SECTIONS 85000-85004 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 85000-85004

85000. This division shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009.

85001. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed and California's
water infrastructure are in crisis and existing Delta policies are
not sustainable. Resolving the crisis requires fundamental
reorganization of the state's management of Delta watershed
resources.
(b) In response to the Delta crisis, the Legislature and the
Governor required development of a new long-term strategic vision for
managing the Delta. The Governor appointed a Blue Ribbon Task Force
to recommend a new "Delta Vision Strategic Plan" to his cabinet
committee, which, in turn, made recommendations for a Delta Vision to
the Governor and the Legislature on January 3, 2009.
(c) By enacting this division, it is the intent of the Legislature
to provide for the sustainable management of the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta ecosystem, to provide for a more reliable water supply
for the state, to protect and enhance the quality of water supply
from the Delta, and to establish a governance structure that will
direct efforts across state agencies to develop a legally enforceable
Delta Plan.

85002. The Legislature finds and declares that the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta, referred to as "the Delta" in this division, is a
critically important natural resource for California and the nation.
It serves Californians concurrently as both the hub of the California
water system and the most valuable estuary and wetland ecosystem on
the west coast of North and South America.

85003. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Originally, the Delta was a shallow wetland with water
covering the area for many months of the year. Natural levees,
created by deposits of sediment, allowed some islands to emerge
during the dry summer months. Salinity would fluctuate, depending on
the season and the amount of precipitation in any one year, and the
species that comprised the Delta ecosystem had evolved and adapted to
this unique, dynamic system.
(b) Delta property ownership developed pursuant to the federal
Swamp Land Act of 1850, and state legislation enacted in 1861, and as
a result of the construction of levees to keep previously seasonal
wetlands dry throughout the year. That property ownership, and the
exercise of associated rights, continue to depend on the landowners'
maintenance of those nonproject levees and do not include any right
to state funding of levee maintenance or repair.
(c) In 1933, the Legislature approved the California Central
Valley Project Act, which relied upon the transfer of Sacramento
River water south through the Delta and maintenance of a more
constant salinity regime by using upstream reservoir releases of
freshwater to create a hydraulic salinity barrier. As a result of the
operations of state and federal water projects, the natural salinity
variations in the Delta have been altered. Restoring a healthy
estuarine ecosystem in the Delta may require developing a more
natural salinity regime in parts of the Delta.

85004. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The economies of major regions of the state depend on the
ability to use water within the Delta watershed or to import water
from the Delta watershed. More than two-thirds of the residents of
the state and more than two million acres of highly productive
farmland receive water exported from the Delta watershed.
(b) Providing a more reliable water supply for the state involves
implementation of water use efficiency and conservation projects,
wastewater reclamation projects, desalination, and new and improved
infrastructure, including water storage and Delta conveyance
facilities.