Water rights: stockponds.

The California Constitution requires that the water resources of the state be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable and that the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable method of use of water be prevented. The Water Rights Permitting Reform Act of 1988 authorizes any person to obtain a right to appropriate water for a small domestic, small irrigation, or livestock stockpond use upon registering the use with the State Water Resources Control Board, as prescribed, payment of a registration fee, and application of the water to reasonable and beneficial use with due diligence. Existing law generally provides that the owner of a dam or other water impoundment structure constructed before January 1, 1969, with a capacity not in excess of 10 acre-feet on January 1, 1975, has a valid water right for the use of the water for specified purposes relating to livestock watering use, if that person files a claim for a water right accompanied by a fee with the board not later than December 31, 1997. Existing law requires the board to issue a certificate of the validity of the water right to a claimant who establishes a water right under these provisions. This bill would provide that the owner of a stockpond built prior to January 1, 2019, that does not have a capacity greater than 10 acre-feet may obtain a right to appropriate water for the principal purpose of watering livestock if that person files a claim for a water right with the board accompanied by a fee not later than December 31, 2021, with certain exceptions. Upon the issuance of a certificate by the board for an appropriation of water obtained under the bill's provisions, the bill would require the board to provide in writing conditions to which the appropriation is subject. The bill would require the board to establish reasonable general conditions to which all appropriations of water made under the bill's provisions are to be subject and would authorize the board to revise the conditions from time to time. Existing law authorizes the board to adopt regulations requiring measurement and reporting of water diversion and use by persons including, among others, those authorized to appropriate water under a permit, a license, a registration for small domestic, small irrigation, or livestock stockpond use, or a certification for livestock stockpond use. This bill would require the board to assume for purposes of those measurement and reporting regulations that the capacity of a stockpond declared with a specified type of established water rights claim is the total amount of water diverted annually.