Bill Text: CA AB828 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Sustainable groundwater management: managed wetlands.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-05-01 - Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. [AB828 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB828-Amended.html
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January 11, 2024 |
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Amended
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January 03, 2024 |
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April 17, 2023 |
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March 02, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 828
| Introduced by Assembly Member Connolly |
February 13, 2023 |
An act to amend amend, repeal, and add Sections 10721, 10726.4, and 10730.2 of the Water Code, relating to water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 828, as amended, Connolly.
Sustainable groundwater management: managed wetlands.
(1) Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans, except as specified. Existing law defines various terms for purposes of the act.
This bill would add various defined terms for purposes of the act, including the terms “managed wetland” and “small community water system.”
(2) Existing law authorizes any local agency or combination of local agencies overlying a groundwater basin
to decide to become a groundwater sustainability agency for that basin and imposes specified duties upon that agency or combination of agencies, as provided. Existing law grants a groundwater sustainability agency specified authority and authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency to regulate groundwater extraction using that authority.
This bill would prohibit a groundwater sustainability agency from using that authority regarding the establishment of groundwater extraction allocations for small community water systems serving disadvantaged communities from permitted public water supply wells and to managed wetland extractors, except as specified. The bill would authorize a small community water system serving a disadvantaged community to increase its annual average usage by 10% over its average annual extraction to accommodate population growth without incurring restrictions from a groundwater sustainability agency.
(3) Existing law authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency that adopts a groundwater sustainability plan to impose fees on the extraction of groundwater from the basin to fund costs of groundwater management, as specified.
This bill would prohibit a groundwater sustainability agency from imposing a fee upon a small community water system serving a disadvantaged community or managed wetland purposes, provided the water use for each user does not increase above the extractor’s average annual extraction from 2015 to 2020, inclusive, as determined by a groundwater sustainability agency using recognized methods to establish average groundwater use. The bill would authorize a small community water system serving a disadvantaged community to increase its annual average usage by 10% over its average annual extraction between 2015 and 2020 to accommodate population growth without incurring fees from a groundwater sustainability agency, provided that it continues to meet the requirements to qualify as a small community water system.
(4) The bill would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2028.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The Legislature recognized the human right to water in 2012 with the passage of AB 685. A decade later, communities still struggle to access safe and affordable drinking water.
(b) More than 85 percent of California’s community water systems are dependent upon groundwater for drinking water and sanitation. For hundreds of small water systems, groundwater is their only water source.
(c) Disadvantaged communities served by domestic wells and small community water
systems are negatively and disproportionately impacted by unsustainable groundwater use and resulting dry wells and worsening water quality.
(d) Many groundwater sustainability plans fail to adequately consider or address the impacts of their plans on domestic well users and households served by small community water systems.
(e) Managed wetlands are an important public trust resource and beneficial user of groundwater because they provide significant habitat for migratory waterfowl of the Pacific flyway, for endangered species, and for many other resident wildlife and fish populations. Wetlands provide additional public benefits, including water quality improvement, groundwater recharge, flood protection, stream bank stabilization, wildlife dependent recreation, and
opportunities for scientific research.
(f) Approximately 5 percent of historic wetlands remain in California. Consistent with Executive Order No. W-59-93, it is the policy of the state to assure that no net loss of managed wetland acreage or habitat values results from implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
(g) Protecting managed wetlands that are subject to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act will avoid a net loss of wetlands and allow groundwater sustainability agencies to prioritize groundwater sustainability for agricultural, municipal, and industrial water users.
SEC. 2.
Section 10721 of the Water Code is amended to read:10721.
(a) Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern the construction of this part:(a)
(1) “Adjudication action” means an action filed in the superior or federal district court to determine the rights to extract groundwater from a basin or store water within a basin, including, but not limited to, actions to quiet title
respecting rights to extract or store groundwater or an action brought to impose a physical solution on a basin.
(b)
(2) “Basin” means a groundwater basin or subbasin identified and defined in Bulletin 118 or as modified pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 10722).
(c)
(3) “Bulletin 118” means the department’s report entitled “California’s Groundwater: Bulletin 118” updated in 2003, as it may be subsequently updated or revised in accordance with Section 12924.
(d)
(4) “Coordination agreement” means a legal agreement adopted between two or more groundwater sustainability agencies that provides the basis for coordinating multiple agencies or groundwater sustainability plans within a basin pursuant to this part.
(e)
(5) “De minimis extractor” means a person who extracts, for domestic purposes, two acre-feet or less per year.
(f)
(6) “Disadvantaged community” has the same meaning as defined as in Section 79505.5.
(g)
(7) “Governing body” means the legislative body of a groundwater sustainability agency.
(h)
(8) “Groundwater” means 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 unless included pursuant to Section 10722.5.
(i)
(9) “Groundwater extraction facility” means a device or method for extracting groundwater from within a basin.
(j)
(10) “Groundwater recharge” or “recharge” means the augmentation of groundwater, by natural or artificial means.
(k)
(11) “Groundwater sustainability agency” means one or more local agencies that implement the provisions of this part. For purposes of imposing fees pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 10730) or taking action to enforce a groundwater sustainability plan, “groundwater sustainability agency” also means each local agency comprising the groundwater sustainability agency if the plan authorizes separate agency action.
(l)
(12) “Groundwater sustainability plan” or “plan” means a plan of
a groundwater sustainability agency proposed or adopted pursuant to this part.
(m)
(13) “Groundwater sustainability program” means a coordinated and ongoing activity undertaken to benefit a basin, pursuant to a groundwater sustainability plan.
(n)
(14) “In-lieu use” means the
use of surface water by persons that could otherwise extract groundwater in order to leave groundwater in the basin.
(o)
(15) “Local agency” means a local public agency that has water supply, water management, or land use responsibilities within a groundwater basin.
(p)(1)
(16) (A) “Managed wetland” means the portion of a publicly or privately owned property that receives seasonal, semipermanent, or permanent flooding that is supplemental to natural rainfall or runoff to simulate natural processes that promote food production, habitat for the benefit of wetland dependent wetland-dependent species, and is designated as, or administered as, any of the following:
(A)
(i) State wildlife area or ecological reserve.
(B)
(ii) National wildlife refuge.
(C)
(iii) Central Valley Project Improvement Act wetland habitat area.
(D)
(iv) Conservation easement held by a federal or state resource agency, a local agency whose primary function is managing land or water for wetland habitat purposes, or a nongovernmental conservation organization.
(E)
(v) Wildlife habitat contract or other conservation agreement of no less than 10 years in duration administered by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation Board, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, or Natural
Resources Conservation Service.
(2)
(B) The term “managed wetland” does not include land managed for commercial crop production, or an artificial wetland constructed primarily as a groundwater bank or recharge basin, tailwater recirculation or sedimentation pond, evaporation pond, irrigation or stock watering pond, area that filters urban or industrial
stormwater runoff, or wastewater treatment pond, even if the land is part of a conservation easement.
(q)
(17) “Managed wetland extractor” means a person who extracts groundwater for managed wetland purposes.
(r)
(18) “Operator” means a person operating a groundwater extraction
facility. The owner of a groundwater extraction facility shall be conclusively presumed to be the operator unless a satisfactory showing is made to the governing body of the groundwater sustainability agency that the groundwater extraction facility actually is operated by some other person.
(s)
(19) “Owner” means a person owning a groundwater extraction facility or an interest in a groundwater extraction facility other than a lien to secure the payment of a debt or other obligation.
(t)
(20) “Personal information” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1798.3 of the Civil Code.
(u)
(21) “Planning and implementation horizon” means a 50-year time period over which a groundwater sustainability agency determines that plans and measures will be implemented in a basin to ensure that the basin is operated within its sustainable yield.
(v)
(22) “Public water system” has the same meaning as defined in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(w)
(23) “Recharge area” means the area that supplies water to an aquifer in a groundwater basin.
(x)
(24) “Small community water system” means a community water system, as defined in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code, that serves no more than 3,300 connections or a yearlong population of no more than 10,000 persons.
(y)
(25) “Sustainability goal” means the existence and implementation of one or more groundwater sustainability plans that achieve sustainable groundwater management by identifying and causing the implementation of measures targeted to ensure that the applicable basin is operated within its sustainable yield.
(z)
(26) “Sustainable groundwater management” means the management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without causing undesirable results.
(aa)
(27) “Sustainable yield” means the maximum quantity of water, calculated over a base period representative of long-term conditions in the basin and including any temporary surplus, that can be withdrawn annually from a groundwater supply
without causing an undesirable result.
(ab)
(28) “Undesirable result” means one or more of the following effects caused by groundwater conditions occurring throughout the basin:
(1)
(A) Chronic lowering of groundwater levels indicating a significant and unreasonable
depletion of supply if continued over the planning and implementation horizon. Overdraft during a period of drought is not sufficient to establish a chronic lowering of groundwater levels if extractions and groundwater recharge are managed as necessary to ensure that reductions in groundwater levels or storage during a period of drought are offset by increases in groundwater levels or storage during other periods.
(2)
(B) Significant and unreasonable reduction of groundwater storage.
(3)
(C) Significant and unreasonable seawater intrusion.
(4)
(D) Significant and unreasonable degraded water quality, including the migration of contaminant plumes that impair water supplies.
(5)
(E) Significant and unreasonable land subsidence that substantially interferes with surface land uses.
(6)
(F) Depletions of interconnected surface water that have significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on beneficial uses of the surface water.
(ac)
(29) “Water budget”
means an accounting of the total groundwater and surface water entering and leaving a basin including the changes in the amount of water stored.
(ad)
(30) “Watermaster” means a watermaster appointed by a court or pursuant to other law.
(ae)
(31) “Water year” means the period from October 1
through the following September 30, inclusive.
(af)
(32) “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.
(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2028, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 3.
Section 10721 is added to the Water Code, to read:10721.
(a) Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern the construction of this part:(1) “Adjudication action” means an action filed in the superior or federal district court to determine the rights to extract groundwater from a basin or store water within a basin, including, but not limited to, actions to quiet title respecting rights to extract or store groundwater or an action brought to impose a physical solution on a basin.
(2) “Basin” means a groundwater basin or subbasin identified and defined in Bulletin 118 or as modified pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 10722).
(3) “Bulletin 118” means the department’s report entitled “California’s Groundwater: Bulletin 118” updated in 2003, as it may be subsequently updated or revised in accordance with Section 12924.
(4) “Coordination agreement” means a legal agreement adopted between two or more groundwater sustainability agencies that provides the basis for coordinating multiple agencies or groundwater sustainability plans within a basin pursuant to this part.
(5) “De minimis extractor” means a person who extracts, for domestic purposes, two acre-feet or less per year.
(6) “Governing body” means the legislative body of a groundwater sustainability agency.
(7) “Groundwater” means 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 unless included pursuant to Section 10722.5.
(8) “Groundwater extraction facility” means a device or method for extracting groundwater from within a basin.
(9) “Groundwater recharge” or “recharge” means the augmentation of groundwater, by natural or artificial means.
(10) “Groundwater sustainability agency” means one or more local agencies that implement the provisions of this part. For purposes of imposing fees pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 10730) or taking action to enforce a groundwater sustainability plan, “groundwater sustainability agency” also means each local agency comprising the groundwater sustainability agency if the plan authorizes separate agency action.
(11) “Groundwater sustainability plan” or “plan” means a plan of a groundwater sustainability agency proposed or adopted pursuant to this part.
(12) “Groundwater sustainability program” means a coordinated and ongoing activity undertaken to benefit a basin, pursuant to a groundwater sustainability plan.
(13) “In-lieu use” means the use of surface water by persons that could otherwise extract groundwater in order to leave groundwater in the basin.
(14) “Local agency” means a local public agency that has water supply, water management, or land use responsibilities within a groundwater basin.
(15) “Operator” means a person operating a groundwater extraction facility. The owner of a groundwater
extraction facility shall be conclusively presumed to be the operator unless a satisfactory showing is made to the governing body of the groundwater sustainability agency that the groundwater extraction facility actually is operated by some other person.
(16) “Owner” means a person owning a groundwater extraction facility or an interest in a groundwater extraction facility other than a lien to secure the payment of a debt or other obligation.
(17) “Personal information” has the same meaning as defined in Section 1798.3 of the Civil Code.
(18) “Planning and implementation horizon” means a 50-year time period over which a groundwater sustainability agency determines that plans and measures will be implemented in a basin to ensure that the basin is operated within its sustainable yield.
(19) “Public water system” has the same meaning as defined in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(20) “Recharge area” means the area that supplies water to an aquifer in a groundwater basin.
(21) “Sustainability goal” means the existence and implementation of one or more groundwater sustainability plans that achieve sustainable groundwater management by identifying and causing the implementation of measures targeted to ensure that the applicable basin is operated within its sustainable yield.
(22) “Sustainable groundwater management” means the management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without causing undesirable results.
(23) “Sustainable yield” means the maximum quantity of water, calculated over a base period representative of long-term conditions in the basin and including any temporary surplus, that can be withdrawn annually from a groundwater supply without causing an undesirable result.
(24) “Undesirable result” means one or more of the following effects caused by groundwater conditions occurring throughout the basin:
(A) Chronic lowering of groundwater levels indicating a significant and unreasonable depletion of supply if continued over the planning and implementation horizon. Overdraft during a period of drought is not sufficient to establish a chronic lowering of groundwater levels if extractions and groundwater recharge are managed as necessary to ensure that reductions in groundwater levels or storage during a period of drought are offset by increases in groundwater levels
or storage during other periods.
(B) Significant and unreasonable reduction of groundwater storage.
(C) Significant and unreasonable seawater intrusion.
(D) Significant and unreasonable degraded water quality, including the migration of contaminant plumes that impair water supplies.
(E) Significant and unreasonable land subsidence that substantially interferes with surface land uses.
(F) Depletions of interconnected surface water that have significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on beneficial uses of the surface water.
(25) “Water budget” means an accounting of the total groundwater and surface water entering and leaving
a basin including the changes in the amount of water stored.
(26) “Watermaster” means a watermaster appointed by a court or pursuant to other law.
(27) “Water year” means the period from October 1 through the following September 30, inclusive.
(28) “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.
(b) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2028.
SEC. 3.SEC. 4.
Section 10726.4 of the Water Code is amended to read:10726.4.
(a) A groundwater sustainability agency shall have the following additional authority and may regulate groundwater extraction using that authority:(1) To impose spacing requirements on new groundwater well construction to minimize well interference and impose reasonable operating regulations on existing groundwater wells to minimize well interference, including requiring extractors to operate on a rotation basis.
(2) To control groundwater extractions by regulating, limiting, or suspending extractions from individual groundwater wells or extractions from groundwater wells in the aggregate, construction of new
groundwater wells, enlargement of existing groundwater wells, or reactivation of abandoned groundwater wells, or otherwise establishing groundwater extraction allocations. Those actions shall be consistent with the applicable elements of the city or county general plan, unless there is insufficient sustainable yield in the basin to serve a land use designated in the city or county general plan. A limitation on extractions by a groundwater sustainability agency shall not be construed to be a final determination of rights to extract groundwater from the basin or any portion of the basin.
(3) To authorize temporary and permanent transfers of groundwater extraction allocations within the agency’s boundaries, if the total quantity of groundwater extracted in any water year is consistent with the provisions of the groundwater sustainability plan.
The transfer is subject to applicable city and county ordinances.
(4) To establish accounting rules to allow unused groundwater extraction allocations issued by the agency to be carried over from one year to another and voluntarily transferred, if the total quantity of groundwater extracted in any five-year period is consistent with the provisions of the groundwater sustainability plan.
(b) Subdivision Paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) shall not apply to the establishment of groundwater extraction allocations for small community water systems serving disadvantaged communities from permitted public water supply
wells and shall not apply to managed wetland extractors. If a small community water system or a managed wetland extractor increases its extraction of groundwater over the average amount extracted annually between the years 2015 through 2020 as established by a groundwater sustainability agency using recognized methods, a groundwater sustainability agency shall have the authority to regulate usage above that amount. This subdivision does not prevent a small community water system or managed wetland extractor from receiving a groundwater recharge credit, as may be determined by the groundwater sustainability agency.
(c)A small
community water system serving a disadvantaged community may increase its annual average usage by 10 percent over its average annual extraction to accommodate population growth without incurring restrictions from a groundwater sustainability agency.
(d)
(c) If a groundwater sustainability agency reasonably determines that groundwater extractions for managed wetlands are directly causing undesirable results, including land subsidence or degradation of groundwater quality, a groundwater sustainability agency may use the authority described in subdivision (a) to develop and implement corrective actions, in cooperation with the
affected managed wetland extractor.
(e)
(d) If a person is both a managed wetland extractor and a groundwater extractor for other purposes, any exemptions that apply to a managed wetland extractor shall apply only for groundwater extracted solely for managed wetland purposes.
(f)
(e) This section does not authorize a groundwater sustainability agency to issue permits for the construction, modification, or abandonment of groundwater wells, except as authorized by a county with authority to issue those permits. A groundwater sustainability agency may request of the county, and the county shall consider, that the county forward permit requests for the construction of new groundwater wells, the enlarging of existing groundwater wells, and the reactivation of abandoned groundwater wells to the groundwater sustainability agency before permit approval.
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2028, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 5.
Section 10726.4 is added to the Water Code, to read:10726.4.
(a) A groundwater sustainability agency shall have the following additional authority and may regulate groundwater extraction using that authority:(1) To impose spacing requirements on new groundwater well construction to minimize well interference and impose reasonable operating regulations on existing groundwater wells to minimize well interference, including requiring extractors to operate on a rotation basis.
(2) To control groundwater extractions by regulating, limiting, or suspending extractions from individual groundwater wells or extractions from groundwater wells in the aggregate, construction of new groundwater wells, enlargement of existing groundwater wells, or
reactivation of abandoned groundwater wells, or otherwise establishing groundwater extraction allocations. Those actions shall be consistent with the applicable elements of the city or county general plan, unless there is insufficient sustainable yield in the basin to serve a land use designated in the city or county general plan. A limitation on extractions by a groundwater sustainability agency shall not be construed to be a final determination of rights to extract groundwater from the basin or any portion of the basin.
(3) To authorize temporary and permanent transfers of groundwater extraction allocations within the agency’s boundaries, if the total quantity of groundwater extracted in any water year is consistent with the provisions of the groundwater sustainability plan. The transfer is subject to applicable city and county ordinances.
(4) To establish accounting rules to
allow unused groundwater extraction allocations issued by the agency to be carried over from one year to another and voluntarily transferred, if the total quantity of groundwater extracted in any five-year period is consistent with the provisions of the groundwater sustainability plan.
(b) This section does not authorize a groundwater sustainability agency to issue permits for the construction, modification, or abandonment of groundwater wells, except as authorized by a county with authority to issue those permits. A groundwater sustainability agency may request of the county, and the county shall consider, that the county forward permit requests for the construction of new groundwater wells, the enlarging of existing groundwater wells, and the reactivation of abandoned groundwater wells to the groundwater sustainability agency before permit approval.
(c) This section shall become
operative on January 1, 2028.
SEC. 4.SEC. 6.
Section 10730.2 of the Water Code is amended to read:10730.2.
(a) A groundwater sustainability agency that adopts a groundwater sustainability plan pursuant to this part may impose fees on the extraction of groundwater from the basin to fund costs of groundwater management, including, but not limited to, the costs of the following:(1) Administration, operation, and maintenance, including a prudent reserve.
(2) Acquisition of lands or other property, facilities, and services.
(3) Supply, production, treatment, or distribution of water.
(4) Other activities
necessary or convenient to implement the plan.
(b) Until a groundwater sustainability plan is adopted pursuant to this part, a local agency may impose fees in accordance with the procedures provided in this section for the purposes of Part 2.75 (commencing with Section 10750) as long as a groundwater management plan adopted before January 1, 2015, is in effect.
(c) Fees imposed pursuant to this section shall be adopted in accordance with subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California Constitution.
(d) Fees imposed pursuant to this section may include fixed fees and fees charged on a volumetric basis, including, but not limited to, fees that increase based on the quantity of groundwater produced annually,
the year in which the production of groundwater commenced from a groundwater extraction facility, and impacts to the basin.
(e) A groundwater sustainability agency shall not impose a fee upon a small community water system serving a disadvantaged community or managed wetland purposes, provided the water use for each user does not increase above the extractor’s average annual extraction from 2015 to 2020, inclusive, as determined by a groundwater sustainability agency using recognized methods to establish average groundwater use.
(f)A small community water system serving a disadvantaged community may increase its annual average usage by 10 percent over its average annual extraction between 2015 and 2020 to accommodate population growth without incurring fees from a groundwater sustainability agency, provided that it continues to meet the requirements to qualify as a small community water system.
(g)
(f) The power granted by this section is in addition to any powers a groundwater sustainability agency has under any other law.
(g) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2028, and as of that date is repealed.
SEC. 7.
Section 10730.2 is added to the Water Code, to read:10730.2.
(a) A groundwater sustainability agency that adopts a groundwater sustainability plan pursuant to this part may impose fees on the extraction of groundwater from the basin to fund costs of groundwater management, including, but not limited to, the costs of the following:(1) Administration, operation, and maintenance, including a prudent reserve.
(2) Acquisition of lands or other property, facilities, and services.
(3) Supply, production, treatment, or distribution of water.
(4) Other activities necessary or convenient to implement the plan.
(b) Until a groundwater sustainability plan is adopted pursuant to this part, a local agency may impose fees in accordance with the procedures provided in this section for the purposes of Part 2.75 (commencing with Section 10750) as long as a groundwater management plan adopted before January 1, 2015, is in effect.
(c) Fees imposed pursuant to this section shall be adopted in accordance with subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 6 of Article XIII D of the California Constitution.
(d) Fees imposed pursuant to this section may include fixed fees and fees charged on a volumetric basis, including, but not limited to, fees that increase based on the quantity of groundwater produced annually, the year in which the production of groundwater commenced from a groundwater extraction facility, and impacts to
the basin.
(e) The power granted by this section is in addition to any powers a groundwater sustainability agency has under any other law.
(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2028.
