BILL NUMBER: SB 1168INTRODUCED BILL TEXT 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. (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.(h)( i) "Person" has the same meaning as defined in Section 19.(i)( j) "Recharge area" means the area that supplies water to an aquifer in a groundwater basin and includes multiple wellhead protection areas. (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.(j)( l) "Watermaster" means a watermaster appointed by a court or pursuant to other provisions of law.(k)( m) "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. (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.(4)(5) (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.(5)(6) 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.(6)(7) 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.