SECTIONS 1215-1222 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 1215-1222

1215. This article shall only apply to a water supplier exporting
or intending to export water for use outside a protected area
pursuant to applications to appropriate surface water filed, or
groundwater appropriations initiated, after January 1, 1985, that are
not subject to Section 11460.

1215.5. (a) For the purposes of this article, "protected area",
means all of lands which normally drain to the ocean, to a hydraulic
sink, or to another state within any of the following, and only the
following, river systems:
(1) The Sacramento River System.
(2) The Mokelumne River System.
(3) The Calaveras River System.
(4) The San Joaquin River System.
(5) The Mono Lake System.
(6) The combined Truckee, Walker, and Carson River Systems.
(7) The combined river systems which drain to the ocean from and
including the Russian River System northward to the California-Oregon
border.
(b) The confluences of the Sacramento, Mokelumne, Calaveras, and
San Joaquin River Systems are within the delta, as defined in Section
12220, and the delta shall be considered to be within each of these
protected areas.

1215.6. For the purposes of this article, "water user or users"
within a protected area means an appropriator or appropriators, a
riparian user or users, or a groundwater user or users of water on
land owned or controlled by them within a protected area.

1216. A protected area shall not be deprived directly or indirectly
of the prior right to all the water reasonably required to
adequately supply the beneficial needs of the protected area, or any
of the inhabitants or property owners therein, by a water supplier
exporting or intending to export water for use outside a protected
area pursuant to applications to appropriate surface water filed, or
groundwater appropriations initiated, after January 1, 1985, that are
not subject to Section 11460.

1217. (a) In addition to the right to obtain a water right which
would have priority over the rights of an exporter, water users in a
protected area shall have the right to purchase, for adequate
compensation, water made available by the construction of any works
by a water supplier exporting or intending to export water for use
outside the protected area. Nothing in this section shall be
construed to authorize export of water from a protected area to which
users within the protected area are otherwise entitled, nor to
require users within a protected area to pay for water to which they
are otherwise entitled.
(b) At the request of a water user or users within a protected
area, a water supplier exporting or intending to export water for use
outside the protected area who is subject to Section 1216 shall meet
and negotiate in good faith for the purpose of entering into
contracts for the purchase of water as provided in subdivision (a).
(c) Any water user or users in a protected area may bring an
action in the superior court to require compliance with the duty to
meet and negotiate in good faith pursuant to this section. The court
may issue a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or
permanent injunction, as appropriate, to secure compliance with this
section.
(d) The meetings and negotiations required by this section may
occur between the water supplier exporting water for use outside a
protected area and any water user or users in a protected area, as
determined appropriate by the parties. The meetings and negotiations
shall not be subject to the provisions of Article 9 (commencing with
Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code or Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part
1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed as a limitation on
the authority of the board to establish water quality standards or to
subject water right entitlements to terms and conditions for the
protection of reasonable and beneficial uses consistent with the
provisions of Section 2 of Article X of the California Constitution.

1218. Upon the request of an applicant for a permit to appropriate
water for use outside a protected area, a county of origin shall
cooperate with the applicant in estimating the amount of water that
may be purchased within the county pursuant to subdivision (a) of
Section 1217 and that may be developed or used within the county
impacting the proposed project, including an estimated time schedule.
The purpose of this section is to assist the applicant in planning
the export project and to assist the counties of origin in their
water planning.

1219. A water supplier exporting or intending to export water
outside a protected area, or a water user or users within a protected
area, may declare that an impasse has been reached between the
parties in negotiations over matters within the scope of negotiations
specified in Section 1217 and may request the director to appoint a
panel of five disinterested persons from whom the parties shall
select, by a process of elimination, the mediator. After drawing lots
to determine the order, the parties shall each, in turn, eliminate a
name from the panel until there is only one person remaining on the
panel, who shall be the mediator. The mediator shall meet forthwith
with the parties or their representatives, either jointly or
separately, and shall take such other steps as the mediator may deem
appropriate in order to persuade the parties to resolve their
differences and effect a mutually acceptable agreement. The services
of the mediator, including any per diem fees, and actual and
necessary travel and subsistence expenses, shall be provided by the
parties. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the
parties from mutually agreeing upon their own mediation procedure,
and in the event of such agreement, the director shall not appoint a
mediator.

1219.5. The provisions of this article shall not require any water
supplier exporting or intending to export water for use outside a
protected area to furnish to any water user or users in a protected
area claiming rights under this article, without adequate
compensation therefor, any water made available for domestic,
municipal, industrial, or agricultural uses by the construction of
any works by the water exporter.

1220. (a) No groundwater shall be pumped for export from within the
combined Sacramento and Delta-Central Sierra Basins, as defined in
the Department of Water Resources' Bulletin 160-74, unless the
pumping is in compliance with a groundwater management plan that is
adopted by ordinance pursuant to subdivision (b) by the county board
of supervisors, in full consultation with affected water districts,
and that is subsequently approved by a vote in the counties or
portions of counties that overlie the groundwater basin, except that
water that has seeped into the underground from any reservoir,
afterbay, or other facility of an export project may be returned to
the water supply of the export project. For the purposes of this
section, the county board of supervisors may designate a county water
agency to act on its behalf if the directors of the county water
agency are publicly elected and the county water agency encompasses
the entire county. The county board of supervisors may revoke that
designation by resolution at any time.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a county board of
supervisors whose county contains part of the combined Sacramento and
Delta-Central Sierra Basins may adopt groundwater management plans
to implement the purposes of this section.
(c) A county board of supervisors shall not exercise the powers
authorized by this section within the boundaries of another local
agency supplying water to that area without the prior agreement of
the governing body of that other local agency.
(d) This section does not apply to groundwater pumping by the
Eastern Water Alliance Joint Powers Agency for export from the
Eastern San Joaquin County Basin, as described on pages 38 and 39 of
the Department of Water Resources Bulletin No. 118-80, provided that
the groundwater pumping is approved by San Joaquin County pursuant to
its ordinances regulating the management and export of groundwater
as these ordinances are in effect at the time of permit approval by
San Joaquin County. Section 10753.1 applies to any groundwater
regulation under this section. As used in this section, the term
"groundwater" has the same definition as set forth in in subdivision
(a) of Section 10752.

1221. This article shall not be construed to authorize the board to
regulate groundwater in any manner.

1222. Nothing in this article shall be deemed to diminish the
rights and protections to watersheds of origin contained in existing
law including, but not limited to, Part 4.5 (commencing with Section
12200) of Division 6.