SECTIONS 12879-12879.2 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 12879-12879.2

12879. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Water
Conservation Bond Law of 1988.

12879.1. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) There is a lack of local water projects in certain areas of
the state where the demands of a growing population could exceed
water supplies which could threaten the public health and impede
economic and social growth.
(b) It is in the interest of the state to provide financial
assistance to local agencies for the development of local water
resources necessary to meet requirements for domestic, agricultural,
and other uses.
(c) The participation of the state and the State Water Resources
Development System in the construction and operation of local water
projects in those areas is desirable to further the development,
control, and conservation of the water resources of the state.
(d) Voluntary, cost-effective capital outlay water conservation
programs can help meet growing demand for clean and abundant water
supplies.
(e) Recharging groundwater basins is an effective way to maximize
the availability of scarce water supplies throughout the state
through the efficient management of recharge and extraction
activities in groundwater basins, and by reversing the effects of
historical overdraft.

12879.2. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Committee" means the Water Conservation Finance Committee
created pursuant to Section 12879.9.
(b) "Department" means the Department of Water Resources.
(c) "Fund" means the 1988 Water Conservation Fund created pursuant
to Section 12879.3.
(d) "Local agency" means any city, county, city and county,
district, joint powers authority, or other political subdivision of
the state involved in water management.
(e) "Eligible project" means any dam, reservoir, or other
construction or improvement by a local agency for the diversion,
storage, or primary distribution of water, or facilities for
groundwater extraction, primarily for domestic, municipal,
agricultural, industrial, recreation, fish and wildlife enhancement,
flood control, or power production purposes. "Eligible project" also
means any reservoir, pipeline, or other construction or improvement
by a local agency for the storage or distribution of reclaimed water
for reuse.
(f) (1) "Groundwater recharge facilities" means land and
facilities for artificial groundwater recharge through methods that
include, but are not limited to, either percolation using basins,
pits, ditches, and furrows, modified streambed, flooding, and well
injection, or in-lieu recharge. "Groundwater recharge facilities"
also means capital outlay expenditures to expand, renovate, or
restructure land and facilities already in use for the purpose of
groundwater recharge.
(2) Groundwater recharge facilities may include either of the
following:
(A) Instream facilities for regulation of water levels, but not
regulation of streamflow by storage to accomplish diversion from the
waterway.
(B) Conveyance facilities to the recharge site, including devices
for flow regulation and measurement of recharge waters.
(3) Any part or all of the project facilities, including land
under the facilities, may consist of separable features, or an
appropriate share of multipurpose features of a larger system, or
both.
(g) "In-lieu recharge" means accomplishing increased storage of
groundwater by providing surface water to a user who relies on
groundwater as a primary supply, in order to accomplish groundwater
storage through the direct use of that surface water in lieu of
pumping groundwater. In-lieu recharge shall be used rather than
continuing pumping while artificially recharging with surface waters.
However, bond proceeds shall not be used to purchase surface waters
for use in lieu of pumping groundwater.
(h) "Voluntary cost-effective capital outlay water conservation
programs" means those feasible capital outlay measures to improve the
efficiency of water use through benefits that exceed their costs.
The programs include, but are not limited to, lining or piping of
ditches; improvements in water distribution system controls such as
automated canal control, construction of small reservoirs within
distribution systems that conserve water that already has been
captured for reuse, and related physical improvements; tailwater
pumpback recovery systems to reduce leakage; and capital changes in
on-farm irrigation systems that improve irrigation efficiency, such
as sprinkler or subsurface drip systems. In each case, the department
shall determine that there is a net savings of water as a result of
each proposed project and that the project is cost-effective.