BILL NUMBER: SB 846 AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 3, 2011 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 25, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Senator Berryhill FEBRUARY 18, 2011 An act to amend Section 10004.5 of the Water Code, relating to water. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 846, as amended, Berryhill. The 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 astheThe California Water Plan. Existing law prescribes the contents oftheThe 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 and would prescribe requirements relating to the contents and conduct of the assessment . 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 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. The department shall identify and evaluate tools that would collect, centralize, standardize, and analyze available water information throughout the st ate in a timely manner. The department shall include a discussion of advance data acquisition technologies and outline strategies to utilize that information to improve efficiency of water resource management. In conducting the assessment, the department shall collaborate with state, federal, and local agencies to assess the existing catalog of water information that is being collected throughout the state, and shall identify existing information gaps.