Today's Law As Amended


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AB-2079 Groundwater extraction: large-diameter, high-capacity water wells: permits.(2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The groundwater extraction from large-diameter, high-capacity wells can interfere with nearby drinking water wells and result in impacts to critical infrastructure from subsidence.
(b) It is in the public interest to ensure that the permitting of new wells extracting groundwater will be conducted to minimize the impacts to drinking water wells and subsidence.
(c) Sustainable groundwater management in many parts of the state requires coordination between local agencies permitting water wells and groundwater sustainability agencies managing groundwater basins.
(d) People, businesses, and industries seeking to construct or operate water wells should be adequately informed about groundwater conditions and groundwater management programs that may affect the current or future use and operation of their wells.
(e) Applicants seeking, and agencies permitting, the construction and operation of water wells should take into account the reliability and sustainability of the groundwater sources intended to be used to avoid unexpected or unplanned well dewatering or loss of well production capacity, which could lead to higher rates of unexpected, unplanned, or premature well abandonment and dereliction that could pose additional threats to groundwater quality.
(f) Agencies issuing permits for the construction and operation of water wells should consider the potential for those wells to cause or contribute to land subsidence, which can have impacts on water quality by adversely affecting the concentration of naturally or artificially occurring chemical constituents of concern and posing other serious public health and economic problems.

SEC. 2.

 Article 5 (commencing with Section 13807) is added to Chapter 10 of Division 7 of the Water Code, to read:

Article  5. Well Sustainability
13807.
 This article shall apply only to applications for permits for the construction, maintenance, abandonment, or destruction of water wells in basins identified in the Department of Water Resources Bulletin 118.
13807.1.
 The following definitions shall apply to this article:
(a) “Community water system” has the same meaning as provided in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(b) “Domestic well” has the same meaning as provided in Section 116681 of the Health and Safety Code.
(c) “Large-diameter, high-capacity well” means any water well with a diameter of eight inches or greater.
(d) “Local enforcement agency” means any city, county, or water agency that has adopted and is administering an ordinance for the construction, maintenance, abandonment, or destruction of a water well pursuant to this chapter.
(e) “Public water system” has the same meaning as defined in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(f) “State small water system” has the same meaning as provided in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(g) “Urban retail water supplier” has the same meaning as provided in Section 10608.12.
13807.2.
 (a) A local enforcement agency shall perform all of the following activities at least 30 days before determining whether to approve a permit for a new large-diameter, high-capacity well:
(1) Provide notice to the general public by posting notice of receipt of the application and the contents of the application on the local enforcement agency’s internet website.
(2) Provide electronic notice to relevant groundwater sustainability agencies.
(3) Provide written notice through the United States Postal Service to the registered owners or agents of all parcels within a one-mile radius of the site where the activities covered in the application would occur and any relevant information on the well permitting process.
(4) Provide electronic notice to the state board if the well is to be located within a groundwater basin that is designated as a probationary basin.
(b) Upon adoption or amendment of a groundwater sustainability plan, the groundwater sustainability agency shall provide all of the following information to the local enforcement agency:
(1) The name of the applicable groundwater sustainability plan being implemented and where an electronic copy of the plan may be accessed.
(2) The name of the applicable groundwater sustainability agency, the agency manager and contact information, and the applicable sustainable management criteria related to groundwater levels, including the groundwater level measurable objectives and minimum thresholds.
(3) Where the most recent groundwater level monitoring data can be obtained for the basin.
(4) Notice of fees, allocation, metering, spacing determinations, or other regulations or ordinances that the groundwater sustainability agency has adopted.
(5) Notice of an inadequate determination, if applicable, by the department of the groundwater sustainability plan and the status of any action of the state board resulting from the department determination.
(c) Before approving any well permit for a large-diameter, high-capacity well, a local enforcement agency shall provide both of the following to the applicant:
(1) The basin name, number, and priority as assigned by the department in its most recent Bulletin 118.
(2) The name of all groundwater sustainability agencies, if any, managing the basin in which the activities covered in the application would occur.
13807.3.
 (a) A local enforcement agency shall not approve a permit for a large-diameter, high-capacity well if that well is proposed to be located within one-quarter mile of a well used for supplying domestic water to one or more persons or to a community.
(b) (1) A local enforcement agency shall not approve a permit for a large-diameter, high-capacity well if that well is proposed to be located within one-quarter mile of an area that has subsided greater than 0.5 feet in total since January 1, 2015, as reported and defined by the department based upon subsidence data posted on the Natural Resources Agency open data portal and department internet websites.
(2) A local enforcement agency may approve a permit for a large-diameter, high-capacity well if the area identified in paragraph (1) has not had subsidence of more than 0.1 feet over the preceding four years, is consistent with the local groundwater sustainability plan.
(c) To ensure the reliability and long-term operation of water wells within its jurisdiction, a local enforcement agency may determine not to approve an application or grant a permit based on criteria that are more stringent than those provided in this section.
13807.4.
 This article does not apply to applications or permits for any of the following:
(a) Water wells that will draw less than two acre-feet per year.
(b) Water wells that will be located on a parcel of five acres or fewer that is in an area that has been zoned by the local land use authority for rural residential use.
(c) Drinking water wells of an urban retail water supplier, state small water system, or a community water system.
(d) Large-diameter, high-capacity wells for the replacement or reconstruction of an existing well that meets all of the following conditions:
(1) The replacing or reconstructed well shall not have a larger diameter, or shall not be used to pump more water annually than the previous well.
(2) The well being replaced shall be abandoned prior to initial operation of the replacement well.
(3) The replacement well is in substantially the same location as the well it is replacing or is to be moved to a location that would lessen impacts to domestic wells and wells that provide water for state small water systems or community water systems.
(e) Water wells associated with, or part of, a conjunctive use or water banking program, or a project that has approved environmental documents consistent with the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).
(f) Water wells that are part of a groundwater remediation or protection project that aims to address groundwater contamination, water quality, or seawater intrusion.
(g) Injections well associated with the water wells described in subdivisions (e) and (f).
(h) (1) Water wells closer that one-quarter mile to a well used for supplying domestic water if the local enforcement agency has developed a well permitting ordinance or a well spacing ordinance that minimizes well interference impacts on drinking water wells and take into consideration local geologic conditions and anticipated pumping rates of the proposed well, including, but not limited to, well design and well seals.
(2) A local enforcement agency permitting wells described in this subdivision shall provide a copy of the well permitting ordinance to the department.
SEC. 3.
 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.