California Code of Regulations › Title 23 - Waters › Division 3 - State Water Resources Control Board and Regional Water Quality Control Boards › Chapter 2 - Appropriation of Water › Article 23.5 - Scott River and Shasta River Watersheds Drought Emergency Requirements › Section 875.2 - Minimum Human Health and Safety Needs

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a)
				  Definition: For the purposes of this article, "minimum human health and safety
				  needs" refer to the amount of water necessary to prevent adverse impacts to
				  human health and safety, for which there is no feasible alternate supply.
				  "Minimum human health and safety needs" include:
(1) Minimum domestic water uses, including
				  water for human consumption, cooking, or sanitation purposes. Further, minimum
				  domestic water uses include incidental uses necessary for sustenance, such as
				  noncommercial vegetable gardens, and domestic animals but do not include
				  commercial irrigation or commercial livestock. As necessary to provide for
				  minimum domestic water use, water diverted for minimum human health and safety
				  needs may include water hauling and bulk water deliveries, so long as the
				  diverter maintains records of such deliveries and complies with the reporting
				  requirements of section
				  875.6, and so long as such
				  diversion and use is consistent with a valid water right.
(2) For Urban Water Suppliers, as defined in
				  Water Code section
				  10617, water
				  uses allowed under and in accordance with the strictest stage of that
				  supplier's adopted Water Shortage Contingency Plan as part of its Urban Water
				  Management Plan.
(3) Water supplies
				  necessary for energy sources that are critical to basic grid reliability, as
				  identified by the California Independent System Operator, California Public
				  Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission, or a similar energy grid
				  reliability authority.
(4) Water
				  supplies necessary to prevent tree die-off that would contribute to fire risk
				  to residences, and for maintenance of ponds or other water sources for
				  firefighting, in addition to water supplies identified by the California
				  Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or another appropriate authority as
				  regionally necessary for fire preparedness or post-fire recovery and
				  reforestation efforts.
(5) Water
				  supplies identified by the California Air Resources Board, a local air quality
				  management district, or other appropriate public agency with air quality
				  expertise, as necessary to address critical air quality impacts to protect
				  public health.
(6) Water supplies
				  necessary to address immediate public health or safety threats, as determined
				  by a public agency with health or safety expertise.
(7) Other water uses necessary for human
				  health and safety which a state, local, tribal, or federal health,
				  environmental, or safety agency has determined are critical to public health
				  and safety or to the basic infrastructure of the state. Diverters wishing to
				  continue diversions for these uses must identify the human health and safety
				  need, include approval or similar relevant documentation from the appropriate
				  public agency, describe why the amount requested is critical for the need and
				  cannot be met through alternate supplies, state how long the diversion is
				  expected to continue, certify that the supply will be used only for the stated
				  need, and describe steps taken and planned to obtain alternative
				  supplies.