SECTIONS 10000-10003 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 10000-10003

10000. The coordinated plan for the conservation, development, and
utilization of the water resources of the State (except the project
known as the "Trinity River Diversion," which is not approved) as set
forth in the report thereon formulated and prepared by the
Department of Public Works and transmitted to the Forty-ninth Session
of the Legislature pursuant to Chapter 832 of the Statutes of 1929
shall be known as the "State Water Plan."

10001. The approval and adoption of the State Water Plan by Chapter
1185 of the Statutes of 1941 are continued in effect, except that
the project known as the "Trinity River Diversion," constitutes no
part of the State Water Plan.

10001.3. The American River Development, as described in Public Law
356 of the Eighty-first Congress, First Session, and as constructed
by the Federal Government, is part of the State Water Plan.

10001.5. Notwithstanding any provisions of this article or any
other provision of law to the contrary, the project known as the
"Coloma Dam and Reservoir" constitutes no part of the State Water
Plan.
In no event shall a permit to appropriate water be issued by the
State for the purposes of a project which will flood any portion of
the Gold Discovery Site State Park at Coloma unless such issuance is
specifically authorized by law.

10001.6. (a) The Georgetown Divide Public Utility District has the
right to pursue, without any right of assignment to other parties,
the district's preliminary permit number 4287 which was issued by the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the right to pursue a
license from that commission for development of the South Fork of the
American River between Chili Bar Reservoir and Salmon Falls Bridge.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the "date when the federal
application process is completed" shall be defined relative to the
district's preliminary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permit
number 4287, any subsequent application for license, and any
subsequent license for development of the South Fork of the American
River between Chili Bar Reservoir and Salmon Falls Bridge, as that
date when the first of the following occur:
(1) The date when the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District's
preliminary permit number 4287 expires if it expires before the
district makes an application for license to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission.
(2) The date when a final determination is made, either by the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or by the court, upon rejection
of the application for a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
license.
(3) The date when a final determination is made, either by the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or by the court, upon issuance
or denial of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license.
(4) Three years after the expiration date of preliminary permit
number 4287.
(5) The date when the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District
permanently and irrevocably withdraws its Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission preliminary permit number 4287.
(c) Until the date when the federal application process is
completed, no water rights application shall be accepted for filing,
and no permit to appropriate water shall be issued, except from or to
the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District, by the board for the
purposes of any project which would directly divert water or divert
water by storage for any beneficial use from the South Fork of the
American River between Chili Bar Reservoir and Salmon Falls Bridge,
except that this limitation on the filing or issuance of water rights
does not apply to water rights applications or to the issuance of
permits to appropriate water solely for consumptive use by residents
of El Dorado County.
Nothing in this subdivision shall affect the exercise of riparian
rights.
(d) For 10 years after the date when the federal application
process is completed, no water rights application shall be accepted
for filing, and no permit to appropriate water shall be issued, by
the board for the purposes of any project which would directly divert
water or divert water by storage for any beneficial use from the
South Fork of the American River between Chili Bar Reservoir and
Salmon Falls Bridge, except that this limitation on the filing or
issuance of water rights does not apply to water rights applications
or to the issuance of permits to appropriate water solely for
consumptive use by residents of El Dorado County.
Nothing in this subdivision shall affect the exercise of riparian
rights.
(e) Until 20 years after the date when the federal application
process is completed, the statutory requirements of Part 2
(commencing with Section 1200) of Division 2 relating to diligence do
not apply to applications from the Georgetown Divide Public Utility
District for water rights from the South Fork of the American River
between Chili Bar Reservoir and Salmon Falls Bridge, and those
applications shall remain valid and shall retain and have the status
and priority accorded to water rights applications by law other than
this section until that date. After that date, all such requirements
relating to diligence, as are now or hereafter provided, shall apply
to the applications. No time requirement for acting on water rights
applications, imposed on the board by any provision of law, shall
apply to applications from the Georgetown Divide Public Utility
District for water rights from the South Fork of the American River
between Chili Bar Reservoir and Salmon Falls Bridge until the
diligence requirements identified in this subdivision become
applicable to the applications.
(f) From 10 years after the date when the federal application
process is completed, no water rights application shall be accepted
for filing, and no permit to appropriate water shall be issued,
except from or to the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District, by
the board for the purposes of any project which would directly divert
water or divert water by storage for any beneficial use from the
South Fork of the American River between Chili Bar Reservoir and
Salmon Falls Bridge, except that this limitation on the filing or
issuance of water rights does not apply to water rights applications
or to the issuance of permits to appropriate water solely for
consumptive use by residents of El Dorado County.
Nothing in this subdivision shall affect the exercise of riparian
rights.
This subdivision shall cease to be operative 20 years after the
date when the federal application process is completed.
(g) Any applicant for water rights whose project on the South Fork
of the American River between Chili Bar Reservoir and Salmon Falls
Bridge would reduce river flows below the flows necessary to continue
instream recreational beneficial uses on that portion of the river
shall evaluate alternatives which would not reduce the flows below
those necessary to continue instream recreational beneficial uses.
(h) Any person who after the effective date of this section
receives a permit or license to appropriate water at any point on the
South Fork of the American River between Chili Bar Reservoir and
Salmon Falls Bridge and who is also an applicant receiving a Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission power license for a project on the South
Fork of the American River between Chili Bar Reservoir and Salmon
Falls Bridge shall replace in-kind at the time of loss any instream
navigation, fishery, and swimming uses which are lost as a result of
the project. The in-kind replacement may include, but is not limited
to, improvement in flow reliability which would offset adverse
changes in flows. The requirements of this subdivision shall be
applicable to the applicants and their assignees and successors. The
board shall, in accordance with the provisions of Division 2
(commencing with Section 1000), include terms and conditions in any
water rights permit or license issued on any application to implement
the requirements of this subdivision.
This subdivision shall not be operative or cease to be operative,
as the case may be, if the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District
permanently and irrevocably withdraws its Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission preliminary permit number 4287 not later than 10 days
after the operative date of this section.
(i) The Georgetown Divide Public Utility District shall not
transfer any Federal Energy Regulatory Commission License received
for any project on the South Fork of the American River between Chili
Bar Reservoir and Salmon Falls Bridge, except that the district may
transfer the license to a nongovernmental entity which is not a water
purveyor or a power utility solely for the purpose of financing if
the license is returned to the Georgetown Divide Public Utility
District immediately after the financing purpose is accomplished.
The Georgetown Divide Public Utility District shall not transfer
any water rights permit or license received for any project which
would directly divert water or divert water by storage for any
beneficial use from the South Fork of the American River between
Chili Bar Reservoir and Salmon Falls Bridge, except that the district
may transfer the permit or license to a nongovernmental entity which
is not a water purveyor or a power utility solely for the purpose of
financing if the permit or license is returned to the Georgetown
Divide Public Utility District immediately after the financing
purpose is accomplished.
(j) This section shall become operative on January 1, 1983, or on
the date that the board issues a water rights permit or permits for
the South Fork American River Project which is acceptable to the
applicant, or on the date that the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission issues a license for project number 2761, also known as
the South Fork American River Project, which is acceptable to the
applicant, or on the date when challenges or appeals to that issuance
have been dismissed or the issuance has been sustained, whichever
date occurs last.

10002. The approval and adoption of the State Water Plan do not
repeal any of the provisions of the Central Valley Project Act of
1933, and to the extent there may be any inconsistency or conflict,
the provisions of Part 3 of this division shall prevail over the
provisions of this part and of the State Water Plan.

10003. Notwithstanding anything contained in this part, all
applications heretofore filed by the Department of Finance under Part
2 of Division 6 shall remain valid and shall retain and have the
status and priority accorded to such applications as now or hereafter
provided in said Part 2.