Bill Text: CA SB1168 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Groundwater management.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 346, Statutes of 2014. [SB1168 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB1168-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 1168	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 23, 2014
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 10, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Pavley

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2014

   An act  to amend Sections 10752 and 10753.7 of, and
 to add Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720) to
Division 6 of, the Water Code, relating to groundwater.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1168, as amended, Pavley. Groundwater management.
   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. 
   This bill would enact the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,
and would state as the intent of the Legislature that, among other
things, all groundwater basins and subbasins shall be managed
sustainably by local entities pursuant to an adopted sustainable
groundwater management plan. This bill would authorize unspecified
entities to develop a sustainable groundwater management plan,
defined as a document that describes the activities intended to be
included in a groundwater management program, to be developed and
adopted to encompass an entire basin or subbasin in an unspecified
manner, and according to an unspecified schedule. This bill would
authorize, under unspecified conditions, the state to take action to
cause a sustainable groundwater management plan to be developed,
adopted, and implemented.
   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.  Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720) is added to
Division 6 of the Water Code, to read:

      PART 2.74.  Sustainable Groundwater Management


      CHAPTER 1.  GENERAL PROVISIONS


   10720.  This part may be known, and may be cited, as the
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
   10721.  In enacting this part, it is the intent of the Legislature
that all of the following occur:
   (a) All groundwater basins and subbasins shall be managed
sustainably by local entities pursuant to an adopted sustainable
groundwater management plan.
   (b) Attention to develop, adopt, and implement a sustainable
groundwater management plan shall be directed first to high and
medium priority groundwater basins and subbasins.
   (c) Upon a finding of compelling state interest, the state shall
have recourse to cause a sustainable groundwater management plan to
be developed, adopted, and implemented where local interests either
cannot or will not do so themselves.
   10722.  This part applies to all groundwater basins and subbasins
in the state.
      CHAPTER 2.  DEFINITIONS


   10725.  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 supply 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 recharge" means the augmentation of groundwater,
by natural or artificial means, with surface water or recycled water.

   (e) "Local groundwater management entity" means _____.
   (f) "Recharge area" means the area that supplies water to an
aquifer in a groundwater basin and includes multiple wellhead
protection areas.
   (g) "Sustainable groundwater management" means the management of a
groundwater basin to provide for multiple long-term benefits without
resulting in or aggravating conditions that cause significant
economic, social, or environmental impacts such as long-term
overdraft, land subsidence, ecosystem degradation, depletions from
surface water bodies, and water quality degradation, in order to
protect the resource for future generations.
   (h) "Sustainable groundwater management plan" or "plan" means a
document that describes the activities intended to be included in a
groundwater management program.
   (i) "Sustainable 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.
   (j) "Watermaster" means a watermaster appointed by a court or
pursuant to other provisions of law.
   (k) "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.
      CHAPTER 3.  SUSTAINABLE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT PLANS


   10730.  A plan shall be developed and adopted according to the
following schedule:
   (a) ____.
   10731.  The process for developing and adopting a plan shall
include the following:
   (a) ____.
   10732.  A plan shall include the following:
   (a) _____.
   10733.  A plan shall encompass an entire basin or subbasin.
   10734.  Upon adoption of a plan, a copy of the plan shall be
provided to the following:
   (a) _____.
      CHAPTER 4.  LOCAL GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT ENTITIES


   10735.  A plan may be developed by the following new or existing
entities:
   (a) _____.
   10736.  In addition to any other powers an agency designated as a
local groundwater management entity may be granted by law, a local
groundwater management entity shall have and may exercise the
following powers:
   (a) _____.
   10737.  A local groundwater management entity may enforce the
provisions of a plan as follows:
   (a) _____.
      CHAPTER 5.  FINANCING


   10740.  ______.
      CHAPTER 6.  ENFORCEMENT


   10745.  Under the following conditions, the state may take action
to cause a sustainable groundwater management plan to be developed,
adopted, and implemented.
   (a) _____. All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears
in the bill as amended in the Senate, April 10, 2014. (JR11)