Bill Text: CA SB1049 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Integrated regional water management plans.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-23 - Held in committee and under submission. [SB1049 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SB1049-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1049 AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 23, 2014 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 9, 2014 INTRODUCED BY Senator Pavley FEBRUARY 18, 2014 An act to amend Sections 10537 and 10538 of, and to add Section 10551 to, the Water Code, relating to water. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1049, as amended, Pavley. Integrated regional water management plans. 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 projects or programs that reduce energy used to acquire, transport, treat, or distribute water, or that develop andsupport decision supportmaintain computer models and other analytic tools to model regional water management strategies to account for climate change, energy use, and other factors relevant to regional demand and supply projections, as a regional project or program. The bill would require a regional water management group to include all water suppliers that are within the watershed area, the area over a groundwater basin or subbasin, or the area within a county's boundaries. 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 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. (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. (g) Reduce energy used to acquire, transport, treat, or distribute water. (h) Develop andsupport decision supportmaintain computer models and other analytic tools to model regional management strategies to account for climate change, energy use, and other factors relevant to regional demand and supply projections. SEC. 2. Section 10538 of the Water Code is amended to read: 10538. "Regional reports or studies" means reports or studies relating to any of the matters described in subdivisions (a) to (h), inclusive, of Section 10537, that are identified in an integrated regional water management plan. SEC. 3. Section 10551 is added to the Water Code, to read: 10551. (a) A regional water management group, to the extent possible, shall include all of the water suppliers within one of the following geographic areas: (1) The watershed area. (2) The area over a groundwater basin or subbasin. (3) The area within a county's boundaries. (b) For purposes of this section, water supplier includes wholesale and retail, public and private water suppliers. (c) Nothing in this section shall require a water supplier to participate in a regional water management group.