Bill Text: CA SB361 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Water resources: stream gages.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB361 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB361-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
March 29, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 361
| Introduced by Senator Dodd |
February 08, 2023 |
An act to add Sections 145, 145.1, and 145.2 to the Water Code, relating to water resources.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 361, as amended, Dodd.
Water resources: stream gages.
Existing law, the Open and Transparent Water Data Act, requires the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to coordinate and integrate existing water and ecological data from local, state, and federal agencies. Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources and the board, upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature, to develop a plan to deploy a network of stream gages that includes a determination of funding needs and opportunities for modernizing and reactivating existing gages and deploying new gages, as specified. Existing law requires the department and the board, in consultation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Conservation, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, interested stakeholders, and, to the extent they wish to consult, local agencies, to develop the
plan to address significant gaps in information necessary for water management and the conservation of freshwater species.
This bill would require the Department of Water Resources and the board, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature, to reactivate, upgrade, and install new stream gages, as provided. The bill would require the department and board to use the recommendations and data provided in the California Stream Gaging Prioritization Plan 2022 to complete specified actions by 2030. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2026, and every 2 years thereafter, on progress made in completing those specified actions. The bill would require the data from all stream gages operating with any public money to be published as provisional data within 10 days of collection and made publicly available on the
state’s open water data platforms. The bill would require the department and board to develop and adopt a set of standards and processes for assessing, tracking, and reporting the accuracy of stream gages, evapotranspiration data, water meters, and other critical data inputs for water management, as provided. The bill would require the department and the board to consult with interested stakeholders to develop a plan to identify the gaps in the network of automated weather stations and eddy covariance towers to ensure accurate and comprehensive data collection.
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) More than 3,200 local watersheds in California (over 70 percent) do not have any history of stream gaging, and another 15 percent do not have active, publicly accessible gages today.
(b) Most watersheds in California also do not have the infrastructure needed for accurate water accounting or the ability to track in near real-time water and groundwater budgets, streamflows, and net changes in the water balance over time.
(c) California’s current water data
infrastructure is poorly funded.
(d) Of the 1,076 approximately 1,000 active gages in California, less than one-half provide data on key metrics for water management such as temperature, 45 percent, and sedimentation, 40 percent.
(e) The lack of sustained funding for gage operation and maintenance is the primary source of gages going offline.
(f) The United States Geological Survey (USGS) operates 60 percent of the active gages in California. Most state-operated gages are funded by the Division of Flood Management and the State Water Project.
(g) The Department of Water Resources, State Water Resources Control Board, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and California Geological Survey, Department of Conservation recently completed a draft report entitled “California Stream Gaging Prioritization Plan 2022” with specific recommendations and locations to improve California’s stream gage network.
(h) A robust and reliable stream gage network, California Irrigation Management Information System network, and more accurate understanding of diversions and consumptive use can help state, federal, and local agencies better understand the movement of water within and out of a watershed, and manage water resources more effectively for multiple benefits and to
help avoid conflicts.
(i) Currently, there is a lack of transparency, consistency, and access associated with the quality and accuracy of various sources of water data. These issues make it more difficult, time consuming, and costly for the state and water managers to appropriately plan for and mitigate water management, economic, climate change, ecological, and other uncertainties.
(j) The accuracy of gage and other data for water management needs to be assessed and recorded in a consistent and transparent way.
SEC. 2.
Section 145 is added to the Water Code, to read:145.
(a) Upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature for the purposes of this section, the department and the board shall reactivate, upgrade, and install new stream gages where lack of data contributes to conflicts in water management or where water can be more effectively managed for multiple benefits, including, but not limited to, the following benefits:(1) Water supply management.
(2) Flood management.
(3) Water quality management.
(4) Ecosystem management.
(b) (1) The department and the board shall use the recommendations and data provided in the California Stream Gaging Prioritization Plan 2022 (the plan) plan), which was prepared pursuant to Section 144, to complete the following actions by 2030:
(1)
(A) Reactivate and maintain at least 161
156 historical stream gages.
(2)
(B) Upgrade at least 48 39 stream gages to collect additional streamflow data with the installation of additional sensors, such as temperature and dissolved oxygen sensors, equipped for telemetry, namely recording and transmitting of data without in-person effort, or at which a flow rating curve to convert stage to flow could be added.
(3)
(C) Add temperature sensors to at least 536 542 active stream gages.
(4)
(D) Install new stream gages in at least 432 436
watersheds.
(5)
(E) Improve gage quality and management by establishing minimum operation and maintenance standards.
(6)
(F) Develop gage data standards to support accessibility and interoperability, such that data from all sources can be housed, analyzed, and shared on a
common interface.
(2) On or before January 1, 2026, and every two years thereafter, the department shall report to the Legislature its progress made in implementing this subdivision. The report required by this paragraph shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(c) The department and the board, in consultation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Conservation, and the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, interested stakeholders, and, to the extent they wish to consult, local agencies, shall develop the plan
shall utilize the funding recommendations in the plan to fund the long-term maintenance of these stream gages and data management tools based on the funding recommendations in the plan and other considerations.
tools. In doing so, the department and board may consult with local agencies and other stakeholders.
(d) The department and the board shall require that the data from all stream gages operating with any public money be published as provisional data within 10 days of collection and made publicly available on the state’s open water data platforms and consistent with data sharing protocols in the Open and Transparent Water Data Act (Part 4.9 (commencing with Section 12400) of Division 6). The department and the board shall establish a process to finalize and update the data.
