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.