(a) The board, after notice and a public hearing, may adopt an interim plan for a probationary basin.
(b) The interim plan shall include all of the following:
(1) Identification of the actions that are necessary to correct a condition of long-term overdraft or a condition where groundwater extractions result in significant depletions of interconnected surface waters, including recommendations for appropriate action by any person.
(2) A time schedule for the actions to be taken.
(3) A description of the monitoring to be undertaken to determine effectiveness of the plan.
(c) The interim plan may include the following:
(1) Restrictions on groundwater extraction.
(2) A physical solution.
(3) Principles and guidelines for the administration of rights to surface waters that are connected to the basin.
(d) Except as provided in subdivision (e), the interim plan shall be consistent with water right priorities, subject to Section 2 of Article X of the California Constitution.
(e) The board shall include in its interim plan a groundwater sustainability plan, or any element of a plan, that the board finds complies with the sustainability goal for that portion of the basin or would help meet the sustainability goal for the basin. Where, in the judgment of the board, an adjudication action can be relied on as part of the interim plan, either throughout the basin or in an area within the basin, the board may rely on, or incorporate elements of, that adjudication into the interim plan adopted by the board.
(f) In carrying out activities that may affect the probationary basin, state entities shall comply with an interim plan adopted by the board pursuant to this section unless otherwise directed or authorized by statute and the state entity shall indicate to the board in writing the authority for not complying with the interim plan.
(g) (1) After the board adopts an interim plan under this section, the board shall determine if a groundwater sustainability plan or an adjudication action is adequate to eliminate the condition of long-term overdraft or condition where groundwater extractions result in significant depletions of interconnected surface waters, upon petition of either of the following:
(A) A groundwater sustainability agency that has adopted a groundwater sustainability plan for the probationary basin or a portion thereof.
(B) A person authorized to file the petition by a judicial order or decree entered in an adjudication action in the probationary basin.
(2) The board shall act on a petition filed pursuant to paragraph (1) within 90 days after the petition is complete. If the board, in consultation with the department, determines that the groundwater sustainability plan or adjudication action is adequate, the board shall rescind the interim plan adopted by the board for the probationary basin, except as provided in paragraphs (3) and (4).
(3) Upon request of the petitioner, the board may amend an interim plan adopted under this section to eliminate portions of the interim plan, while allowing other portions of the interim plan to continue in effect.
(4) The board may decline to rescind an interim plan adopted pursuant to this section if the board determines that the petitioner has not provided adequate assurances that the groundwater sustainability plan or judicial order or decree will be implemented.
(5) This subdivision is not a limitation on the authority of the board to stay its proceedings under this section or to rescind or amend an interim plan adopted pursuant to this section based on the progress made by a groundwater sustainability agency or in an adjudication action, even if the board cannot make a determination of adequacy in accordance with paragraph (1).
(h) Before January 1, 2025, the state board shall not establish an interim plan under this section to remedy a condition where the groundwater extractions result in significant depletions of interconnected surface waters.
(i) The board’s authority to adopt an interim plan under this section does not alter the law establishing water rights priorities or any other authority of the board.
(Amended (as added by Stats. 2014, Ch. 347) by Stats. 2014, Ch. 348, Sec. 2. (SB 1319) Effective January 1, 2015.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018