Petition for Temporary Urgency Change to Facilitate Joint Point of Diversion Operations and the Yuba Transfer

Petition for Temporary Urgency Change to Facilitate Joint Point of Diversion Operations and the Yuba Transfer

On June 4, 2008, citing two straight years of below-average rainfall and significant restrictions on diversions from the Delta due to various factors, including federal and issued Executive Order S-06-08 (Executive Order). The Executive order directed the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and other entities to take immediate action to address the serious drought conditions and water delivery limitations that currently exist in California. On June 12, 2008, after assessing the full impact that the sever water shortages have had on san Joaquin Valley agriculture, Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation, proclaiming a state of emergency within the counties of Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern. The Governor's proclamation directed DWR, in coordination with the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), to take the necessary steps and make the necessary operational changes that will allow more water to be delivered to the San Joaquin Valley. The Governor's Proclamation directed the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board_ to expedite the processing and consideration of water rights urgency change petitions filed by DWR and other agencies to facilitate water transfers to the San Joaquin Valley. On June 17, 2008, DWR and USBR filed with the State Water Board a petition for temporary urgency change pursuant to Water Code section 1435, et seq., seeking to temporarily amend the water right permits for the State Water Project (SWP) and the Central Valley Project (CVP) to authorize use of each other's Delta points of diversion, also referred to as joint points of diversion (JPOD) operations, during periods when salinity objectives in the southern Delta were not being met. On June 27, 2008, DWR and USBR amended their petition to request on behalf of Yuba County Water Agency (YCWA) a similar change to YCWA's water right permit. On July 1, 2008, State Water Board Member Arthur G. Baggett, Jr. issued Order WR 2008-0029-EXEC, which approved the temporary urgency change petition. The order temporarily amended the conditions of the water right permits for USBR and DWR to allow JPOD operations and also temporarily amend YCWA's permit so that the transfer of up to 200,000 acre-feet of water per annum from YCWA to DWR could be implemented when water quality objectives were not being met. The approval was effective from July 31, 2008, to December 12, 2008. In Order WR 2009-0012, adopted on February 17, 2009, the State Water Board denied petitions for reconsideration of Order WR 2008-0029-EXEC.

Yuba