Department of Water Resources: Water Storage and Conveyance Fund: water storage and conveyance.

Under existing law, the United States Bureau of Reclamation operates the federal Central Valley Project and the Department of Water Resources operates the State Water Project to supply water to persons and entities in the state. Existing law requires the Friant-Kern Canal to be of such capacity as the department determines necessary to furnish an adequate supply of water for beneficial purposes in the area to be served by the canal. This bill would establish the Water Storage and Conveyance Fund in the State Treasury to be administered by the department. The bill would require all moneys deposited in the fund to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, in support of subsidence repair and reservoir storage costs, including environmental planning, permitting, design, and construction and all necessary road and bridge upgrades required to accommodate capacity improvements. The bill would require the department to expend from the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, specified monetary amounts to complete funding for the construction of the Sites Reservoir, and to restore the capacity of 4 specified water conveyance systems, as prescribed, with 2 of those 4 expenditures being in the form of a grant to the Friant Water Authority and to the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority.This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2030, and would repeal it as of January 1, 2031. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.