nonregulated instream uses, and water needs by wetlands, preserves, refuges, and other managed and unmanaged natural resource lands.
(5) Current and projected population.
(6) Current and projected water use for all of the following:
(A) Interior uses in a single-family dwelling.
(B) Exterior uses in a single-family dwelling.
(C) All uses in a multifamily dwelling.
(D) Commercial uses.
(E) Industrial uses.
(F) Parks and open spaces.
(G) Agricultural water diversion and use.
(7) Evapotranspiration rates for major crop types, including estimates of evaporative losses by irrigation practice and the extent to which evaporation reduces transpiration.
(8) Current and projected adoption of urban and agricultural conservation practices.
(9) Current and projected supplies of water provided by water recycling and reuse.
(d) The department shall include a discussion of the potential for alternative water pricing policies to change current and projected water uses identified pursuant to paragraph (6) of subdivision (c).
(e) Nothing in this section requires or prohibits the department from updating any data necessary to update The California Water Plan pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10004.
(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 675, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2008.)
(a) (1) The department, as part of the 2028 update, and each subsequent update thereafter, to The California Water Plan required pursuant to Section 10004, shall utilize its expertise in sustainable groundwater management to provide actionable recommendations
to develop additional groundwater recharge opportunities that increase the recharge of the state’s groundwater basins without reducing the amount of water available for environmental purposes or any other purpose allowed under state law.
(2) The department shall consult with the state board, the nine regional water quality control boards, and the advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10004 in carrying out this section.
(3) The recommendations shall identify immediate opportunities and potential long-term solutions to increase the state’s groundwater supply, with a priority on multibenefit projects.
The recommendations shall include all of the following:
(A) An estimate of the volume of recharge that could potentially be realized by the enactment of the recommendations.
(B) A discussion of the variability of the quantities of water potentially available for recharge given varying hydrogeologic environments.
(C) An identification of the legal and regulatory requirements for recharge projects.
(D) A discussion of the possible financial or regulatory incentives that could support the development of recharge projects.
(E) An identification of locations and a
description of how groundwater recharge at those locations can protect access to safe drinking water and provide water quality benefits.
(F) An identification of best practices to advance all benefits of groundwater recharge, including, but not limited to:
(i) Analysis regarding where groundwater recharge will be effective and protective of access to safe drinking water consistent with Section 106.3.
(ii) Mapping that identifies areas where recharge is unlikely to degrade groundwater quality based on consideration of the quality and composition of the source water, the qualities of the soil upon which recharge will occur, and the proximity to drinking water wells.
(4) The department
shall, to the extent feasible, evaluate the
potential economic and noneconomic costs and benefits of implementing the
recommendations.
(b) Nothing in this section shall do any of the following:
(1) Limit or reduce the existing surface storage of water.
(2) Affect or change any water right.
(3) Prioritize any one use of water over another use, define what is to be considered a beneficial use of water, or in any way influence how the increased supply of groundwater under this part shall be used.
(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “Groundwater recharge” means
a process where water moves down from the ground surface or the bottom of a waterway and infiltrates an underlying aquifer. Groundwater recharge
actions include increasing the amount of raw, treated, or recycled water in the groundwater basins through human-controlled means, including, but not limited to, use of aquifer storage and recovery wells, injection wells, surface spreading basins, field flooding, stormwater capture, flood managed basins, and in-lieu recharge.
(2) “Groundwater supply” means water that at any point in time is being stored underground that is available for human use and environmental protection to sustain the state’s future.
(Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 624, Sec. 3. (SB 659) Effective January 1, 2024.)
(a) It is hereby declared that the people of the state have a primary interest in the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and utilization of the water resources of the state by all individuals and entities and that it is the policy of the state that The California Water Plan, with any necessary amendments, supplements, and additions to the plan, is accepted as the master plan which guides the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, management and efficient utilization of the water resources of the state.
(b) The declaration set forth in subdivision (a) does not constitute approval for the construction of specific projects or routes for transfer of water, or for financial assistance, by the state, without further legislative action, nor shall the declaration be construed as a prohibition of the development of the water resources of the state by any entity.
(Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 620, Sec. 2.)
The department or, at the department’s request, the California Water Commission, shall conduct a series of hearings with interested persons, organizations, local, state, and federal agencies, and representatives of the diverse geographical areas and interests of the state.
(Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 620, Sec. 3.)
Prior to holding a hearing pursuant to Section 10005.1, the department shall give notice by mail of the hearing to persons and entities which have requested notice and have provided their name and address to the department.
(Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 620, Sec. 4.)
The provisions of this part do not repeal or modify any of the provisions of Part 3 of this division.
(Added by Stats. 1959, Ch. 2053.)
Notwithstanding anything contained in this part, all applications heretofore filed by the Department of Finance or by the Department of Water Resources under Part 2 of Division 6 shall remain valid and shall retain and have the status and priority accorded to such applications as now or hereafter provided in said Part 2.
(Added by Stats. 1959, Ch. 2053.)
The Legislature hereby finds and declares that agreements which provide for the transfer of water from the federal Central Valley Project to public entities supplying water for domestic or irrigation use offer potential benefits to California’s hard-pressed farmers and to California’s water-dependent urban areas.
It is the intent of the Legislature that these contracts be entered into for the purposes of strengthening California’s economy, serving the public, and protecting the environment.
The director shall continue to pursue negotiations with the United States Bureau of Reclamation to contract for the interim rights to stored water from the federal Central Valley Project for use in the State Water Resources Development System by state water supply contractors.
(Added by Stats. 1986, Ch. 1241, Sec. 1. Effective September 26, 1986.)
The director shall pursue discussions with the United States Bureau of Reclamation to permit persons and public entities which have entitlements to water from the federal Central Valley Project, to enter into legally binding contracts with any public entity which supplies water for domestic use, irrigation use, or environmental protection in this state for the transfer of federal water entitlements during times of shortage.
(Added by Stats. 1986, Ch. 1241, Sec. 2. Effective September 26, 1986.)
(a) In preparing the California Water Plan, the director shall conduct at least one public hearing within the boundaries of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and shall solicit the comments of water agencies within the delta, agricultural groups representative of delta agricultural activity, environmental groups concerned with protecting delta wildlife habitat, and groups representative of those who utilize water exported from the delta.
(b) The California Water Plan shall include a discussion of various alternatives, including their advantages and disadvantages, for improving and protecting the current uses and configuration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
(c) Subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be implemented only to the extent money is appropriated in the annual Budget Act to carry out this section.
(Added by Stats. 1992, Ch. 953, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1993.)
The department, as a part of the preparation of the department’s Bulletin 160-03, shall include in the California Water Plan a report on the development of regional and local water projects within each hydrologic region of the state, as described in the department’s Bulletin 160-98, to improve water supplies to meet municipal, agricultural, and environmental water needs and minimize the need to import water from other hydrologic regions. The report shall include, but is not limited to, regional and local water projects that use technologies for desalting brackish groundwater and ocean water, reclaiming water for use within the community generating the water to be reclaimed, the construction of improved potable water treatment facilities so that water from sources determined to be unsuitable can be used, and the construction of dual water systems and brine lines, particularly in connection with new developments and when replacing water piping in developed or redeveloped areas.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 664, Sec. 224. Effective January 1, 2003.)