Existing law establishes the Department of Water Resources in the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law authorizes the department to investigate any natural situation available for reservoirs or reservoir systems for gathering and distributing flood or other water not under beneficial use in any stream, stream system, lake, or other body of water. Existing law also authorizes the department to ascertain the feasibility of projects for those reservoirs or reservoir systems, the supply of water that may thereby be made available, and the extent and character of the areas that may be thereby irrigated, as well as the cost of those projects.

The bill would require the department to prepare and produce a report to the Legislature, by July 1, 2024, outlining best practices for aquifer recharge. The bill would require the report to include specified information, including, among other things, guidelines for a streamlined permitting process for aquifer recharge projects that implement the best practices outlined in the report. The bill would also require the department to create a grant program by July 1, 2025, to implement best practices in aquifer recharge, including a streamlined process for the issuance of a permit. grant funds.

Existing law establishes the Department of Water Resources in the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law authorizes the department to investigate any natural situation available for reservoirs or reservoir systems for gathering and distributing flood or other water not under beneficial use in any stream, stream system, lake, or other body of water. Existing law also authorizes the department to ascertain the feasibility of projects for those reservoirs or reservoir systems, the supply of water that may thereby be made available, and the extent and character of the areas that may be thereby irrigated, as well as the cost of those projects.

The bill would require the department to prepare and produce a report outlining best practices for aquifer recharge. The bill would require the report to include guidelines for a streamlined permitting process for aquifer recharge projects that implement the best practices outlined in the report. The bill would also require the department to create a grant program to implement best practices in aquifer recharge, including a streamlined process for the issuance of a permit.

Date of Hearing: May 10, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 900

Author:(Bennett) – As Amended Ver:April 12, 2023

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to submit a report to the Legislature outlining best practices for aquifer recharge and to implement a grant program to implement these best practices.

Specifically, this bill, among other things:

1. Requires DWR, by July 1, 2024, to receive input from various stakeholders and produce a report for the Legislature outlining best practices for aquifer recharge and provides that the report shall include guidelines for a streamlined permitting process for aquifer recharge projects that implement the best practices outlined in the report.
2. Requires DWR to include in its report information regarding specified outcomes of implementation of Executive Order (EO) N-4-23 as well as recommendations on whether the EO needs to be made into a permanent program and, if so, what policy changes are necessary to accomplish this.
3. Requires DWR, by July 1, 2025, to implement a grant program to implement the report’s best practices, including a streamlined process for the issuance of grant funds.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1) Costs of an unknown but potentially significant amount, likely in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, for DWR to produce the required report, conduct stakeholder outreach, and create and administer the grant program (General Fund).

2) Costs of an unknown but significant amount, likely in the hundreds of thousands to low millions of dollars, for DWR to provide grants under the proposed program (General Fund).

COMMENTS:

1) Purpose. According to the author:

Even with the recent massive storms, California is still facing an unprecedented and severe drought. Recently, we have become increasingly dependent on our groundwater supply. Many of these groundwater basins have taken decades, if not centuries, to fill and we are draining the water far faster than we can replenish it. Improving groundwater recharge is a delicate balance between the need to maintain surface flows for the ecosystem and the value of capturing surplus stormwater flows to recharge basins.

2) Background. According to DWR, groundwater is a critical source of water for both farms and cities in California, supplying 40% of water in a typical year and as much as 60% in drought years. About 80% of Californians use groundwater for drinking or other household uses. Signed into law in 2014, after nearly a century of mismanagement of the state’s groundwater resources, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) established a statewide framework to help protect groundwater resources over the long term. SGMA requires local agencies to form groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) for medium- and high-priority basins as designated by DWR. A GSA, which is made up of one or more local agencies overlying a groundwater basin, must develop and implement a groundwater sustainability plan (GSP). GSPs provide a roadmap for how groundwater basins will reach long-term sustainability without causing undesirable results, namely significant groundwater level declines, groundwater storage reductions, seawater intrusion, water quality degradation, land subsidence, and surface water depletions.

Groundwater basins can recharge naturally, through percolation of water into the land, but it happens slowly over time. Millions of acre-feet of water naturally collect in aquifers in years of abundant precipitation. Recharge also happens more directly, when people divert and convey water to specific areas, like percolation ponds. Managed recharge requires planning. Infrastructure must be built, and at times permits are needed to ensure that diversions from creeks and rivers do not harm fish and wildlife or other water users. Groundwater recharge is an important strategy to attain the goals of SGMA and virtually all the GSPs submitted to DWR to date include groundwater recharge as a management action. Despite the merits of groundwater recharge, various analyses have identified barriers to implementation of these projects. A white paper on “Flood-MAR” (managed aquifer recharge) completed by DWR in 2018 found that “complex technical, legal, and institutional barriers and challenges affect the planning and implementation of Flood-MAR.”

EO N-4-23. Issued on March 10, 2023, this broad and sweeping EO finds that “capturing and storing storm and snowpack runoff underground to recharge aquifers is an important strategy to help regions stabilize water supplies in the face of hydrologic extremes.” In an effort to streamline permitting requirements, the EO waives Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement (LSAA), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and water right permit requirements for water diversions for groundwater recharge projects that meet specified criteria. This bill requires DWR to report on implementation of the EO.

While this bill directs only DWR to submit the required report, current law requires a permit from the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) and the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to pull water from the state’s rivers and canals for groundwater recharge. DWR will likely need to closely coordinate with the State Water Board and DFW to implement this bill. The author may wish to provide more clarity, detail, and direction to DWR regarding the proposed grant program.

Writing in a support-if-amended position, a coalition of environmental justice organizations contend that while groundwater recharge projects can benefit nearby communities if they are done in a thoughtful manner, they can also cause significant and irreparable harm to groundwater quality and sources of drinking water if done without proper analysis. The coalition offers amendments to ensure the development of best practices for aquifer recharge includes analysis and mapping of safe recharge sites.

Analysis Prepared by: Nikita Koraddi / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 18, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE

Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 900 (

Author:Bennett) – As Amended Ver:April 12, 2023

SUBJECT: Aquifer recharge

SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to complete a report outlining best practices for groundwater recharge and other specified information as well as guidelines for a streamlined granting process for recharge projects that adhere to best practices. Specifically, this bill:

1. Adds “aquifers” to the definition of “natural infrastructure” used for the Safeguarding California Plan.
2. Requires DWR to produce a report outlining best practices for aquifer recharge by July 1, 2024, and provides that the report shall include guidelines for a streamlined permitting practices process based on the report.
3. Requires DWR to engage stakeholders including academic institutions, farmers and ranchers, nongovernmental organizations, and local agencies to receive input on best practices for aquifer recharge.
4. Requires the report to include information regarding implementation of Executive Order (EO) N-4-23 and recommendations to the Legislature for a permanent program.
5. Requires DWR to create a grant program to implement the report’s best practices and streamlined process for issuance of grant funds by July 1, 2025.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Provides the storing of water underground is a beneficial use of water so long as the water stored is subsequently applied to beneficial purposes (Water Code § 1242).
2. Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) to issue a temporary permit to divert water if the applicant has an urgent need to do so. Prescribes a process for the issuance of a temporary permit and provides that a temporary permit expires after 180 days unless renewed for another 180-day period (Water Code § 1425 et seq.).
3. Authorizes the State Water Board to issue a conditional temporary permit for diversion of surface water to groundwater storage to a groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) or local agency. Outlines an expedited permitting pathway for such permits and provides that they have a term of five years (Water Code § 1433 et seq.).

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose of this bill. According to the author, “even with the recent massive storms, California is still facing an unprecedented and severe drought. Recently, we have become increasingly dependent on our groundwater supply. Many of these groundwater basins have taken decades, if not centuries, to fill and we are draining the water far faster than we can replenish it. Improving groundwater recharge is a delicate balance between the need to maintain surface flows for the ecosystem and the value of capturing surplus stormwater flows to recharge basins.” The author asserts that this bill will help accelerate groundwater recharge by directing DWR to develop best practices, guidelines for streamlined issuance of grant funds, and a grant program to implement its recommendations.
2. Background. According to DWR, groundwater supplies approximately 40 percent of California’s water supply in a “normal” year and as much as 60 percent in dry years. Many of California’s groundwater basins are “overdrafted,” a condition where more water is extracted in a given year than is recharged by rainfall or infiltration of surface waters. The overdrafting of groundwater basins was the main cause behind the enactment of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 that requires GSAs in overdrafted basins to develop a groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) to achieve sustainable groundwater management within 20 years. In 2017, the Public Policy Institute of California estimated that the average annual groundwater deficit in the San Joaquin Valley between 1988 and 2017 was 1.8 million acre-feet.
   
   Groundwater recharge is an important strategy to reverse this trend and attain the goals of SGMA and virtually all of the GSPs that have been submitted to date include groundwater recharge as a management action. Despite the merits of groundwater recharge, various analyses have identified barriers to implementation of these projects. A white paper on “Flood-MAR” (managed aquifer recharge) completed by DWR in 2018 found that “complex technical, legal, and institutional barriers and challenges affect the planning and implementation of Flood-MAR.” According to the white paper, these challenges fall into the following categories: (1) cooperation and governance; (2) policy; (3) legal; and (4) implementation.
   
   EO N-4-23. Issued on March 10, 2023, this broad and sweeping EO finds that “capturing and storing storm and snowpack runoff underground to recharge aquifers is an important strategy to help regions stabilize water supplies in the face of hydrologic extremes” and waives Lake and Streambed Alteration Agreement (LSAA), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and water right permit requirements for water diversions for groundwater recharge projects that meet specified criteria. These criteria include: diversions between March 10, 2023 and June 1, 2023, occur after notice by a local agency, and water diverted cannot be applied to dairyland, any agricultural land where pesticide or fertilizer has been applied in the last 30 days, or any area that could damage levees or drinking water infrastructure. This bill requires DWR to report on implementation of this EO.
   
   Safeguarding California Plan. This is a climate adaptation plan for the state authored by the California Natural Resources Agency. It establishes a vision to make the state more climate resilient and identifies principles, goals, and strategies to address ongoing and future impacts of climate change. The plan includes actions that could be taken by local agencies. The plan was most recently updated in 2018 and is anticipated to be updated every three years going forward.
3. Arguments in support. The Climate Reality Project, California State Coalition supports this bill arguing that “stormwater capture and storage in underground basins can help mitigate the effects of prolonged drought.” The Coalition contends that groundwater basins are an essential part of California’s water infrastructure and have the ability to store eight to twelve more times the water of surface storage. Finally, the Coalition maintains that “expedited permitting and grant funding will be essential to ensure that water storage goals are met.”
4. Related legislation. AB 658 (Arambula), Chapter 678, Statutes of 2019, permits GSAs or other local agencies to apply to the State Water Board for a temporary five-year permit to divert surface water to groundwater storage during high-flow events.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Climate Reality Project, California State Coalition

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Pablo Garza / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096