Outreach work to continue on water report rule

Issue Date: July 14, 2010

By Dave Kranz
CFBF Communications/News Division

Amid confusion and concern among California water users about reporting requirements for surface water diversions and use, the State Water Resources Control Board has encouraged agricultural organizations to continue educating their members about a new state law—and has said its immediate goal is to help people comply with the law rather than to prosecute violations.

A deadline for filing reports with the board passed on July 1. But, in a July 2 letter to the California Farm Bureau Federation, the California Cattlemen’s Association and Western Growers, board Executive Director Dorothy Rice said her agency has received more than 4,000 of the water diversion reports and that its immediate efforts “are focused on processing the new statements and helping parties achieve compliance.”

Because of that, Rice said, “we do not anticipate that we will be prosecuting reporting violations within the next 60 days, unless the violation is significant or unless the violation is in addition to other water right violations that we are in the process of investigating.”

The three agricultural groups had asked the water board for additional time to educate their members about the reporting requirements, and Rice said she agreed that additional outreach to water users would be appropriate.

“It is in everyone’s best interest, and in the interest of the state, to ensure that water diversion and use is correctly reported and that all water users are enrolled as soon as possible,” she said.

California Farm Bureau Federation Director of Water Resources Danny Merkley said he appreciated the guidance from the water board about its enforcement plans.

“Even if you have missed the July 1 deadline, it’s important to file a statement of diversion and use for 2009 as soon as possible,” Merkley said. “People need to be diligent about getting those reports in.”

He said Farm Bureau plans to hold additional workshops during July and August, to help people comply with the law, and that other agricultural organizations would do so, as well.

The new law for surface water diversion and use reporting was included in a five-bill water package passed by the state Legislature last fall. Its backers said the law would better identify the amount of water being used in California watersheds.

The law seeks to accomplish that goal in part by imposing legal consequences for failure to report, which had not existed previously. People who fail to file the reports may be fined up to $1,000; additional fines of $500 a day may be imposed if the violation continues more than 30 days after the water board notifies a water user of the violation. The law also set aside $3.75 million for the State Water Resources Control Board to pay for 25 new staff positions to manage water diversion reporting, monitoring and enforcement.

Since 1966, Merkley said, state law has required people who divert surface water or who pump groundwater from a known subterranean stream to file a Statement of Water Diversion and Use, or to file an application to appropriate water, with the state board.

He explained that the statement must be filed if water is diverted and used under a claim of riparian entitlement to the natural stream flow. Statements are also required for pre-1914 water rights, he said.

Although the state water board has no flexibility in the July 1 reporting deadline, Merkley said, it recognizes “the difficulty in getting the word out to diverters statewide about the reporting requirements and the difficulty diverters have in reaching experts in a timely manner, to accurately estimate 2009 diversions or determine if they are pumping from a known subterranean stream.”

In her letter to the agricultural groups, water board executive director Rice said the agency’s staff had fielded more than 500 phone calls in the days leading up to the reporting deadline.

Merkley said Farm Bureau has “actively researched questions brought to us in recent weeks and months, and will work to further clarify and provide additional information.”

Farm Bureau has posted on its website an updated guidance document to help its members comply with the reporting requirements for surface water diversions. The document may be reached at www.cfbf.com/waterreporting.

(Dave Kranz is editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at dkranz@cfbf.com.)

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top