Gavin Newsom waives permits to put California flood water underground

[In It to Win It]

https://news.yahoo.com/newsom-waves-permits-put-california-022112918.html

California’s severely depleted groundwater basins could get a boost this spring, after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order waiving permits to recharge them.

State water leaders hope to encourage local agencies and agricultural districts to capture water from newly engorged rivers and spread it onto fields, letting it seep into aquifers after decades of heavy agricultural pumping.

“We have been hearing for some weeks now about the need for clarity around when flows can be captured for recharge. And we certainly want to make sure that we’re capitalizing on the opportunities that are provided to us this year” said Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources. “We are really at the at the start of what will be a significant flood season.”

To pull water from the state’s network of rivers and canals for groundwater recharge, state law requires a permit from the State Water Resources Control Board and Department of Fish and Wildlife. Many local agencies lacked the permitting during January storms, but this month’s atmospheric rivers and near record snowpack promises new opportunities to put water underground.

Newsom’s executive order eliminated the need for a water rights permit for groundwater recharge if the land meets specific environmental conditions between March 10 and June 1. It also waives the need for a permit from the Department of Fish and Wildlife to alter a lake or stream bed.

[msongs]

1. hundreds of square miles of central valley could be selectively flooded specially in the south nt

[2naSalit]

2. Good move on his part.

I'm glad he's done this. I'll have to check in with my peeps in the ag business down there and see what they have to say. I'll bet they will be glad.