From the State Water Board:
On July 27, 2021, the Department of Water Resources (DWR), and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), collectively Petitioners, filed a petition with the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), Division of Water Rights, for temporary change to transfer/exchange up to 200,000 acre-feet (af) of water pursuant to California Water Code section 1725 et seq.
The Petitioners request the temporary addition of the State Water Project (SWP) place of use downstream of the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant to Reclamation’s License 1986 and Permits 11885, 11886, 12721, 11967, 11887, 12722, 12723, 12727, 11315, 11316, 11968, 11959, 12860, 11971, 11973, and 12364 (Applications 23, 234, 1465, 5626, 5628, 5638, 9363, 9364, 9368, 13370, 13371, 15374, 15375, 15764, 16767, 17374, and 17376) and the temporary addition of the Central Valley Project (CVP) place of use downstream of the Jones Pumping Plant to DWR’s Permit 16479 (Application 14443).
Reclamation has requested an exchange of up to 150,000 af of SWP water stored in San Luis Reservoir for delivery in the CVP service area in return for Reclamation to provide an equivalent amount of CVP water to the SWP in San Luis Reservoir within the term of the temporary change. Reclamation has also requested to return 50,000 af of CVP water to the SWP place of use before December 31, 2021. The proposed exchange will allow Petitioners to recover previously stored water and optimize the beneficial use of their existing water supplies. Approval of the petition will not increase the quantity or alter the timing of diversions from the Delta.
Temporary changes involving the transfer/exchange of water may be in effect for one year from the date of approval.
To view the notice and petition package, please visit the State Water Board, Division of Water Rights website at: 2021 Notices
The 30-day comment period per Water Code section 1726(f) has been reduced to 15 days per the Governor’s Proclamation of a State of Emergency in the Klamath River, Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, and Tulare Lake Watershed Counties due to drought (Drought Proclamation) dated May 10, 2021. This Drought Proclamation will help expedite processing of water transfers. Comments filed in response to this notice must be received by 4:30 pm on August 12, 2021.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Patricia Fernandez by email at patricia.fernandez@
