Report Diversions – Page 6 – All Water Rights

Smart Ranchers & Farmers Save Money for Them AND You

A local farmer, rancher, and apiarist, whose name you likely know, referred me to a pretty smart ranching friend of his who has been researching more cost effective flow measurement and data collection schemes. This retired aircraft engineer has found data collection devices with installed costs in the $500 – $600 range, instead of $1,200 up to $20,000. I’ll publish their names if they agree later; they should have a chance to read this before they put their names on it.

They aim to save themselves and all of you some of your hard-earned money. I really want to see what data collection setups are available, hopefully this week there will be an all-in-one system that meets State requirements and is not such a budget-buster. There are also be some pre-fabricated flow measurement devices that can be easily dropped in a flat ditch where a weir (the least expensive device) won’t work, saving money compared to a formed-up flume.

From my years at DWR, my coworkers and I dealt with the trade-off between high accuracy and durability, at a high cost, and reasonable accuracy and lower durability for less money. This was always the tension, whether acquiring surveying equipment, portable flow measurement devices, or flow gaging components like data collectors, bubbler pressure sensors, or GOES satellite radios.

You have probably seen this triangle before – it is useful for planning prrojects. For the purposes of evaluating data collectors at diversions, Time is the owner’s, contractor’s, or engineer’s level of effort to make a diversion comply with the law. Scope is meeting the Water Board requirements – the length of that side cannot change. Everyone, including me, wants to reduce the Cost side of the triangle. Reducing Time means getting the labor, equipment rental, engineer’s report, and certification done cheaper – it’s the other way to reduce cost.

What is the effect of reducing cost? The size of the triangle equals quality, and that goes down. How much loss of quality is acceptable? In the case of data collectors, quality equates with the durability – maybe the device will only last 2 years instead of 4, or maybe it is twice as likely to quit working in the middle of an irrigation season. If quality goes down too much, then the data collection scheme will not meet Water Board requirements.

On the other hand, computer technology and sensors have improved over the years. Computing costs a tiny fraction of what it once did. Sensors have come down in cost a little, while their quality has improved somewhat. Maybe we can get just-fine data collection at half the cost – we’ll see!

How Do I Comply With Water Board Regulations? Part 3

In Part 2, How Do I Comply With Water Board Regulations? Part 2, we considered the question: Who has to have a certified, accurate device by January 1, 2017? How often is it monitored? The answer is, those who divert 1,000 acre-feet (AF) per year or more, and it has to be monitored hourly. Shawn_pointing_with_rule What size diversion is this, really? An irrigation diversion of 1,000 AF over 6 months, with flows starting at 100% of the water right, declining to 50% of the right by the end of the season (month 6) would calculate out to a water right of 3.68 cubic feet per second (cfs), or about 3.7 to 4.0 cfs (cfs). Depending on where you are, that irrigates somewhere between 80 and 400 acres of hay or pasture.

In this post, I’ll answer 2 questions:

What if your water right is smaller than 3.7 cfs, diverting 100 AF to 1,000 AF per year?
A BIG question right now: What is “alternative compliance”, and how might it be done to meet the Water Board’s regulations?

Shawn_pointing_at_orifice To answer the first question, the next category down is 100 AF to 1,000 AF per year. Using the example of a 6-month irrigation season, with a diversion that starts at 100% of the water right and gradually declines to 50%, the water right we’re talking about is about 0.37 to 3.7 contracted_weir cfs. This category does not have to comply as quickly – the deadline is July 1, 2017, or nearly a year from now. The measurement frequency is daily, which is possible to be done by a diligent person, if not not recorded automatically. For a sense of how much water this is, depending on where you are, what the soils are like, and how efficient the diversion is, the acreage of hay or pasture irrigated ranges from about 8 to 370 acres.

What kind of measurement devices would meet the regulations? The same types that we discussed in Part 2, but ranging down to smaller sizes:

weirs as little as 0.5′ (0.5 feet, or 6″) wide, or wider with boards cut to make contracted weirs
free-flowing orifices with holes down to 0.16 x 0.16′ (2″ x 2″) square and a piece of steel plate to adjust it smaller
submerged orifices down to 0.25′ x 0.25′ (3″ x 3″) with an adjustment plate.
small flumes and meters

The photos above show smaller-sized devices than the 4′ weirs shown in earlier posts.

The second, and these days much BIGGER question, what about alternative compliance? The Water Board requires submission of alternative compliance plans on a form that is not yet available. If it were my diversion, I would not worry about that; I would put together my plan and send it in. The old rule applies that if you are not sure who to send it to, send it to several managers and maybe a Deputy Director. Emailing documents is cheaper; most computers will let you print to PDFs that can be emailed. Your submittal probably will not be accepted this way but the point is, the Water Board cannot say that you have not attempted to comply. Not complying at all can be very expensive; “Do something wrong, instead of nothing at all.”

This screenshot is from an OLD, no longer valid Statement Of Use form, but it
gives some ideas of what options for alternative compliance the Water Board has in mind.

What has to be in your alternative compliance plan? From the Water Board’s ADOPTED TEXT OF EMERGENCY REGULATION, the text gives 12 parts that must be in the plan (below). The plan may be rejected – having a plan (instead of a standard, certified measurement device) is no guarantee that the Board will accept it. In summary, the plan must detail contacts for all people on a ditch, Assessor Parcel Numbers, the water right(s), priority(ies), use(s), diversion(s), ditch(es) and/or pipe(s), measurement frequency and methods, dates for milestones and completion, permits required, financing plan, and map(s) showing the plan area including all physical features and place of use…and all of this must be signed by all water right holders on the ditch (the emphasized text in the bullet points is mine):

“………… §935 Alternative Compliance for a Measuring Device or Measurement Method Requirement.

(a) Alternative Compliance – Generally. In circumstances where strict compliance with sections 933 or 934 of this title is not feasible, would be unreasonably expensive, would unreasonably affect public trust uses, or would result in the waste or unreasonable use of water, a diverter may submit an alternative compliance plan.

(b) Minimum Standards – an alternative compliance plan under subdivision (a) shall meet the following minimum standards:

(1) The plan shall include the following information:

(A) The name and contact information for all diverters covered by the plan;
(B) The name and contact information for the person designated to represent all diverters covered by the plan in matters before the board;
(C) Identification of each individual water right type and priority covered by the plan;
(D) A detailed description of the area served by the plan, including all points of diversion whether used or not used, all methods of diversion, any conveyance systems, all beneficial uses of water, and all acreage served;
(E) The assessor’s parcel numbers and ownership within the area covered by the plan;
(F) Identification of the proposed measurement frequency;
(G) Identification of the proposed measurement methodology;
(H) Topographic map(s) or aerial photograph(s) of the area covered by the plan that show the separate places of use authorized to be served by claimed water rights covered by the plan and showing the acreage served;
(I) An implementation schedule, including date-specific, objective milestones of plan implementation from date of filing through final implementation, including the estimated milestones for acquiring permits required for plan implementation and the estimated milestones for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, if required;
(J) Budget for implementation of the plan and the source(s) of financing for the plan;
(K) A list of any permits required for plan implementation, the agencies that will issue the permits, and expected dates for issuance;
(L) An affirmation, signed by all diverters covered by the plan, that the plan will be implemented in accordance with the schedule contained therein and that all claimed water rights covered by the plan will not be exercised outside the scope of the plan …………”

New_Weir

How Do I Comply With Water Board Regulations? Part 2

In Part 1, How Do I Comply With Water Board Regulations? , we looked at what water flow measurement devices will meet and exceed the Board’s requirements. The questions right back to me were: 1) Yeah, but which dates apply to me? and 2) Yeah, but what about monitoring and collecting data and reporting? How do I do that?

Who has to have a certified, accurate device by January 1, 2017? How often is it monitored?

This is the “worst case” if I am not already compliant – less than 6 months from today! The first to have to report are those who divert 1,000 acre-feet or more per year, or store 1,000 acre-feet or more per year. The reporting has to be hourly, or 8,760 data points per year. The average rate of diversion for 365 days is 1.38 cubic feet per second (cfs) (which I had rounded to 1.40 cfs in previous posts). That’s equal to 620 gallons per minute (gpm), or 2.74 AF/day.

What if all the flow is diverted just for the irrigation season? Let’s use 6 months for simplicity – the average rate of flow is 2.76 cfs. Available flows drop About_1.4_cfs_over_weir_edited_small as the summer proceeds, so what size of water right are we really looking at? Let’s say flows decline evenly from 100% at the beginning, to 50% of available flows at the end of 6 months. The right that would divert 1,000 AF per year under these conditions is 3.68 cfs. The summary is, if my water right is, say, 4 cfs or more, then it is very likely I will be in this category. The weir shown abov John_Headgate_edit e is a 4′ weir, capable of measuring up to 4 cfs very accurately, at plus or minus 5% (sometimes better) accuracy with new lumber. A headgate like the one to the left is easily capable of passing 4 cfs and, if the gate is used as a measurement orifice, the accuracy can be 5%, certainly within plus or minus 10% if care is used with an older gate.

I can get that 4′ weir shown above installed and working for somewhere between $2,000 and $10,000 – depending on how difficult the access is to the site, whether native materials can be used, or 3/4″ base rock and 12″ protective rock have to be hauled in, and whether I already have a backhoe or excavator to install it. The headgate will cost more than that, maybe $3,000 to $12,000. A larger bulkhead or box is required, and good gates can cost quite a bit.

A larger diversion will have to use a larger weir or orifice, or more likely a flume or acoustic measurement device. That makes sense – the larger the flow, the more complicated it is to measure.

How do I report hourly flows? I sure can’t run out to the diversion every hour, so that means I have to use some kind of automated flow measurement device. The G.E. Panametrics acoustic Doppler meter on the left is an option, and it or an in-line propeller meter, or an inline mag-meter, will be necessary for some configurations of diversions (pumped or very flat). The price starts at $5,000, though. If I have enough fall (drop in water elevation), I would sure rather put in a weir, orifice, or flume. A weir or flume can use a water level measurement device and data collector like the water level logger above on the right. That Global Water device is relatively durable, takes readings as often as desired, and can store data for months. It costs a little over $1,000. Oh, and if the orifice is submerged, so that the hole is underwater both upstream and downstream, then I will need two water level loggers, for $2,000.

Some folks at the Water Board are talking about telemetered data, meaning the data is sent to a remote location, or even available online. This would only be necessary if there were a great possibility that the diversion would be tampered with, or if it is a large diversion having a big impact on the amount of flow left in the stream. This has little benefit for anyone at most diversions. I would only install it if the need were very clear to me and everyone else. The added cost can be anywhere from $1,000 for short-range radio, to $20,000 or more for a full-on gaging station like you see on streams. The annual cost of operation and maintenance goes up, too.

How do I read the data on these devices, so I can report it to the Water Board? Well, that takes some expertise. If I have 5 diversions from a creek, I’ll make sure my foreman knows how to do it, and handle it myself. If I have 1 or 2 diversions, then it’s more cost effective for me to have a professional do it, and to maintain it periodically. Reading that data takes a laptop to hook up to the USB port, and the software that comes with the device, and the expertise to look at the data Sticking_Weir and make sure it’s reasonable. The data that is recorded is “stage”, or water surface elevation. Using the correct weir, orifice, or flume equation, or table from the Water Measurement Manual, the stages have to be converted to flows. For hourly flows, that means 8,760 data points per year, which will require a spreadsheet like Excel to make the conversions. A BIG caution is that if the boards are changed, it has to be written down WMM_Cover_small and then a different zero-flow datum used to convert stages to flows starting when the change was made.

2. Who has to have a certified, accurate device by July 1, 2017? How often is it reported?

The “next worst case” is for those diversions from 100 AF to 1,000 AF per year – irrigation water rights of about 0.35 to 3.5 cfs. These have to be recorded daily. The measurement devices are the same, but smaller. It is possible someone might grab a reading every day…but it is more likely that these will also have some kind of automated water level logger. More on these later. Have a great weekend!

How Do I Comply With Water Board Regulations? Part 1

Yesterday I met with some nice folks up in Hat Creek and Old Station. A big question right now is, how do I comply with Water Board regulations? Also, what exactly do I need to do for a measuring device? And, where can I find out that what I do will be acceptable, so I don’t get dinged after I did what I was supposed to?

First: devices. The most common, long-lasting, and cost effective devices for measurement of irrigation diversions are: weirs, orifices, flumes, mag-meters, propeller meters, and acoustic Dopplers.

Weirs are About_1.4_cfs_over_weir_edited_small the least expensive, long-lasting, accurate devices. This weir was prefabricated and shipped from Briggs Manufacturing. Installation takes a few hours, and with new 2″ lumber, accuracy is plus or minus 5 %. That is better than the Water Board’s requirement of 10 % accuracy.

Shawn_sticking_Orifice

An orifice is often exactly the same as a weir, with the boards set as an orifice. Instead of the water going over, it goes through an exactly-sized hole. The accuracy is plus or minus 5 % if it is set up carefully. The cost is the same as for installing and operating a weir.

John_Headgate_edit

Here is another kind of orifice – a headgate. If it is a square headgate, or a new, round (Waterman) headgate, then the area of the opening can be determined with plus or minus 5% accuracy. An older headgate or one with a less-than-perfect opening can still be 10% accurate, within the Boards’s standards.

Photo_5566

This is a Parshall flume. It uses no boards, so no debris can pile up. It is nearly maintenance-free. Flumes cost more to install, and if they settle and get out of level they lose accuracy. However, you’ll see many of these in Northern California. There are some prefabricated flumes just coming into production that will be easier to install and will include data collectors.

How do you know which one will work for a particular diversion? Someone with expertise can check the ditch, grade, soil-type, flow range, and other information and tell you within a couple of days what will work best, with an engineering report and cost estimate. Rights To Water Engineering does this for $300 to $500, and can install the device if you like, with an operations manual.

Filing Statements of Use with the Water Board is now all by computer through the Internet. That’s one of the things Rights To Water Engineering, and some other folks do at a reasonable cost. If that’s your worry then contact us and we can point you in the right direction or help you out with reporting.

This is the quick summary on compliance! Contact me at (530) 526-0134 or RightsToWaterEng1@gmail.com, and read this blog for more detailed information. Have a great weekend!

Water Board Legal Actions, Part 1

The Water Board takes legal actions against individuals, associations, companies, etc. (parties), regarding diversions, surface and groundwater pollution, mis-reporting or not reporting diversions, noncompliance with permits and licenses, underground storage tanks, and more. Prior to assessing fines, Water Board managers, attorneys, or staff make phone calls to to the suspected parties, and they may make field visits to confirm allegations or gather more information. Sometimes that’s enough – a phone call or visit may move a person to change practices, or take corrective action, and comply with the law.

The Water Board will follow up their calls or visits with a letter summarizing the facts, allegations, and actions taken by parties. That may close out a complaint (if that is how the actions came to the Board’s attention) or may complete an investigation, with the provision that the promised corrective action will be done. CDO page

Their letters may seek information about alleged infractions, or may be cease and desist orders, or may convey the results of investigations and hearings including what fines or other penalties are assessed.

The Water Board relies on the California Water Code, case law from lawsuits in the State Superior Courts or other courts, and those resolutions, orders, and decisions made by the Board itself, which it designates as “precedential”. That means the Board looks back at these documents to help make decisions in the future.

In many cases the Board does not act alone, since it is just one of many California state and federal agencies. It may combine its efforts with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW, was Fish and Game), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the State Attorney General (AG), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)…the list could include many more. How does this cooperation with other agencies work?

The Water Board has authority over many water rights and uses of water, but other agencies have the primary authority over other uses of water. For example, CDFW has authority over the California Fish and Game Code, which gives guidance on how much water must be left in streams by diverters. Solid scientific studies must be made to prove how much water is needed. In place (or pending the outcome) of these expensive, long-term studies, CDFW determines and/or negotiates flow amounts, and the Water Board uses their power to convince diverters to comply. This works because CDFW could not prove the exact need in the near future, and CDFW is very reluctant to go to court to sue diverters. However, the Water Board can act on the “best available information” or “reasonable estimates” to determine how much water must be left…and the Water Board can assess fines by itself without having to go to the Superior Court. This makes for some very interesting stories…and those will be taken up in a later post. wbwa

eWRIMS Board Water Rights Search – Part 2

In Part 1 of t his discussion, we looked at the different types of water rights included in the Water Board’s eWRIMS water rights search database. Now we’ll talk about how to narrow down your search to find just the water rights of interest. The majority of questions people have are about their own water rights. How can you find out what eWRIMS has about your water right?

If you pick the eWRIMS Database System link, and hit the “Accept” button at the bottom of the next page, you’ll arrive at at the Water Rights Records Search page. This looks like a data entry form, and allows you to search by water right type, status, ID, county, etc., and most relevant for finding your own, by Primary Owner. Whoops! I sure thought it was – it is now disabled. Maybe that’s temporary, but even a couple of weeks ago I was able to put in “California”, for example, and find the rights held by State agencies. As a matter of fact, none of the searches I am trying right now even list any results in the “Holder Name column.

UPDATE: Search by Primary Owner is working again as of June 29, 2016 at 8:30 A.M. Thanks, eWRIMS folks for restoring it!

Next, try your County, Source (River name or Source Name), Entity Type, and any other information that you know. This will give you a list of results. For example, entering Trinity for County and Hayfork Creek for Source yields 31 results. Without the “Holder Name” listed it is tough to tell which one is yours…unless you also know one of your IDs. If that functionality is restored that it makes it easy. One CAVEAT – if you or the previous owner have not updated the current owner (as the Board requires), then the person’s name will be some previous owner. You’ll likely recognize it.

eWRIMS GIS Hayfork - Edited If “you can’t get there from here”, then you can search by map, in the eWRIMS Web Mapping Application (GIS). The map starts by showing all of California and you zoom in to your area. When you zoom in far enough, you’ll see rectangular labels of various colors start to appear. You can click on these to see the individual Application, Permit, License, or Statement of Use. The screenshot above shows part of Hayfork Creek in Trinity County.

If you have not used eWRIMS, try it out for your and your neighbors’ water rights. Remember, most riparian and nearly all adjudicated water rights will NOT show up here, but pre-1914, post-1914, some riparian, and some other rights will. Next time we’ll talk about some of the information you can find on forms for the various rights and statements.

For now, happy water rights searching!

AllWaterRights Blog Moving To ShawnPike.com / eWRIMS Board Water Rights Search – Part 1

The AllWaterRights Blog is Moving! http://www.shawnpike.com is my permanent site, and as soon as I get the formatting done all the new posts will be over there.

In the meantime, how does someone search for water rights in California? It used to be an onerous task – and today it is only half-onerous. 🙂 Actually the Water Board gets more information every day and puts it into the Electronic Water Rights Information Management System – eWRIMS for short (pronounced ee-rims). This screenshot shows the two important links. The first is to the database, which gives text tables of results and links to some form-entered documents, and some scanned documents. The second link goes to the geographic information system (GIS), which consists of mapped points linked to the database, on top of reference maps.

What can you find here? In short, nearly all the post-1914 appropriative Water Rights Applications, Permits, and Licenses can be found here. Most of the pre-1914 appropriative, and an increasing number of riparian water rights can be found here. The 2009 water laws that increased reporting requirements and greatly increased penalties, moved most water right holders who had not been filing, to get on the train and avoid the pain. If you search with no parameters, then the database returns a listing of all records, over 52,000 right now. eWRIMS_query_all_edited

What’s missing? Nearly all adjudicated water rights are not found on eWRIMS. There are thousands of rights defined in numerous Superior Court Decrees, that are not found in the database. Statements of Use are filed for these rights, but not in a form that is easy to put into eWRIMS. Where could you find these? We’ll cover that in future posts.

http://www.shawnpike.com is up and running, right now with the brief front page. More to come soon! A good night to all.

Do Something Wrong, Instead Of Nothing!

Do something wrong, rather than nothing at all. Have you ever heard that before? I have heard it from Army veteran friends, a boss, even an elder of a church.

What it means to you and me is, if action is necessary, do something, maybe ANYthing, rather than freezing in place or ignoring a problem. This is obvious when you see a tornado 5 miles away, for example; either drive away from it if you are in a car, or take shelter if you are on foot. If you have a plumbing leak in the house and no parts to replace broken pipe, then put a bucket under it, or turn off the valve, and call a plumber. All of us have seen a TV show (or maybe had it happen to us) where a bad guy or an enemy pointed a rifle and said, “Don’t move.”. What do we all say to the TV? “Don’t just stand there, run!”. Doing nothing is a much worse choice!

Man working in ditch CostaDisc2-129 - Edited What about water rights – how does doing something wrong help? Everyone knows by now that surface water diverters need measurement devices, so put in a weir box and boards and try to measure flow if the Water Board, your watermaster, or your neighbor is promising painful consequences. Even stick boards in a ditch and seal the sides with gravel – something to take positive action to reduce future pain.

There is a philosophy based in law and a lot of experience, that says don’t put any controls on yourself until the court or government makes you. Why remodel your house to accommodate the wiring or plumbing, if you aren’t selling the house and everything works okay? Who would put a lot of money into an old truck to make it pass smog, if it just might pass a smog check the next time it has to be done? What farmer would change how he irrigates or ranches if everything still operates and the bank will keep making operating loans?

Surface water and groundwater are getting 10 times the attention they were prior to 2009. If the Water Board, or California Fish and Wildlife, or any other agency comes along, do something, anything, to comply sooner, even if it’s not the ultimate solution. Two posts ago, bureaucrats were discussed – they are still human beings and most people appreciate some effort to “get with the program”.

Be proactive, take some inexpensive action, educate yourself for free with some time in the Internet. Even a small, less-than-perfect improvement in your measurement device, flow and water use record keeping, diversion practices, or acreening, can pay back a lot more when you have to deal with agencies, a court, or an angry neighbor in the future.

Not Small: Water Board Fines

When California diverters think of water laws, the ESA comes to mind first . Water Board fines, while rare, will be used more in the next few years.

The federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) are the first environmental laws that come to mind for diverters in California. Streams with Chinook salmon or Steelhead trout are of the greatest concern, since they may be in any creek or river that eventually drains into the Pacific Ocean. Most diverters have heard that a “take” of a federal endangered species can result in a $50,000 fine and up to a year imprisonment – and that’s possible for the death of just one fish.

However, there are penalties more directly related to the diversion of water, not just environmental laws. The California Water Code specifies fines or jail that the State Water Board can impose, for falsely reporting a diversion, failing to file a statement, or tampering with a measurement device. These fines have rarely been imposed in past years. Usually diverters will take the opportunity to correct problems after the first warning.

With the Board’s increased focus on measurement devices being installed and certified, and and diversion amounts being reported much more often, the likelihood of fines being assessed goes up.

Willful misstatement (lying): $1,000 plus up to 6 months in jail
Failing to file a statement: $1,000 plus $500 per day
Accidental device malfunction or misstatement: $250 plus $250 per day
Knowingly tampering or making misstatement: $25,000 plus $1,000 per day
Any other violation: $500 plus $250 per day

These can add up if the Board’s initial letters are ignored. What’s the best strategy? Work with the Board, seek government funding to help defray installation costs if funds are available, and make sure the end result satisfies the Board’s requirements.

California Water Code Section 5107

5107.  (a) The making of any willful misstatement pursuant to this
part is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand
dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not to
exceed six months, or both.
   (b) Any person who fails to file a statement required to be filed
under this part for a diversion or use that occurs after January 1,
2009, who tampers with any measuring device, or who makes a material
misstatement pursuant to this part may be liable civilly as provided
in subdivisions (c) and (d).
   (c) Civil liability may be administratively imposed by the board
pursuant to Section 1055 in an amount not to exceed the following
amounts:
   (1) For failure to file a statement, one thousand dollars
($1,000), plus five hundred dollars ($500) per day for each
additional day on which the violation continues if the person fails
to file a statement within 30 days after the board has called the
violation to the attention of that person.
   (2) For a violation resulting from a physical malfunction of a
measuring device not caused by the person or any other unintentional
misstatement, two hundred fifty dollars ($250), plus two hundred
fifty dollars ($250) per day for each additional day on which the
measuring device continues to malfunction or the misstatement is not
corrected if the person fails to correct or repair the measuring
device or correct the misstatement within 60 days after the board has
called the malfunction or violation to the attention of that person.
   (3) For knowingly tampering with any measuring device or knowingly
making a material misstatement in a statement filed under this part,
twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), plus one thousand dollars
($1,000) for each day on which the violation continues if the person
fails to correct the violation within 30 days after the board has
called the violation to the attention of that person.
   (4) For any other violation, five hundred dollars ($500), plus two
hundred fifty dollars ($250) for each additional day on which the
violation continues if the person fails to correct the violation
within 30 days after the board has called the violation to the
attention of that person.
   (d) When an additional penalty may be imposed under subdivision
(c) for failure to correct a violation or correct or repair a
malfunctioning measuring device within a specified period after the
violation has been called to a person's attention by the board, the
board, for good cause, may provide for a longer period for correction
of the problem, and the additional penalty shall not apply if the
violation is corrected within the period specified by the board.
   (e) In determining the appropriate amount, the board shall
consider all relevant circumstances, including, but not limited to,
all of the following factors:
   (1) The extent of harm caused by the violation.
   (2) The nature and persistence of the violation.
   (3) The length of time over which the violation occurs.
   (4) Any corrective action undertaken by the violator.
   (f) All funds recovered pursuant to this section shall be
deposited in the Water Rights Fund established pursuant to Section
1550.
   (g) Remedies under this section are in addition to, and do not
supersede or limit, any other remedies, civil or criminal.

How Can You Keep Up With The Water Board?

How can anyone keep up with all the new regulations from the California Water Board? Subscribe to the email lists affecting you (links below).

It’s impossible to keep up with everything, so we have to pick and choose. But the pace of Water Board regulations is already jet-speed and headed toward hypersonic. It’s wise for everyone who diverts surface water to subscribe to relevant email lists and then at least scan the ones that look important. The link for all Water Board Subscriptions is:

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/resources/email_subscriptions/

The link for statewide issues is below. I think I counted 174 possible email lists, but you can probably pick the 10 that affect you the most and keep up pretty well by reading these:

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/resources/email_subscriptions/swrcb_subscribe.shtml

Of course, AllWaterRights.com, this blog, will highlight the most important issues for surface water diversion measurement, water rights, laws, and regulations. Come back often and you’ll see one or two new posts each week. 🙂

As a bonus for those of you who read this post, here are a couple of Death Valley photos my wife and I took last weekend. This year there is a super bloom! Last year was very wet, DeathValleySuperBloom and while we were there were good showers in several parts of the valley.

There is also stunningly beautiful geology, with colors ranging from white to black, and in between amazing hues of green, red, blue, orange, yellow, purple…. It’s the first time we had ever been there in daylight and we want to go back. If it is raining in Death Valley, that bodes well for all of California this year. DeathValleyGeology_2

Good night all, and enjoy the rain and snow!

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