SECTIONS 12560-12565 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 12560-12565

12560. Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions set
forth in this section govern the construction of this chapter:
(a) "Account" means the Colorado River Management Account created
pursuant to Section 12561.
(b) "California Plan" means the plan being developed by the
Colorado River Board of California, the public agencies represented
on that board, and the director to ensure that California can live
within the state's apportionment of Colorado River water.

12561. There is hereby created the Colorado River Management
Account in the General Fund. Moneys in the account are available,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, for use in accordance with
this chapter.

12562. (a) (1) In furtherance of implementing and achieving the
goals of the "California Plan," the sum of two hundred million
dollars ($200,000,000) in the account shall be used by the director
to finance and arrange for lining portions of the All American Canal
and the Coachella Branch of the All American Canal.
(2) The canal lining projects shall be completed not later than
December 31, 2008, or such later date as may be required by
extraordinary circumstances.
(3) The allocation of the water conserved from the canal lining
projects and to be made available to the Metropolitan Water District
of Southern California shall be consistent with federal law and shall
be determined by an agreement among the Metropolitan Water District
of Southern California, the Imperial Irrigation District, the Palo
Verde Irrigation District, the Coachella Valley Water District, and
the San Luis Rey settlement parties, reached after consultation with
the director and the United States Secretary of the Interior.
(b) (1) The sum of thirty-five million dollars ($35,000,000) from
the account shall be used by the director to finance the installation
of recharge, extraction, and distribution facilities for groundwater
conjunctive use programs necessary to implement the "California
Plan."
(2) Water stored in connection with the groundwater conjunctive
use programs described in paragraph (1) shall be for the benefit of
the member public agencies of the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California.
(3) Nothing in this subdivision limits the ability of the
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to enter into
agreements regarding the sharing of any water made available under
this subdivision.
(c) The Legislature finds that the extension of the date from
December 31, 2006, to December 31, 2008, for completing the canal
project linings under paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) during the
2003 portion of the 2003-04 Regular Session is required due to
extraordinary circumstances. The Legislature finds that there have
been unforeseen construction delays, contract award delays, and
changed conditions requiring design modifications for lining the All
American Canal and the Coachella Branch of the All American Canal,
and that these circumstances are extraordinary.

12563. If the contingencies for a transfer to the San Diego County
Water Authority of the conserved water under the water transfer
agreement entered into by the Imperial Irrigation District and the
San Diego County Water Authority on April 29, 1998, have not been
satisfied in full prior to December 31, 2006, any recipient of the
water made available under the agreement described in subdivision (a)
of Section 12562, other than the San Luis Rey settlement parties,
shall pay to the state, if required by statute, a portion of the
funding made available under subdivision (a) of Section 12562, in an
amount to be determined by the statute.

12564. Nothing in the contract anticipated by the memorandum of
understanding entered into on August 12, 1998, by the Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California and the San Diego County Water
Authority shall affect the authority of the Legislature to allocate,
by statute, or reallocate water if the contingencies for a transfer
of the conserved water to the San Diego County Water Authority under
the water transfer agreement entered into by the Imperial Irrigation
District and the San Diego County Water Authority on April 29, 1998,
have not been satisfied in full prior to December 31, 2006.

12565. The two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) made
available to the director pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section
12562 may be expended solely for the lining of the All American Canal
and the Coachella Branch of the All American Canal and only if all
of the following requirements have been met:
(a) The Salton Sea Authority commissions a study of seepage and
subsurface inflows to the Salton Sea from the All American Canal and
the Coachella Branch of the All American Canal, and that study is
completed. The study shall determine the nature of subsurface and
drainage canal water movements from the unlined canals to the Salton
Sea and to existing adjacent wetlands, and shall quantify the amount
of water that may be lost to the Salton Sea and to those wetlands due
to the canal lining projects. The Salton Sea Science Subcommittee
shall review the requests for proposals for the study and shall be
consulted in selecting the contractor responsible for conducting the
study.
(b) Environmental documentation and permits required by the
California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with
Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code), the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 4321 et seq.), and
any other applicable state and federal environmental laws are
approved and certified for the All American Canal Lining Project or
the Coachella Branch Lining Project.
(c) Pursuant to its responsibilities as a trustee agency under the
California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with
Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code), the Director of Fish
and Game makes a finding that a canal lining project that is the
subject of a request for funding pursuant to this chapter will avoid
or mitigate all significant effects of the project on fisheries and
other wildlife. The finding shall be accompanied by a statement from
the United States Secretary of the Interior certifying that measures
for the replacement of incidental fish and wildlife values adjacent
to the All American Canal and the Coachella Branch of the All
American Canal foregone as a result of the lining of the canal, or
the mitigation of resulting impacts on fish and wildlife resources
from the construction of a new canal, or a portion thereof, meet the
statutory requirements of Section 203(a)(2) of Public Law 100-675.
These mitigation measures shall be on an acre-for-acre basis, based
on ecological equivalency, and shall be implemented concurrent with
the construction of the canal lining project.