Bill Text: CA AB2725 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Urban waterway restoration.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-03-17 - Referred to Com. on W.,P. & W. [AB2725 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB2725-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2725	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Brown

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2014

   An act to amend Sections 10004.6, 10537, 10631, and 12929.22 of,
and to add Section 27 to, the Water Code, relating to urban
waterways.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2725, as introduced, Brown. Urban waterway restoration.
   (1) Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to
update The California Water Plan, which is a plan for the
conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the
state, every 5 years. The department, as part of the update, is
required to release assumptions and estimates relating to current and
projected water use, including industrial uses and parks and open
spaces.
   This bill would require the department to release assumptions and
estimates relating to water use for urban waterway restoration.
   (2) The Integrated Regional Water Management Planning Act
authorizes a regional water management group to prepare an integrated
regional water management plan, in accordance with certain
procedures, for the implementation or operation of specified
qualified projects or programs pertaining to water supply, water
quality, or related matters. The act defines "regional projects or
programs" as projects or programs identified in an integrated
regional water management plan that accomplish specified
water-related goals, including an increase in water supplies through
the use of certain means.
   This bill would specifically include urban waterway restoration
that increases water supplies for any beneficial use, as a regional
project or program.
   (3) Existing law, the Urban Water Management Planning Act,
requires every public and private urban water supplier that directly
or indirectly provides water for municipal purposes to prepare and
adopt an urban water management plan. Existing law requires the plan
to provide a description of, among other things, the supplier's water
demand management measures, as specified.
   This bill would require the description of the water demand
management measure to include a description of an urban waterway
restoration program.
   (4) Existing law, the Environmental Water Act of 1989, authorizes
the City of Los Angeles to submit one or more grant applications to
the Department of Water Resources to protect and preserve the Mono
Lake Basin, as specified, and, upon acceptance of an application,
requires the department to expend moneys available from the
Environmental Water Fund for an eligible project, as defined, to
preserve the wildlife and environment of the Mono Lake Basin. Under
existing law, the department is required to expend the money
appropriated to the department from the fund for projects or programs
concerning the water resources of the state that will contribute
significant environmental benefits.
   This bill would include an urban waterway restoration project as
an eligible project for this grant program.
   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.  Section 27 is added to the Water Code, to read:
   27.  "Urban waterway" means a body of water that is located
within, or runs through, an urban area, including, but not limited
to, a creek, river, lake, canal, or dam.
  SEC. 2.  Section 10004.6 of the Water Code is amended to read:
   10004.6.  (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  
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. 
   (H) Urban waterway restoration. 
   (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   This  section
 requires or prohibits   does not require 
the department  to update, or prohibit the department  from
 updating   updating,  any data necessary
to update The California Water Plan pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 10004.
  SEC. 3.  Section 10537 of the Water Code is amended to read:
   10537.  "Regional projects or programs" means projects or programs
identified in an integrated regional water management plan that
accomplish any of the following:
   (a) Reduce water demand through agricultural and urban water use
efficiency.
   (b) Increase water supplies for any beneficial use through the use
of any of the following, or other, means:
   (1) Groundwater storage and conjunctive water management.
   (2) Desalination.
   (3) Precipitation enhancement.
   (4) Water recycling.
   (5) Regional and local surface storage.
   (6) Water-use efficiency.
   (7) Stormwater management. 
   (8) Urban waterway restoration. 
   (c) Improve operational efficiency and water supply reliability,
including conveyance facilities, system reoperation, and water
transfers.
   (d) Improve water quality, including drinking water treatment and
distribution, groundwater and aquifer remediation, matching water
quality to water use, wastewater treatment, water pollution
prevention, and management of urban and agricultural runoff.
   (e) Improve resource stewardship, including agricultural lands
stewardship, ecosystem restoration, flood plain management, recharge
area protection, urban land use management, groundwater management,
water-dependent recreation, fishery restoration, including fish
passage improvement, and watershed management.
   (f) Improve flood management through structural and nonstructural
means, or by any other means.
  SEC. 4.  Section 10631 of the Water Code is amended to read:
   10631.  A plan shall be adopted in accordance with this chapter
that shall do all of the following:
   (a) Describe the service area of the supplier, including current
and projected population, climate, and other demographic factors
affecting the supplier's water management planning. The projected
population estimates shall be based upon data from the state,
regional, or local service agency population projections within the
service area of the urban water supplier and shall be in five-year
increments to 20 years or as far as data is available.
   (b) Identify and quantify, to the extent practicable, the existing
and planned sources of water available to the supplier over the same
five-year increments described in subdivision (a). If groundwater is
identified as an existing or planned source of water available to
the supplier, all of the following information shall be included in
the plan:
   (1) A copy of any groundwater management plan adopted by the urban
water supplier, including plans adopted pursuant to Part 2.75
(commencing with Section 10750), or any other specific authorization
for groundwater management.
   (2) A description of any groundwater basin or basins from which
the urban water supplier pumps groundwater. For those basins for
which a court or the board has adjudicated the rights to pump
groundwater, a copy of the order or decree adopted by the court or
the board and a description of the amount of groundwater the urban
water supplier has the legal right to pump under the order or decree.
For basins that have not been adjudicated, information as to whether
the department has identified the basin or basins as overdrafted or
has projected that the basin will become overdrafted if present
management conditions continue, in the most current official
departmental bulletin that characterizes the condition of the
groundwater basin, and a detailed description of the efforts being
undertaken by the urban water supplier to eliminate the long-term
overdraft condition.
   (3) A detailed description and analysis of the location, amount,
and sufficiency of groundwater pumped by the urban water supplier for
the past five years. The description and analysis shall be based on
information that is reasonably available, including, but not limited
to, historic use records.
   (4) A detailed description and analysis of the amount and location
of groundwater that is projected to be pumped by the urban water
supplier. The description and analysis shall be based on information
that is reasonably available, including, but not limited to, historic
use records.
   (c) (1) Describe the reliability of the water supply and
vulnerability to seasonal or climatic shortage, to the extent
practicable, and provide data for each of the following:
   (A) An average water year.
   (B) A single dry water year.
   (C) Multiple dry water years.
   (2) For any water source that may not be available at a consistent
level of use, given specific legal, environmental, water quality, or
climatic factors, describe plans to supplement or replace that
source with alternative sources or water demand management measures,
to the extent practicable.
   (d) Describe the opportunities for exchanges or transfers of water
on a short-term or long-term basis.
   (e) (1) Quantify, to the extent records are available, past and
current water use, over the same five-year increments described in
subdivision (a), and projected water use, identifying the uses among
water use sectors, including, but not necessarily limited to, all of
the following uses:
   (A) Single-family residential.
   (B) Multifamily.
   (C) Commercial.
   (D) Industrial.
   (E) Institutional and governmental.
   (F) Landscape.
   (G) Sales to other agencies.
   (H) Saline water intrusion barriers, groundwater recharge, or
conjunctive use, or any combination thereof.
   (I) Agricultural.
   (2) The water use projections shall be in the same five-year
increments described in subdivision (a).
   (f) Provide a description of the supplier's water demand
management measures. This description shall include all of the
following:
   (1) A description of each water demand management measure that is
currently being implemented, or scheduled for implementation,
including the steps necessary to implement any proposed measures,
including, but not limited to, all of the following:
   (A) Water survey programs for single-family residential and
multifamily residential customers.
   (B) Residential plumbing retrofit.
   (C) System water audits, leak detection, and repair.
   (D) Metering with commodity rates for all new connections and
retrofit of existing connections.
   (E) Large landscape conservation programs and incentives.
   (F) High-efficiency washing machine rebate programs.
   (G) Public information programs.
   (H) School education programs.
   (I) Conservation programs for commercial, industrial, and
institutional accounts.
   (J) Wholesale agency programs.
   (K) Conservation pricing.
   (L) Water conservation coordinator.
   (M) Water waste prohibition.
   (N) Residential ultra-low-flush toilet replacement programs. 
   (O) Urban waterway restoration programs. 
   (2) A schedule of implementation for all water demand management
measures proposed or described in the plan.
   (3) A description of the methods, if any, that the supplier will
use to evaluate the effectiveness of water demand management measures
implemented or described under the plan.
   (4) An estimate, if available, of existing conservation savings on
water use within the supplier's service area, and the effect of the
savings on the supplier's ability to further reduce demand.
   (g) An evaluation of each water demand management measure listed
in paragraph (1) of subdivision (f) that is not currently being
implemented or scheduled for implementation. In the course of the
evaluation, first consideration shall be given to water demand
management measures, or combination of measures, that offer lower
incremental costs than expanded or additional water supplies. This
evaluation shall do all of the following:
   (1) Take into account economic and noneconomic factors, including
environmental, social, health, customer impact, and technological
factors.
   (2) Include a cost-benefit analysis, identifying total benefits
and total costs.
   (3) Include a description of funding available to implement any
planned water supply project that would provide water at a higher
unit cost.
   (4) Include a description of the water supplier's legal authority
to implement the measure and efforts to work with other relevant
agencies to ensure the implementation of the measure and to share the
cost of implementation.
   (h) Include a description of all water supply projects and water
supply programs that may be undertaken by the urban water supplier to
meet the total projected water use as established pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 10635. The urban water supplier shall
include a detailed description of expected future projects and
programs, other than the demand management programs identified
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (f), that the urban water
supplier may implement to increase the amount of the water supply
available to the urban water supplier in average, single-dry, and
multiple-dry water years. The description shall identify specific
projects and include a description of the increase in water supply
that is expected to be available from each project. The description
shall include an estimate with regard to the implementation timeline
for each project or program.
   (i) Describe the opportunities for development of desalinated
water, including, but not limited to, ocean water, brackish water,
and groundwater, as a long-term supply.
   (j) For purposes of this part, urban water suppliers that are
members of the California Urban Water Conservation Council shall be
deemed in compliance with the requirements of subdivisions (f) and
(g) by complying with all the provisions of the "Memorandum of
Understanding Regarding Urban Water Conservation in California,"
dated December 10, 2008, as it may be amended, and by submitting the
annual reports required by Section 6.2 of that memorandum.
   (k) Urban water suppliers that rely upon a wholesale agency for a
source of water shall provide the wholesale agency with water use
projections from that agency for that source of water in five-year
increments to 20 years or as far as data is available. The wholesale
agency shall provide information to the urban water supplier for
inclusion in the urban water supplier's plan that identifies and
quantifies, to the extent practicable, the existing and planned
sources of water as required by subdivision (b), available from the
wholesale agency to the urban water supplier over the same five-year
increments, and during various water-year types in accordance with
subdivision (c). An urban water supplier may rely upon water supply
information provided by the wholesale agency in fulfilling the plan
informational requirements of subdivisions (b) and (c).
  SEC. 5.  Section 12929.22 of the Water Code is amended to read:
   12929.22.   (a)    Funds expended for purposes
of Section 12929.20 shall be expended only for an eligible project
 which   that  is consistent with a grant
application pursuant to Section 12929.21. The City of Los Angeles
shall be the sole grantee for any funds expended for an eligible
project. 
    For 
    (b)     For  purposes of this section,
"eligible project" means a water or power conservation project, a
waste water reclamation project, a conjunctive use program, a
groundwater recharge project, the enlargement of existing water or
power facilities owned by the City of Los Angeles, electric power
production facilities,  an urban waterway restoration project,
 or a water marketing program. Priority shall be given to
projects or programs that conserve water or power that has been
previously developed. 
    It 
    (c)     It  is the intent of the
Legislature that eligible projects are intended to find replacement
water and power for the City of Los Angeles and to limit any impact
of reduced diversions from the Mono Lake Basin on statewide water and
power supplies, except for any reduced diversions ordered as
specified in Section 12929.24.  No money  
Moneys  made available pursuant to this chapter shall  not
 be spent by the city to buy water from the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California.
                                
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