AB 647: Beneficial use: storing of water underground.

Under existing law, the right to water or to the use of water is limited to that amount of water that may be reasonably required for the beneficial use to be served. Existing law provides for the reversion of water rights to which a person is entitled when the person fails to beneficially use the water for a period of 5 years. Existing law declares that the storing of water underground, and related diversions for that purpose, constitute a beneficial use of water if the stored water is thereafter applied to the beneficial purposes for which the appropriation for storage was made.

This bill would repeal that declaration and instead declare that the diversion of water to underground storage constitutes a beneficial use of water if the water so stored is thereafter applied to the beneficial purposes for which the appropriation for storage was made, or if the water is so stored consistent with a sustainable groundwater management plan, statutory authority to conduct groundwater recharge, or a judicial decree and is for specified purposes. This bill would require any person, regardless of an existing water right, person seeking to store water underground to first apply to the State Water Resources Control Board for a permit to appropriate water or petition the board for a change change, as specified. This bill would require the board to include specified conditions in an approved permit or petition. This bill would provide that the period for the reversion of a water right does not include any period when the water is being used in the aquifer or storage area or is being held in storage for later application to beneficial use, area, as prescribed.