Bill Text: CA SB659 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: California Water Supply Solutions Act of 2023.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 624, Statutes of 2023. [SB659 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB659-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  March 20, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 659

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Introduced by Senator Ashby

February 16, 2023

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An act to add Section 114 to Part 2.77 (commencing with Section 10785) to Division 6 of the Water Code, relating to groundwater.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 659, as amended, Ashby. Groundwater recharge: minimum requirement. California Water Supply Solutions Act of 2023.

Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to update every 5 years the plan for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the state, which is known as The California Water Plan. Existing law requires the department to include a discussion of various strategies in the plan update, including, but not limited to, strategies relating to the development of new water storage facilities, water conservation, water recycling, desalination, conjunctive use, water transfers, and alternative pricing policies that may be pursued in order to meet the future needs of the state.

This bill would establish the California Water Supply Solutions Act of 2023 to, among other things, achieve an increase of 10,000,000 acre-feet of annual groundwater recharge by December 31, 2035, in order to increase the state’s groundwater supply. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2025, the department, in consultation with the water boards, as defined, to prepare and approve a groundwater recharge action plan to be included in the next update to the California Water Plan. The bill would require the groundwater recharge action plan to identify and make recommendations on immediate opportunities and potential long-term solutions to increase the state’s groundwater supply, as specified. The bill would require specified actions with regards to the groundwater recharge action plan, including, among other things, requiring the department and water boards to update the groundwater recharge action plan at the same time that they prepare updates to the California Water Plan. The bill would require, by December 31, 2035, the department and water boards to implement the recommendations identified in the groundwater recharge action plan that result in new infrastructure and institutional mechanisms in place that provide for the ability to create an additional average annual groundwater recharge amount of 10,000,000 acre-feet.

Existing law establishes the Department of Water Resources within the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law provides that it is the policy of the state that groundwater resources be managed sustainably for long-term reliability and multiple economic, social, and environmental benefits for current and future beneficial uses.

This bill would establish that it is the policy of the state to recharge groundwater by a minimum of 10 million acre-feet of water annually. The bill would require the department to promulgate regulations necessary to implement this policy.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Part 2.77 (commencing with Section 10785) is added to Division 6 of the Water Code, to read:

PART 2.77. CALIFORNIA WATER SUPPLY SOLUTIONS ACT OF 2023

CHAPTER  1. General Provisions

10785.

 This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Water Supply Solutions Act of 2023.

10786.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) California’s water usage is highly reliant on capturing the snow melt from the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada region on an annual basis. That water is stored in lakes and reservoirs and is then transported throughout the state for environmental, residential, commercial, and agricultural use when needed.

(b) California has the most intricate and elaborate system of water conveyance in the world.

(c) The State Water Project and the Central Valley Project are transcendent to statewide water supply.

(d) The State Water Project and the Central Valley Project provide water for approximately 30,000,000 people and nearly 4,000,000 acres of agricultural land.

(e) Most California cities and farms as we know them today would not exist without the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project.

(f) Climate change is resulting in a snowpack that is no longer reliable. Instead, California is experiencing infrequent storm events and long periods of drought. California’s precipitation is changing from seasonal snow in the Sierra Nevada region to periods of substantial rainfall, like those from atmospheric rivers.

(g) Climate change is a serious threat to the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, and by extension, is a serious threat to our statewide water supply. These systems will lose 10 percent of their supplies by 2040. This constitutes a loss of 6,000,000 to 9,000,000 acre-feet of water annually, or the equivalent of the amount of water used to irrigate approximately 20 percent of all agricultural land in the state, or all of the residents, businesses, schools, parks, and sports fields in the state.

(h) As of 2023, the only known solution that can meet the scale of the problem is groundwater recharge.

(i) The Department of Water Resources describes a statewide capacity in groundwater basins in the range of 1,000,000,000 acre-feet, or approximately 20 times the total surface water storage capacity statewide.

(j) According to the Department of Water Resources, there is the potential for over 13,000,000 acre-feet of groundwater recharge in any given wet year, with more than 2,500,000 acre-feet of existing infrastructure that could currently be available, but that is underutilized.

(k) Groundwater recharge has the greatest capacity to meet the scale of the challenge and is also the lowest cost option per acre-foot.

(l) Groundwater recharge is environmentally friendly, the utilization of which can provide benefits beyond not only water supply, but flood control and improved environmental conditions. For example, in a recent analysis of a central valley river, it was estimated that full implementation of groundwater recharge projects could simultaneously address 63 percent of water supply shortages and provide a 65 percent reduction in flood risk. Additionally, other groundwater recharge projects would prioritize storage in reservoirs, minimizing demand for surface water in dry conditions when that water is most valuable for environmental flows.

(m) California must make a historic change in how water is provided for environmental, residential, commercial, and agricultural use when needed. Enhancing the ability to recharge groundwater is essential for current and future water management that is consistent with present-day values of equity and environmental stewardship. As the lowest cost option to meet the scale of water supply needs, groundwater recharge can best balance equity challenges faced between affordability and access.

(n) California must prioritize significantly increasing the recharge of groundwater by 2035 in order to avoid the severe impacts on water supplies coming by 2040.

10787.

 For purposes of this part, the following state agencies have the following recognized roles:

(a) The department is the state agency that provides guidance, regulatory oversight, technical analysis and data, and financial support to local water agencies that have the responsibility to sustainably manage groundwater in state’s high- and medium- priority groundwater basins, to benefit the state’s people and protect, restore, and enhance the natural and human environments.

(b) The State Water Resources Control Board and the nine regional water quality control boards, collectively known as the water boards, work with other state agencies in providing abundant clean water for human use and environmental protection to sustain the state’s future.

CHAPTER  2. Definitions

10788.

 For purposes of this part, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) “Groundwater recharge” means actions to increase the amount of raw, treated, or recycled water in groundwater basins through human-controlled means including, but not limited to, use of aquifer storage and recovery wells, injection wells, surface spreading basins, field flooding, stormwater capture, flood managed basin, and in-lieu recharge.

(b) “Groundwater supply” means water that at any point in time is being stored underground that is available for human use and environmental protection to sustain the state’s future.

(c) “Water boards” means the State Water Resources Control Board and the nine regional water quality control boards.

CHAPTER  3. Statewide Groundwater Recharge Goal

10789.

 By December 31, 2035, the department and water boards shall implement the recommendations identified in the groundwater recharge plan, pursuant to this part, that result in new infrastructure and institutional mechanisms in place that provide for the ability to create an additional average annual groundwater recharge amount of 10,000,000 acre-feet.

CHAPTER  4. Groundwater Recharge Action Plan

10790.

 (a) On or before January 1, 2025, the department, in consultation with the water boards, shall prepare and approve a groundwater recharge action plan, to be included in the next update to the California Water Plan. The groundwater recharge action plan shall provide actionable recommendations that result in the ability to achieve an annual increase of 10,000,000 acre-feet of groundwater recharge by December 31, 2035, in order to increase the state’s groundwater supply and avoid otherwise inevitable water shortages.

(b) (1) The groundwater recharge action plan shall identify and make recommendations on immediate opportunities and potential long-term solutions to increase the state’s groundwater supply.

(2) The department and water boards shall seek out and consider all relevant information from the agriculture, environmental, and environmental justice sectors, local water supply agencies, any communities potentially impacted by the groundwater recharge action plan, and from researchers and experts on climate science, climate science solutions, water storage, water conveyance, and environmental protection.

(c) The department and water boards shall conduct a series of public workshops to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the groundwater recharge action plan. The department and water boards shall conduct a portion of these workshops in regions of the state that have been impacted the most by drought, including, but not limited to, communities with minority populations, communities with low-income populations, agricultural communities, and water disparate communities.

(d) The department and water boards shall evaluate the total potential costs and total potential economic and noneconomic benefits of implementing the recommendations of the groundwater recharge action plan.

(e) The department and water boards shall update the groundwater recharge action plan at the same time that they prepare updates to the California Water Plan.

10791.

 On or before December 31, 2035, the department and water boards shall implement the recommendations identified in the groundwater recharge action plan.

10792.

 Nothing in this part shall do any of the following:

(a) Limit or reduce the existing surface storage of water.

(b) Affect or change any water right.

(c) Prioritize any one use of water over another use, define what is to be considered a beneficial use of water, or in any way influence how the increased supply of groundwater under this part shall be used.

SECTION 1.Section 114 is added to the Water Code, to read:

114.

(a)It is the policy of the state to recharge groundwater by a minimum of 10 million acre-feet of water annually.

(b)The department shall promulgate regulations necessary to implement this policy.