Bill Text: CA SB200 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Delta levee maintenance.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2012-09-25 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 549, Statutes of 2012. [SB200 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB200-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Delta levee maintenance.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2012-09-25 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 549, Statutes of 2012. [SB200 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB200-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 200 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wolk
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Bill Berryhill)
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
An act to amend Section 11460 of, to add Sections 11108, 11109,
11110, 11111, 11456, 11457, 11458, and 11915.2 to, and to add Article
9.4 (commencing with Section 11259) to Chapter 2 of Part 3 of
Division 6 of, the Water Code, relating to water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 200, as introduced, Wolk. State water facilities:
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta: Delta conveyance facility.
(1) The United States Bureau of Reclamation operates the federal
Central Valley Project and the Department of Water Resources operates
the State Water Resources Development System, known as the State
Water Project, to supply water to persons and entities in the state.
Existing law provides for the design, construction, operation, and
maintenance of water development facilities by the state, including
the State Water Project. State Water Project facilities include,
among others, the facilities that are specified or authorized as part
of the state Central Valley Project.
This bill would prohibit the construction of a new Delta
conveyance facility, as defined, unless specified conditions are met,
including (A) the adoption of an agreement by the Department of
Water Resources and the Department of Fish and Game that specifies
the stages of construction of the new Delta conveyance facility and
(B) the establishment plans and agreements for the construction of
specified water facilities and implementation of specified water
programs meeting prescribed conditions as part of the state Central
Valley Project. The bill would prohibit the transportation of water
for the federal Central Valley Project through state project
facilities, with specified exceptions, unless certain conditions are
met.
The bill would require the Department of Water Resources to enter
into contracts with specified Delta agencies for purposes of
recognizing the right of users to make use of the waters of the Delta
and establishing criteria for minimum water quality in the Delta.
The bill would require differences between the state and the Delta
agencies to be resolved by arbitration if contracts have not been
executed by January 1, 2012.
(2) Existing law prohibits the Department of Water Resources, in
the construction and operation of the State Water Project facilities,
from depriving a watershed or area in which water originates, of the
prior right to the water required to supply the beneficial needs of
that area, as specified.
This bill would require the project to be operated in compliance
with specified water quality standards, and would require the
department, the Attorney General, and other state agencies to take
actions to ensure that the federal Central Valley Project is operated
in compliance with those standards.
The bill would require the department to make an allocation of
specified costs of the project to compensate for historic upstream
depletion and diversions, and would prohibit specified public
agencies from being responsible for those allocated costs. The bill
would require the costs of benefits in the Delta resulting from
project operations, in excess of detriments caused by the project, to
be repaid by beneficiaries, to the extent those costs are allocable.
(3) Under existing law, the Department of Fish and Game and the
Department of Water Resources are responsible for specified reports
pertaining to water development projects and the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta.
This bill would authorize the Department of Fish and Game to
administer a study to determine the interrelationship between Delta
outflow and fish and wildlife resources in the San Francisco Bay
System and waste discharges into the San Francisco Bay system.
The bill would require the Department of Water Resources to study
the possible interconnection between the State Water Resources
Development System and water supply systems serving the Counties of
Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and San Mateo, and the City and
County of San Francisco. The bill would also authorize the department
to participate in an investigation of the need to enlarge Shasta Dam
and Reservoir or other existing federal reservoirs.
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 11108 is added to the Water Code, to read:
11108. "Delta" means the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as defined
in Section 12220.
SEC. 2. Section 11109 is added to the Water Code, to read:
11109. "Delta conveyance facility" means a facility that conveys
water directly from the Sacramento River to the State Water Resources
Development System or the federal Central Valley Project pumping
facilities in the south Delta.
SEC. 3. Section 11110 is added to the Water Code, to read:
11110. "Historical levels" means the average annual abundance,
from 1922 through 1967, of the adult populations of fish and wildlife
estimated to have lived in or been dependent on any area, as
determined by the Department of Fish and Game.
SEC. 4. Section 11111 is added to the Water Code, to read:
11111. "Suisun Marsh" means the areas described in Section 29101
of the Public Resources Code, and subject to protection under
Division 19 (commencing with Section 29000) of the Public Resources
Code.
SEC. 5. Article 9.4 (commencing with Section 11259) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 6 of the Water Code, to read:
Article 9.4. Additional Facilities and Programs
11259. Notwithstanding any other law, construction of a new Delta
conveyance facility shall not commence until all of the following
conditions are met:
(a) The department and the Department of Fish and Game adopt a
final agreement that specifies the stages of construction of the new
Delta conveyance facility. For purposes of that agreement, the first
stage of construction shall include new fish screens, which shall be
tested for a period of not less than two years prior to the
commencement of the next phase in order to establish the adequacy of
the fish screens and operational criteria. The agreement shall
provide that the last phase of construction shall not commence until
the department and Department of Fish and Game determine that the
fish screens and operational criteria will adequately protect fish
populations.
(b) Plans and agreements to protect the beneficial uses of the
Delta are in place, including plans and agreements to do all of the
following:
(1) Relocate the intake to the Contra Costa Canal to divert water
from state water facilities, subject to the terms of a contract
between the department and any appropriate agencies representing the
beneficiaries.
(2) Complete the Los Vaqueros unit, located in eastern Contra
Costa County, approximately eight miles west of the Clifton Court
Forebay, is completed. Other offstream storage reservoirs may be
located south or west of the Delta, as determined by the director, to
be served by existing project facilities.
(3) Complete south Delta water quality improvement facilities,
consisting of pumping plants, discharge canals, flow control
structures, and channelization of sloughs to provide improved
circulation, distribution, and quality of water in the southeastern
Delta and to meet the needs of the south Delta area. Those facilities
may include a turnout from the California Aqueduct to the Westley
Wasteway of the federal Delta-Mendota Canal or other facilities to
deliver water to the San Joaquin river. In lieu of that turnout, the
director may enter an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation to
exchange an equivalent amount of water between the Delta-Mendota
Canal and the California Aqueduct. Portions of any new facilities
described in this subdivision that are not integrally connected with
the new Delta conveyance facility shall be constructed only if a
contract between an appropriate agency representing the beneficiaries
and the department is executed.
(4) As mitigation for the past, present, and future adverse
impacts of reduced delta outflows on the wildlife resources of the
Suisun Marsh, construct, maintain, or operate, or contract with the
Suisun Resources Conservation District for the construction,
maintenance, or operation of, the Suisun Marsh overall protection
facilities in accordance with a plan developed by the department in
cooperation with the Suisun Resources Conservation District and the
Department of Fish and Game. These facilities shall be completed no
later than the first stage of construction of the new Delta
conveyance facility, as described in subdivision (a).
(5) (A) The construction of facilities for utilizing groundwater
storage space, as determined by the director to be feasible, for
purposes of providing yield for the State Water Resources Development
System based upon estimates by the department that groundwater
storage can yield 400,000 acre-feet annually, in conjunction with
existing and future surface water supplies, by the recharge and
extraction of ground water and including the capitalized cost of
delivering water for filling or refilling ground water storage space,
in one or more of the following locations within the service area of
the State Water Resources Development System:
(i) The south San Francisco Bay area in the Counties of Santa
Clara and Alameda, served by the South Bay Aqueduct.
(ii) The San Joaquin Valley, served by the California Aqueduct.
(iii) Southern California, served by the California Aqueduct,
including enlargement of the Devil Canyon Power Plant and the Mojave
Division (East Branch) from the Cottonwood Power Plant to Silverwood
Lake.
(B) A facility described in this subdivision shall not be
constructed or operated within the boundaries of an agency that has
contracted for water from the State Water Resources Development
System without a contract with that agency.
(6) Except as provided in paragraph (7), the construction of the
Glenn Reservoir-River Diversion Unit on the west side of the
Sacramento Valley in the vicinity of Stony Creek and Thomes Creek
watersheds.
(7) If the Glenn Reservoir-River Diversion Unit described in
paragraph (6) is not feasible, as determined by the director, the
construction of the Colusa Reservoir-River Diversion Unit on the west
side of the Sacramento Valley in the western portion of the Counties
of Glenn and Colusa. The Sites Reservoir portion of the unit may be
developed at any time hereafter by the federal government as a
facility of the federal Central Valley Project to serve the
Tehama-Colusa Canal and any extension thereof into Yolo and Solano
Counties.
(8) Implementation of wastewater reclamation programs to provide
yield for the State Water Resources Development System. Facilities
for these programs shall be economically competitive with alternative
new water supply sources, and shall not be constructed or operated
within the boundaries of any agency that has contracted for water
from the State Water Resources Development System, unless the
department does so pursuant to a contract with that agency.
(9) Implementation of water conservation programs within the
boundaries of agencies that have contracted for water from the State
Water Resources Development System. However, the implementation of
these programs is contingent upon contracts between the agencies and
the department.
(10) (A) Construction of the Mid-Valley Canal Unit for the
alleviation of groundwater overdraft and provision of water supply
for state and federal water fowl management areas within the canal
service area. Only water developed by facilities other than those of
the project may be delivered through the canal unit, and that water
shall be transported through the new Delta conveyance facility. The
full cost of the canal unit incurred by the state shall be allocated
to agricultural, municipal, and industrial contractors for the
delivered water, and shall be repaid by those contractors.
(B) The Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency is authorized to
indicate in writing the state's intent to agree to administer any
federal multiple-purpose water project land and water areas of the
Mid-Valley Canal Unit for recreation and fish and wildlife
enhancement, as provided in Section 460 l -13 of Title 16
of the United States Code, if the water project is constructed by the
United States.
(11) Construction of the Western Delta Overland Water Facilities,
to supply water to agricultural areas on Sherman Island, Jersey
Island, Hotchkiss Tract, and adjacent areas.
(12) (A) Construction of facilities to provide for the
transportation of water to termini to serve the Counties of San
Joaquin and San Mateo, and the City and County of San Francisco.
(B) Construction of facilities to provide for the transportation
of a supplemental water supply to areas in Alameda and Contra Costa
Counties not served through the Contra Costa Canal or the South Bay
Aqueduct. Water delivered through the facilities shall be water
developed by facilities of the federal Central Valley Project.
11259.3. (a) Construction of facilities described in subdivision
(a) of Section 11259 or paragraph (10) of subdivision (b) of Section
11259 may commence only after the department has entered into a
permanent agreement with the Department of Fish and Game for the
protection and enhancement of fish and wildlife that provides for
both of the following:
(1) The restoration and maintenance of adult populations of fish
and wildlife at historical levels in the Delta and the Suisun Marsh
and the San Francisco Bay system westerly of the Delta. Maintenance
at historical levels shall consider natural fluctuations in annual
water supply and populations of fish and wildlife. The agreement
shall include those limitations on exports and diversions to storage
that are necessary to restoring and maintaining historical levels of
fish and wildlife. To the extent practicable, fresh water needed to
restore and maintain fish and wildlife in the San Francisco Bay
System westerly of the Delta shall be provided from unregulated
flows.
(2) The realization of the potential of the project for increasing
resources above the levels described in paragraph (1) consistent
with the contracts for water delivery and with other purposes of the
projects.
(b) The department shall immediately proceed with activities
prerequisite to the construction of the facilities described in
subdivision (a) of Section 11259, and shall complete the design and
commence construction as soon as possible.
11259.5. (a) The construction of any new facilities described in
paragraphs (3), (6), (7), (8), and (10) of subdivision (b) of Section
11259 is conditional upon the completion of engineering, economic,
environmental, and financial feasibility reports found favorable by
the Director of Water Resources.
(b) Each financial feasibility report shall contain all of the
following:
(1) An initial allocation of project costs to project purposes.
(2) The proposed method of financing.
(3) An estimate of the method of repayment.
(4) A designation of the water and power contractors that are
proposed to repay the allocated reimbursable water development costs,
including interest if any, on upstream storage, conveyance,
operations, maintenance, and replacement.
(5) An estimate of the impact upon retail water prices in the
various service areas of the project.
11259.7. (a) The environmental impact report for the Delta
conveyance facility shall include a discussion of the sources of
mineral, nutrient, and biological components of the Sacramento River,
and shall evaluate the possible impacts to those components
resulting from the operation of the Delta conveyance facility.
(b) If the department determines that there will be significant
adverse mineral, nutrient, or biological effects caused by the
operation of the Delta conveyance facility, the department shall do
all of the following:
(1) Evaluate mitigation measures in the environmental impact
report.
(2) Propose cost allocation principles for mitigation.
(3) Prepare trial cost allocation.
(c) To the extent practicable, the department shall mitigate the
adverse impacts on mineral, nutrient, and biological components
caused by the operation of the Delta conveyance facility.
SEC. 6. Section 11456 is added to the Water Code, to read:
11456. (a) The department shall enter into permanent and
enforceable contracts with the Delta agencies specified in
subdivision (c) for purposes of recognizing the right of users to
make use of the waters of the Delta and establishing criteria for the
minimum quality of water that shall prevail within the Delta before
water may be exported from the Delta. The quality shall be adequate
to permit the preservation of Delta agricultural, domestic, and
environmental uses, as provided in Part 4.5 (commencing with Section
12200).
(b) The contracts shall provide for reasonable payment to be made
for any benefits that may be received through the water supply or
quality provided in the contracts in excess of that which would have
been available in absence of the operations of the State Water
Resources Development System and of the federal Central Valley
Project, and offset by any detriments caused by those operations. If
contracts have not been executed by January 1, 2012, differences
between the state and the Delta agencies specified in subdivision (c)
shall be resolved by arbitration upon the written request of either
party to the proposed contract identifying the issues upon which
arbitration shall be held. Arbitration shall be conducted in
accordance with Title 9 (commencing with Section 1280) of Part 3 of
the Code of Civil Procedure.
(c) The agencies with which the contracts shall be entered
pursuant to subdivision (a) are the following:
(1) North Delta Water Agency.
(2) Central Delta Water Agency.
(3) South Delta Water Agency.
(4) East Contra Costa Irrigation District.
(5) Byron-Bethany Irrigation District.
(6) Contra Costa County Water Agency.
(7) Contra Costa County Water District.
(8) Suisun Resource Conservation District.
(d) When binding determinations have been made involving
two-thirds of the total acreage within the Delta and Suisun Marsh
located within the agencies specified in subdivision (c), the
department or the remaining agencies may withdraw from the
arbitration proceedings. This section shall not supersede any
requirement for elections to approve the contracts, reached by
negotiation or arbitration, as may be required by the act authorizing
creation of the agency.
SEC. 7. Section 11457 is added to the Water Code, to read:
11457. The costs of providing any benefits received by
agricultural, municipal, and industrial water users in the Delta as a
result of project operations, in excess of any detriments caused by
project operations, shall be repayable to the department by the
beneficiaries, to the extent properly allocable. The costs of
providing the benefits shall not be reimbursable by any State Water
Resources Development System water service contractor who does not
receive those benefits.
SEC. 8. Section 11458 is added to the Water Code, to read:
11458. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the department
shall not transport water for the federal Central Valley Project
through project facilities, including the Delta conveyance facility,
unless both of the following events occur:
(1) The Congress of the United States enacts legislation or the
Secretary of the Interior enters into a permanent contract with the
department that requires operation of the federal Central Valley
Project in accordance with all of the following conditions:
(A) Operation in full coordination with the State Water Resources
Development System and in compliance with water quality standards
adopted pursuant to Section 13170 and as set forth as conditions in
permits and licenses pursuant to Part 2 (commencing with Section
1200) of Division 2. Actions of the board in establishing water
quality standards and conditions in permits and licenses shall be a
combined action meeting all of the applicable requirements of Part 2
(commencing with Section 1200) of Division 2.
(B) Operation in conformity with a permanent agreement between the
United States and the state for the protection and enhancement of
fish and wildlife, which shall provide for both of the following:
(i) The restoration and maintenance of adult populations of fish
and wildlife at historical levels in the Delta and the Suisun Marsh
and the San Francisco Bay System westerly of the Delta. Maintenance
at historical levels shall consider natural fluctuations in annual
water supply and populations of fish and wildlife. The agreement
shall include those limitations on exports and diversions to storage
that are necessary to assist in restoring and maintaining historical
levels of fish and wildlife. To the extent practicable, fresh water
needed to restore and maintain fish and wildlife in the San Francisco
Bay System westerly of the Delta shall be provided from unregulated
flows.
(ii) The realization of the potential of the project for
increasing these resources above the levels in paragraph (i),
consistent with the contracts for water delivery and with other
purposes of the projects.
(2) The federal government agrees to the transportation of water
of the federal Central Valley Project through the facilities
described in subdivision (a) of Section 11259.
(b) The department may transport water for the federal Central
Valley Project through project facilities, in accordance with the
following:
(1) Contracts between the department and the United States
existing on January 1, 2012.
(2) The requirements of any decision of the State Water Resources
Control Board.
(3) For the San Felipe Unit of the federal Central Valley Project,
in implementation of the principles of the agreement between the
department and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. If operation of
the federal Central Valley Project to meet Delta water quality
standards requires proportionate reduction in deliveries of water to
the San Felipe Unit, those reductions will be made.
SEC. 9. Section 11460 of the Water Code is amended to read:
11460. (a) In the construction and
operation by the department of any project under the
provisions of this part , a watershed or area
wherein in which water originates, or
an area immediately adjacent thereto which
that can conveniently be supplied with water therefrom
from that area , shall not be deprived by the
department , directly or indirectly , of the
prior right to all of the water reasonably required to adequately
supply the beneficial needs of the watershed, area, or any of the
inhabitants or property owners therein in
that area .
(b) The project shall be operated in compliance with water quality
standards set forth as conditions in permits or licenses pursuant to
Part 2 (commencing with Section 1200) of Division 2 and in water
quality control plans, as provided in Section 13170 or as established
by contract, including rectifying failure of the United States to
operate the federal Central Valley Project in accordance with those
standards. Actions of the state board in establishing water quality
standards and conditions in permits and licenses shall be a combined
action meeting all of the applicable requirements of Part 2
(commencing with Section 1200) of Division 2.
(c) The department, the Attorney General, and other state agencies
shall take all necessary actions, including initiating or
participating in judicial, administrative, and legislative
proceedings, to assure that the federal Central Valley Project is
operated in compliance with standards established by the state board,
as specified in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a)
of Section 11458.
SEC. 10. Section 11915.2 is added to the Water Code, to read:
11915.2. The department shall make an allocation of the costs to
the project to provide water for water quality, fish and wildlife,
and recreation in the Delta, Suisun Marsh, or San Francisco Bay, to
compensate for historic upstream depletions and diversions that have
reduced the amount of water naturally available in the Delta, Suisun
Marsh, and San Francisco Bay. Public agencies that have contracted
for water supplies from the project shall not be responsible for
these allocated costs.
SEC. 11. (a) The Department of Fish and Game may administer a
comprehensive study to determine the interrelationship between Delta
outflow, including flushing flows, fish and wildlife resources in the
San Francisco Bay system westerly of the Delta, and waste discharges
into the San Francisco Bay system. The State Water Resources Control
Board shall be responsible for the portions of the study relating to
waste discharges. The study and the work plan for it shall be
reviewed by a committee composed of representatives of the San
Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the State
Water Resources Control Board, and the Department of Water Resources.
(b) The Department of Fish and Game shall report progress on the
study annually to the Legislature. The report shall include
recommendations for coordination with any other ongoing related study
and for adjustment in funding, and the report shall include
independent statements of review from each agency on the review
committee.
(c) The primary purpose of the study described in subdivision (a)
is to provide data to aid the State Water Resources Control Board in
its consideration of the need to set standards to protect San
Francisco Bay to assure that planning for future projects will not
appreciably reduce unregulated delta outflows before the State Water
Resources Control Board determines the need for water quality
standards to protect the San Francisco Bay System westerly of the
Delta.
(d) The study need not be completed before the final environmental
impact report on the Delta conveyance facility, as described in
subdivision (a) of Section 11259 of the Water Code, is adopted.
(e) The study may be included in any existing study performed by
the Department of Fish and Game that meets the requirements of
subdivision (a).
(f) This section shall not affect the obligation of the Department
of Water Resources under the California Environmental Quality Act
(Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources
Code).
(g) (1) The requirement for submitting a report under subdivision
(c) is inoperative on December 31, 2016, pursuant to Section 10231.5
of the Government Code.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (c) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 12. The Department of Water Resources shall study the
possible interconnection between the State Water Resources
Development System and water supply systems serving the Counties of
Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, and San Mateo, and the City and
County of San Francisco.
SEC. 13. The Department of Water Resources may participate in an
investigation of the need to enlarge Shasta Dam and Reservoir or
other existing federal reservoirs for joint use of the State Water
Resources Development System and the federal Central Valley Project,
if a contract is executed for this purpose between the Secretary of
the Interior and the Department of Water Resources. The study shall
be subject to Section 11259.5 of the Water Code.
