Water resources: stream gages.

Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board administers a water rights program pursuant to which the board grants permits and licenses to appropriate water. Existing law, the Open and Transparent Water Data Act, requires the Department of Water Resources, the board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to coordinate and integrate existing water and ecological data from local, state, and federal agencies. This bill would require the Department of Water Resources and the board, upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature, to develop a plan to deploy a network of stream gages that includes a determination of funding needs and opportunities for modernizing and reactivating existing gages and deploying new gages, as specified. The bill would require the department and the board, in consultation with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Conservation, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, interested stakeholders, and, to the extent they wish to consult, local agencies, to develop the plan to address significant gaps in information necessary for water management and the conservation of freshwater species. The bill would require the Department of Water Resources and the board to give priority in the plan to placing or modernizing and reactivating stream gages where lack of data contributes to conflicts in water management or where water can be more effectively managed for multiple benefits and to consider specified criteria in developing the plan.