Bill Text: CA SB846 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: The California Water Plan: water data.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-08-17 - Hearing postponed by committee. [SB846 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SB846-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 846	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 25, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Berryhill

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to amend Section  81301   10004.5
 of the Water Code, relating to water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 846, as amended, Berryhill.  Bay Area Water Supply and
Conservation Agency.   California Water Plan: water
data.  
   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 prescribes the contents of the California Water Plan, and
requires the department to include a discussion of various strategies
in the plan, including strategies relating to the development of new
water storage facilities, water conservation, water recycling,
desalination, conjunctive use, and water transfers that may be
pursued in order to meet the future needs of the state.  
   This bill would additionally require the department to include in
the plan an assessment of the state's water data system. 

   The Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency Act governs the
formation and operation of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation
Agency. The act includes legislative findings and declarations with
respect to the San Francisco regional water system and the
establishment of the agency.  
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those
legislative findings and declarations. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 10004.5 of the   Water
Code   is amended to read: 
   10004.5.   (a)    As part of the requirement of
the department to update The California Water Plan pursuant to
subdivision (b) of Section 10004, the department shall include in the
plan a discussion of various strategies, including, but not limited
to, those relating to the development of new water storage
facilities, water conservation, water recycling, desalination,
conjunctive use, and water transfers that may be pursued in order to
meet the future water needs of the state. The department shall also
include a discussion of the potential for alternative water pricing
policies to change current and projected uses. The department shall
include in the plan a discussion of the potential advantages and
disadvantages of each strategy and an identification of all federal
and state permits, approvals, or entitlements that are anticipated to
be required in order to implement the various components of the
strategy. 
   (b) The department shall include in the plan an assessment of the
state's water data system.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 81301 of the Water Code is
amended to read:
   81301.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (a) Many separate cities, districts, and public utilities are
responsible for distribution of water in portions of the Bay Area
served by the regional water system operated by the City and County
of San Francisco. Residents in the Counties of Alameda, San Mateo,
and Santa Clara, who depend on the water made available on a
wholesale basis by the regional water system, have no right to vote
in elections in the City and County of San Francisco and are not
represented on the San Francisco commission that oversees operation
of the regional water system.
   (b) The San Francisco regional water system is vulnerable to
catastrophic damage in a severe earthquake, which could result in San
Francisco and neighboring communities being without potable water
for up to 60 days. The San Francisco regional water system is also
susceptible to severe water shortages during periods of below average
precipitation because of insufficient storage and the absence of
contractual arrangements for alternative dry year supplies.
   (c) The lack of a local, intergovernmental, cooperative governance
structure for the San Francisco regional water system prevents a
systematic, rational, cost-effective program of water supply, water
conservation, and recycling from being developed, funded, and
implemented.
   (d) It is the intent of the Legislature to enable local
governments responsible for water distribution in the Counties of
Alameda, San Mateo, and Santa Clara to establish a multicounty agency
authorized to plan for and acquire supplemental water supplies, to
encourage water conservation and use of recycled water on a regional
basis, and to assist in the financing of essential repairs and
improvements to the San Francisco regional water system, including
seismic strengthening.
   (e) The need for coordinated planning and implementation of
strategies for water supply, water conservation, water recycling, and
repair and improvement of the San Francisco regional system may
appropriately lead to the establishment of the Bay Area Water
Planning and Conservation Agency.