California Code of Regulations › Title 23 - Waters › Division 7 - California Water Commission › Chapter 1 - Water Storage Investment Program › Article 1 - Purpose and Definitions › Section 6001 - Definitions

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) As
				  used in this Chapter, the terms below shall have the meanings noted:
(1) "Adaptive management" has the same
				  meaning as provided in Water Code section
				  85052.
(2) "Agricultural water supplier" has the
				  same meaning as provided in Water Code section
				  10608.12.
(3) "Applicant" means the entity(ies) that
				  formally submits an application for funding.
(4) "Application" means the information
				  submitted to the Commission that is outlined in the application process in
				  section 6003 of these
				  regulations.
(5) "Attraction flow"
				  means water with appropriate chemistry, velocity, quantity, and location to
				  attract fish migrating upstream.
(6) "Avoided cost" means the reduction in a
				  without-project future condition cost that would occur as a result of a
				  proposed project.
(7) "Beneficial
				  uses of the Delta" means the beneficial uses identified in the State Water
				  Board's "Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San
				  Joaquin Delta Estuary" (December 2006).
(8) "Beneficiary(ies)" means a person,
				  organization, or group of persons or organizations that receives public or
				  non-public benefits from a proposed project.
(9) "Best available science" means the use of
				  the high-value information and data, specific to the decision being made and
				  the time frame available for making that decision, to inform and assist
				  management and policy decisions.
(10) "CALFED surface storage projects" means
				  projects meeting the requirements of Water Code section
				  79751(a).
				  For the purposes of this Program, this means Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion,
				  In-Delta Storage Project, Sites Reservoir, and Temperance Flat.
(11) "Capital costs" means the costs of
				  construction or acquisition of a tangible physical property with an expected
				  useful life of 15 years or more. Capital costs include the following items:
(A) Major maintenance, reconstruction, or
				  demolition for purposes of reconstruction, reoperation, or retrofitting of
				  facilities.
(B) Equipment with an
				  expected useful life of two years or more.
(C) Costs incidentally but directly related
				  to construction or acquisition, including, but not limited to, planning,
				  engineering, construction management, architectural, and other design work,
				  environmental impact reports and assessments, required environmental mitigation
				  or compliance obligation expenses, appraisals, legal expenses, site
				  acquisitions, and necessary easements.
(12) "CEQA" means the California
				  Environmental Quality Act (Public Resources Code section
				  21000
				  et seq.).
(13) "CDFW" means the
				  California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
(14) "Commission" means the California Water
				  Commission.
(15) "Conjunctive use
				  project" means the coordinated and planned management of existing surface water
				  and groundwater resources in order to maximize the efficient use of both
				  resources. Conjunctive use projects may include development of new operational
				  agreements and construction of appurtenant infrastructure. To be considered for
				  a maximum project cost share exception, pursuant to Water Code section
				  79756(a),
				  these projects shall use existing facilities and resources to the maximum
				  extent practicable. Conjunctive use projects do not include those that meet the
				  definition of groundwater storage projects.
(16) "Construction period" means the time
				  during which construction occurs, normally stated as the first year and the
				  last year of construction.
(17)
				  "Cost-effective(ness)" means a demonstration that a proposed project's cost is
				  the least-cost feasible means of providing the same or greater amount of
				  benefit. Cost-effectiveness can apply to the project as a whole (total costs to
				  provide the full set of public and non-public benefits) or to an individual
				  public benefit relative to the Program cost share for that public
				  benefit.
(18) "Cost allocation"
				  means the process for assigning costs to beneficiaries.
(19) "Cost share" means the portion of total
				  project cost that is paid by a specific beneficiary or funding source. It may
				  be expressed in dollars or as a percent of total cost.
(20) "Current conditions" means the existing
				  conditions as presented in an applicant's CEQA document.
(21) "Delta" means the Sacramento-San Joaquin
				  Delta as defined in Water Code section
				  85058.
(22) "Delta outflow" means the Net Delta
				  Outflow Index as identified in the State Water Board's "Water Quality Control
				  Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary" (December
				  2006).
(23) "Department" means the
				  Department of Water Resources.
(24)
				  "Dewatering" means a condition when water surface elevation drops below bed
				  elevation exposing redds to ambient conditions or stranding juvenile
				  salmonids.
(25) "Disadvantaged
				  communities" has the same meaning as Water Code section
				  79505.5.
(26) "Discount rate" means the real interest
				  rate (i.e., the rate without inflation) used to adjust constant dollar public
				  or non-public benefits received or costs incurred during the planning horizon
				  to dollars at a common point in time.
(27) "Duration of improvement" means the
				  length of time an improvement is expected to exist or provide intended public
				  benefits.
(28) "Ecosystem
				  improvements" means a public benefit that includes changing the timing of water
				  diversions, improvement in flow conditions, temperature, or other public
				  benefits that contribute to the restoration of aquatic ecosystems and native
				  fish and wildlife, including those ecosystems and fish and wildlife in the
				  Delta, per Water Code section
				  79753(a)(1).
				  Ecosystems include both aquatic and terrestrial habitats and natural
				  communities.
(29) "Emergency
				  response" has the same meaning as Water Code section
				  79753(a)(4)
				  which is a public benefit that provides an amount of water storage or supply
				  for emergency response purposes that are outside of normal facility operations
				  or average water supply for all other purposes (i.e., water supply is reduced
				  for the expected (average) amount of water used for emergency purposes). For
				  the purposes of this Program, emergency response water supplied for human
				  health and safety purposes during declared emergencies will be considered a
				  public benefit under this category.
(30) "Entrainment" means fish being
				  transported along with the flow of water into unnatural or harmful
				  environments.
(31) "Environmental
				  documentation" means documentation required for compliance with CEQA as defined
				  in California Code of Regulations, Title 14, section
				  15361.
(32) "Existing environmental mitigation or
				  compliance obligations" means legally enforceable requirements or conditions in
				  existing statutes, regulations, permits, contracts, licenses, grants, or orders
				  and decisions from courts or state or federal agencies intended to protect the
				  human or natural environment.
(33)
				  "Flood control benefit" has the same meaning as Water Code section
				  79753(a)(3)
				  which is a public benefit that reduces or prevents the extent or magnitude of
				  the expected detrimental effects of flooding as a result of new, expanded, or
				  reoperated storage projects.
(34)
				  "Flow regimes" means flow conditions that retain specific process-based
				  components that support hydrogeomorphic or ecological functions for the streams
				  and rivers. Ecological functions are the biological, chemical, and physical
				  structural components of an ecosystem and how they interact with each
				  other.
(35) "Funding agreement"
				  means an agreement between the Commission and the funding recipient to
				  implement the proposed project.
(36) "Funding recipient" means an applicant
				  who receives a letter of maximum conditional eligibility and enters into a
				  funding agreement through the Program.
(37) "Geographic scope" means the area
				  covered by a model or analysis used to calculate physical changes resulting
				  from a proposed project.
(38)
				  "Groundwater contamination prevention project" means a project that provides
				  water storage benefits and prevents groundwater contamination by eliminating or
				  reducing sources of contamination; prevents seawater intrusion through the use
				  of seawater or hydraulic barriers; prevents the migration of contaminants into
				  down gradient groundwater basins or aquifers; or otherwise prevents groundwater
				  contaminant plumes from expanding or spreading. Contamination means an
				  impairment of the quality of the groundwaters of the State.
(39) "Groundwater dependent ecosystem" has
				  the same meaning as California Code of Regulations, Title 23, section
				  351(m).
(40) "Groundwater remediation project" means
				  a project that provides water storage benefits and removes or reduces one or
				  more constituents resulting from a discharge or release of waste that has
				  degraded groundwater quality or impaired beneficial uses, or a project that
				  restores groundwater basin storage or storage capacity by reducing constituent
				  concentrations below levels that impair beneficial uses of the
				  groundwater.
(41) "Groundwater
				  storage project" means a designed project that captures, infiltrates, injects,
				  or recharges (direct or in-lieu) water supplies into a groundwater basin for
				  later use or to avoid or address undesirable groundwater results.
(42) "Groundwater Sustainability Agency
				  (GSA)" has the same meaning as Water Code section
				  10721(j).
(43) "Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP)"
				  has the same meaning as Water Code section
				  10721(k).
(44) "Immediacy of improvement action" means
				  the amount of time that will elapse between the initiation of an improvement
				  action that will result in a measurable improvement and the completion of that
				  action.
(45) "In-river rearing"
				  means when a fish holds in a river to feed, grow, or survive prior to upstream
				  or downstream migration.
(46)
				  "Local surface storage project" means a project that stores water above ground
				  in a natural or artificial impoundment that improves the operation of water
				  systems in the state and provides public benefits. Local surface storage
				  projects are not wholly owned or operated by the Department or U.S. Bureau of
				  Reclamation but rather by a local agency.
(47) "Magnitude of improvement" means the
				  quantity of the improvement.
(48)
				  "Measurable improvements" means changes in physical, chemical, or biological
				  conditions that provide public benefits and can be quantified at a specific
				  location and time.
(49) "Mutual
				  water company" has the same meaning as Public Utility Code section
				  2725.
(50) "Net improvement" means the gain or
				  enhancement of a resource condition determined by comparing the with- and
				  without-project future conditions less any negative outcomes of a proposed
				  project.
(51) "Non-natal tributary"
				  means any waterway that is not the stream or river where an anadromous fish was
				  born.
(52) "Nonprofit organization"
				  has the same meaning contained in Water Code section
				  79702(p).
(53) "Non-public benefit" means a benefit
				  provided by a proposed project other than the public benefits identified in
				  Water Code section
				  79753(a).
(54) "Operations" means any decision or
				  action, purposeful or incidental, to control or regulate the free flow of water
				  by diverting to, impounding in, or releasing from a surface water or
				  groundwater storage or other facility(ies).
(55) "Permits" means any federal, state, or
				  local approvals, certifications, or agreements required to construct,
				  implement, or operate a project.
(56) "Physical benefit" means a desired
				  improvement in a good or service that is provided by a proposed project,
				  measured in a physical, non-monetary unit.
(57) "Physical change" means expected change
				  in: surface water or groundwater conditions; water flow, Delta and riverine
				  conditions; surface water or groundwater quality; aquatic and terrestrial
				  biological resources; energy resources; recreation resources; or other
				  resources affected by the change in diversion, storage, or use of water
				  provided by a proposed project.
(58) "Planning horizon" means the future time
				  period, in years, over which project costs will be paid and public or
				  non-public benefits received, normally based on the expected project life plus
				  the construction period. The planning horizon may not exceed the expected life
				  of the project facilities plus the construction period, or 100 years, whichever
				  is less.
(59) "Present value" means
				  the monetary value of future costs or future public or non-public benefits of a
				  proposed project, converted to a common point in time using the discount rate.
				  As used in this regulation, present values of costs or benefits of a project
				  are expressed at the start of a proposed project's operation, unless otherwise
				  specified.
(60) "Program" means the
				  Water Storage Investment Program.
(61) "Project life" means the expected time
				  period in which a project physically performs its intended function.
(62) "Public agency" shall have the same
				  meaning provided in Water Code section
				  79702(s).
(63) "Public benefit(s)" are those public
				  benefits associated with water storage projects outlined in Water Code section
				  79753(a).
(64) "Public Benefit Ratio" means the ratio
				  of the monetized public benefits to the Program funding request.
(65) "Ramping rate" means a progressive
				  change in the discharge of water to a stream or river channel, measured as flow
				  per unit time.
(66) "Realization of
				  benefit" means the amount of time that would elapse before an improvement will
				  achieve measurable outcomes.
(67)
				  "Recreational purposes" means a public benefit that provides recreation
				  activities typically associated with water bodies (such as rivers, streams,
				  lakes, wetlands, and the ocean) and wildlife refuges that are accessible to the
				  public. Recreational benefits must be directly affected by the proposed project
				  and be open to the public, and may provide interpretive, educational, health,
				  or intrinsic value.
(68) "Redd"
				  means a gravel nest, excavated by a spawning female salmonid, for the
				  deposition of eggs.
(69) "Regional
				  surface storage project" means a project that stores water above ground in a
				  natural or artificial impoundment that improves the operation of water systems
				  in the state and provides public benefits.
(70) "Reservoir reoperation project" means a
				  project that involves the modification of the operations of an existing surface
				  storage reservoir to achieve public benefits. A reservoir reoperation project
				  may include construction of appurtenant infrastructures such as spillways,
				  radial gates, tunnels, or conveyance facilities necessary for the improved
				  operation of the existing reservoir. Such projects must result in long-term
				  operational changes that provide public benefits, and the operational changes
				  must be documented in a facility's operating permits and the contracts with
				  entities responsible for administering and monitoring the public benefits,
				  pursuant to Water Code section
				  79755.
(71) "Resiliency" for the purposes of the
				  component score in section
				  6009(g) means the
				  ability of a project to provide public benefits by accounting for flexibility
				  and integration to the State water system and response to sources of
				  uncertainty as described in section
				  6004(a)(8).
(72) "Spatial distribution" means the
				  geographical arrangement of a habitat, phenomenon, or species in a given
				  area.
(73) "Spatial resolution"
				  means the minimum length, area, or volume of an affected physical resource
				  necessary to demonstrate and describe public benefits or impacts.
(74) "Spatial scale" means the geographical
				  extent of an improvement.
(75)
				  "Staff" means the employees of the Commission, other state agencies, and
				  contractors designated by the Commission to assist in the preparation and
				  review of applications and administer the Program, including evaluating the
				  technical aspects of a proposed project.
(76) "State Water Board" means the State
				  Water Resources Control Board.
(77)
				  "State water system" means all of the state's water systems collectively,
				  including local, regional, state, and federal systems that provide water
				  resources benefits within California, regardless of whether the benefits are
				  public or private.
(78) "Straying"
				  means an anadromous fish migrating into a non-natal waterway.
(79) "Temporal scale" means the time in the
				  calendar year during which an improvement would be realized.
(80) "Threshold" means, in the context of
				  adaptive management, a numerical value for a specific metric that is a boundary
				  between acceptable and unacceptable situations or conditions, or a specific
				  metric that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, result, or condition to
				  occur.
(81) "Time-step" means the
				  amount of time for which equations in a time-sequential model are recalculated;
				  normally hourly, daily, monthly or annually.
(82) "Tributaries to the Delta" means all
				  river systems that make up the Sacramento River watershed and the San Joaquin
				  River watershed (i.e., the topographic hydrologic basins). Tributaries to the
				  Delta include areas upstream of dams or other impoundments. Tributaries to the
				  Delta do not include the Trinity River watershed or the Tulare Lake
				  Basin.
(83) "Tribe" means a
				  federally-recognized Indian tribe or Indian tribes/groups listed on the Native
				  American Heritage Commission's California Tribal Consultation List.
(84) "Trigger" means, in the context of
				  adaptive management, an event, situation, or measurement that initiates or
				  requires a management action.
(85)
				  "Undesirable result(s)" with respect to groundwater, has the same meaning
				  provided in Water Code section
				  10721(x)(1-6).
(86) "Urban water supplier" has the same
				  meaning as Water Code section
				  10617.
(87) "Water quality improvements" means a
				  public benefit that includes water quality improvements that provide
				  significant public trust resources in the Delta or in other river systems, or
				  water quality improvements that clean up or restore groundwater resources, per
				  Water Code section
				  79753(a)(2).
				  Public trust resources related to water quality improvements, for the purposes
				  of this Program and quantifying public benefits, mean fishery protection, fish
				  and wildlife conservation, preservation of waterways in their natural state,
				  and recreation. Water quality improvements in the Delta, or in other river
				  systems, that provide these public trust resources are public
				  benefits.
(88) "Willingness to pay"
				  means a monetary measure of what Californians would be willing to relinquish
				  for a quantity of a good or service if there was no alternative means of
				  obtaining that same quantity.
(89)
				  "With-project future conditions" means a quantitative and qualitative
				  description of the conditions assumed at the future condition years 2030 and
				  2070 with a proposed project; it is based on the without-project future
				  conditions and includes additions or modifications specific to the proposed
				  project's facilities and operations.
(90) "Without-project future conditions"
				  means a quantitative and qualitative description of the infrastructure,
				  population, land use, water use, water operations, agreements, laws,
				  regulations, climate and sea level conditions, and other characteristics
				  relevant to the proposed project that are assumed at the future condition years
				  2030 and 2070 without a proposed project.