EB EA 3 BA MUNICIPA UTILITY DIS February 18, 2015 ALEXANDER R. COATE GENERAL MANA GER The Honorable Fran Pavley California State Senate State Capitol, Room 5108 Sacramento, California 95814 Subject: Support for SB 20 (Pavley) Dear Senator Pavley: On behalf of the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), I am pleased to inform you that we support your SB 20, as introduced on December 1, 2014. SB 20 would require the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to make well completion reports available to the public upon request and would require DWR to provide speci?ed disclaimers when providing the reports. Well completion reports include information on the well location, depth of the well, geology of the surrounding soils, and depth of the groundwater table that is useful to groundwater managers, consulting hydrologists, academics, and others interested in and conducting studies on the geologic, hydrologic, and water quality characteristics of groundwater basins, including earthquake risk assessments and other geologic hazards. Well completion reports can also be used to construct detailed underground aquifer maps in order to determine possible locations for ef?cient and effective groundwater banking, to identify key recharge areas, and to better protect and improve groundwater quality. This information is central to developing and implementing groundwater management plans. By making well completion reports available to the public upon request, SB 20 would benefit EBMUD and others involved in groundwater management planning by reducing costs associated with groundwater management planning. The detailed information in existing well completion reports would enable groundwater management planners to focus their exploration efforts on those areas where data is lacking and reduce the cost to obtain groundWater?related information for those areas with pre?existing wells. Marlaigne Durnaine, Manager of Legislative Affairs, is available to answer any questions you may have concerning position on SB 20. Ms. Dumaine may be reached at (916) 443?6948. Sincerely, Alexander R. Coate 375 ELEVENTH STREET . OAKLAND . CA 946574240 . {510) 287-0101 BOARD OF DIRECTORS JOHN A. COLEMAN . KAWFOULKES . ANDY DOUG UNNEY . LESA R. MCINTOSH . FRANK MELIDN . WILLIAM B. PATTERSON WESTERN GROWERS 0 Fresh pmduce?vm ourfamih'er to yours era) W11 March 5, 2015 The Honorable Fran Pavley California State Assembly State Capitol, Room 5108 Sacramento, CA 95814 RE: SB 20 - OPPOSE Dear Senator Pavley: We the undersigned have reviewed Senate Bill 20 that would make well construction reports, including altered, abandoned, or destroyed well reports (well logs) available to the public. Our organizations? purpose is to protect and improve the ability of farmers and ranchers engaged in production agriculture to provide a healthful reliable supply of food and farm products through responsible stewardship of our diverse natural resources. California?s farmers and ranchers are committed to ensuring the long?term viability of lands they own and manage which requires clean and reliable surface and groundwater supplies. To that end we are actively engaged in assisting our members with understanding of and compliance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act passed last year. Well logs are already required to be submitted to the Department of Water Resources and are available to the appropriate public agencies. For example, groundwater management agencies already have access and utilize this information to better manage their groundwater locally. We understand the importance of managing our scarce groundwater resources and are fully supportive of local efforts to do just that. We believe the well log data is available to those entities that have a genuine need to evaluate and utilize it for the bene?t of managing our groundwater supplies. No bene?cial purpose could be gained by making this con?dential data available to the public. We believe this measure will only assist those trolling for lawsuits. Page 2 Included in the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) were signi?cant groundwater reforms which focused on improving the sustainability and reliability of California?s groundwater basins. As local groundwater management agencies are being formed to implement the SGMA there really is no need for making this information public. For these reasons we oppose SB 20. Because we are committed to managing our groundwater we remain available to discuss our concerns with you and your staff. Sincerely, Gail Delihant Danny Merkley Western Growers Association California Farm Bureau Federation Valeria Nera Trudi Hughes California Chamber of Commerce California League of Food Processors cc: Dennis O?Connor, Consultant, Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee Todd Mof?tt, Senate Republican Caucus sxoa Reeb Government Relations, LLC March 6, 2015 The Honorable Fran Pavley California Senate State Capitol, Room 5108 Sacramento, California 95814 RE: Senate Bill No. 20?0ppose Dear Senator Pavley: I am writing on behalf of the Valley Ag Water Coalition (VAWC) to express opposition to your SB 20, relating to well completion reports. Existing law requires a person who drills a water well to file a report of completion with the Department of Water Resources. Existing law prohibits those reports from being made available to the public, but shall be made available to governmental agencies for use in making studies, or to any person who obtains a written authorization from the owner of the well. Further, a report associated with a well located within two miles of an area affected or potentially affected by a known unauthorized release of a contaminant shall be made available to any person performing an environmental cleanup study associated with the unauthorized release, if the study is conducted under the order of a regulatory agency. SB 20 would instead require the department to, upon request, make the reports available to the public. The bill would require the department to provide specified disclaimers when providing the reports to the public. The bill would authorize the department to charge a fee for the provision of a report to recover the department?s costs that does not exceed the reasonable costs to the department of providing the report. The bill would require the release of a report to comply with the Information Practices Act of 1977 and would require the department to redact from the report speci?ed information pertaining to the well owner. The bill would require a person who requests a report to provide his or her name, address, identification number from a government?issued source, and reason for making the request. VAWC represents 45 public agencies and water companies that deliver farm water supplies in the San Joaquin Valley. Our members oppose SB 20 for several reasons. First, well completion reports truly lack any meaningful information in terms of the 1107 9th Street, Suite 230 (916) 558-1926 PH Sacramento, California 95814 (916) 558-1932 FAX The Honorable Fran Pavley March 6, 2015 Page 2 general public. These reports only include the location and depth of a well along with soil information generated from the drilling operation. The reports do not contain water quality data or groundwater production data. Second, public disclosure of the exact location of a groundwater well located on private property that is used for agricultural production represents an invasion of privacy. Worse, disclosure of the exact location of a groundwater well will provide a metal thief with all of the information needed to locate and strip copper wire and other metals from well pumps thereby causing thousands of dollars of damage to the well and threatening damage to crop production due to the temporary loss of water supply. VAWC members believe the right to privacy outweighs any benefit to the general public related to the disclosure of well completion reports. This leads my client to a third and perhaps more compelling argument; the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), of which you were one of the principal authors last year, renders public disclosure unnecessary. SGMA requires medium? and high?priority groundwater basins to be sustainably managed pursuant to locally adopted groundwater sustainability plans. These groundwater basins represent 96% of groundwater production in the entire state. SGMA authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) to require the registration of groundwater wells and the reporting of well extraction data on a regular basis [Notez these provisions of SGMA were written by, and advocated for, the Valley Ag Water Coalition]. SGMA also requires groundwater level monitoring, in part, to demonstrate compliance with the plan?s sustainability goal. This groundwater level monitoring is in addition to the monitoring and reporting requirements under the California State Groundwater Elevation Monitoring program or CASGEM. SGMA provides that the groundwater well information provided to a GSA shall not be subject to disclosure. SB 20 is in direct conflict with the enactment of your legislation last year. Well completion reports are available under current law to those persons and state and local agencies, including groundwater managers, consulting hydrologists, academics, and others interested in the geologic and hydrologic characteristics of groundwater basins. SB 20 is not needed to advance our understanding of the operation of groundwater basins in California. And, disclosure to the general public does not outweigh the right to privacy for owners of groundwater wells located on private property. VAWC respectfully requests that you not pursue the enactment of SB 20. VAWC was an active participant in the drafting of key provisions of SGMA last year. The Legislature should allow local agencies and well owners to move forward to implement the new law The Honorable Fran Pavley March 6, 2015 Page 3 without the threat of public disclosure of the exact location of groundwater wells?an exercise that would provide no benefits, but rather pose a threat to private property. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, ?rzr Mr? Robert J. Reeb RGR: Kings River Conservation District I, "1ij grif?n: I w'g :l February 17, 2015 The Honorable Fran Pavley California State Senate State Capitol, Room 5108 Sacramento, CA 95814 Re: SB 20 Position: Oppose Dear Senator Pavley: The Kings River Water Association (KRWA) and the Kings River Conservation District (KRCD) oppose SB 20, which would require the Department of Water Resources to make well log reports available to the public. For the reasons summarized below, we believe SB 20 would complicate rather than facilitate effective local groundwater management, create unnecessary expenses without any signi?cant countervailing bene?t, and needlessly infringe on private property rights. KRWA and KRCD are regional agencies that manage water and related resources on the Kings River in the San Joaquin Valley of California. KRWA is an association comprised of the 28 public and private agencies with rights to water from the Kings River. The organization manages those water rights and the associated water supplies, and is engaged in various environmental enhancement and water quality?related projects. KRCD is a public agency responsible for flood control, power, on?farm water management, environmental programs and groundwater management. Both of our agencies have developed exemplary local and regional resource management programs to address groundwater conditions within our service area. With KRCD support, over 50 public agencies and non-governmental organizations have joined together to form the Kings Basin Integrated Regional Water Management Program. Critical to the success of management programs is cooperation from the local landowners, which we promote and value. We take groundwater management seriously. Our organizations believe that, given the vast differences in groundwater conditions and other relevant factors from region to region, effective groundwater management is best conducted locally by agencies like ours. In many areas of the state, this is already occurring. We are deeply concerned that the provisions of SB 20 would undermine local and regional management of groundwater resources by allowing public access to information that is best managed by experts at the local level. Given the high disparity in quality and accuracy found in well log reports, public access to well log reports would have minimal bene?t to the public and can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. In turn, that will cause unnecessary expense and dedication of resources by those of us managing groundwater and at the Department of Water Resources when members of the public misinterpret that information, while potentially exposing private landowners to unfounded claims. Moreover, SB 20 is unnecessary. Many local groundwater management agencies must already provide information regarding groundwater conditions, management objectives and monitoring results as provided in the Water Code and the Integrated Regional Water Management Planning Act. Local agencies managing groundwater already have access to well reports. Local agencies therefore have, or can already easily acquire, the information they need to engage in groundwater management. There is no reason to invade the private property rights of well owners as proposed by SB 20. Kings River Conservation District Kings River Water Association 4886 E. Jensen Avenue 4888 E. Jensen Avenue Fresno. CA 93725 (559) 237?5567 Fresno. CA 93725 (559) 286-0767 2 Page Furthermore, there is a signi?cant difference between a well owned by a public water supplier that is paid for with public funds (and is thus a public asset) and a privately owned well serving just the landowner that paid for that well. A privately owned well is private property, and there is no public interest in privately owned well construction data. SB 20 would directly attack private prOperty rights relative to privately funded and operated wells. Security issues related to access to the location of drinking and livestock wells places humans and animals in potentially life-threatening situations. We cannot understate the gravity of that threat given conditions globally. SB 20 also creates other unnecessary expenses. Up to 750,000 well log reports are maintained in DWR records. The administrative and ?nancial burden required to manage public requests for well log information relative to a speci?c area or groundwater basin/sub basin will be signi?cant and must not be understated or underestimated, especially when there is no material bene?t to be gained. Finally, it is important to consider the impact of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) upon this issue. Local agencies are working diligently to develop groundwater sustainability agencies, plans and data monitoring and reporting mechanisms to meet the requirements of this new legislation. SB 20 does more to interfere with rather than support SGMA objectives. Please contact us or our government relations representatives Jackson R. Gualco or Kendra Daijogo of The Gualco Group, Inc. at (916) 441-1392 if you have any questions or comments regarding this correspondence. Sincerely, David Orth, General Manager Steve Haugen, Watermaster Kings River Conservation District Kings River Water Association File: 201.04 cc: Mr. Dennis O?Connor Mr. Todd Mof?tt Kings River Conservation District Kings River Water Association 4886 E. Jensen Avenue 4888 E. Jensen Avenue Fresno, CA 93725 (559) 237-5567 Fresno. CA 93725 (559) 266-0767 CLEAN WATER Adrien madamgwam?; . I, CALIFORNIA @7 COMM .. New}, .. .i . 13L mmuwrmmo - Pin EL AQUA oom?nmittau ENVIRONW uono caucus water Impact .. Qatifemia Waters ti; Alfie-a; ca ANNI AN CONSE RVATI 0N LEAGUE March 17, 2015 The Honorable Fran Pavley California State Senate State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Re: SB 20 (Support) Dear Chair Pavley and Committee Members, The above listed organizations write in? support of SB 20. This bill will make well completion reports publicly available, allowing for the creation of more efficiently managed groundwater basins. in all other western states well logs are public, but California statute currently requires that these logs not be made public. The drought is ca using-real harm to the environment, communities, and economy of California. A report published last July by UC Davis stated that as a result of the continuing drought there will be an estimated loss of over $1 billion a year to agriculture, the Central Valley will continue to be the hardest hit, and pumping costs will continue to rise as water tables continue to fall. [Howitt et al., UC Davis (July 2014], Economic Analysis of the 2014 Drought for California Agriculture, As the physical effects of the drought worsen, from loss of water supplies to increased concentrations: of groundwater contaminants, the need for reliable and transparent data about our state?s groundwater basins grows. Well completion reports contain critical information for groundwater managers, hydrologist, engineers, and others interested in learning the geologic, hydrologic and water quality characteristics of an aquifer. This information can be used to create detailed maps and models of the underground aquifers and help identify recharge areas. Furthermore, well completion reports can help create effective and sustainable groundwater management plans which will better protect and restore groundwater quality and elevations. Our organizations, and those we work with, have been frustrated by our inability to gain access to this critical information information that is available in every other state, often on-line. Public access to well completion reports is important for the protection and restoration of our groundwater resources. We support this bill and thank Senator Pavley for her leadership on this important issue. Sincerely, Laurel Firestone Co-Director 8: Attorney at Law Community Water Center . Jennifer Clary Water Policy Analyst Clean Water Action Carolee Krieger Executive Director California Water Impact Network Marcus Griswold, Water Resources Scientist Natural Resources Defense Council Kyle Jones Policy Advocate Sierra Club California S.Craig Tucker Klamath Coordinator Karuk Tribe Adam Scow California Director Food Water Watch Jonas Minton Senior Water Policy Advisor Planning and Conservation League Susan Harvey President North County Watch Elizabeth Dougherty, Founder and Executive Director Wholly H20- Conner Everts Co- Fa cilitator Environmental Water Caucus Sara Kent Program Director Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation l? Conner Everts Co-Director Southern California Watershed Alliance Ron Sundergiil Senior Director - Pacific Region Office National Parks Conservation Association Kim Delfino California Program Director Defenders of Wildlife Jena Price Legislative Affairs Manager California League of Conservation Vote Amy Trainer, JD Executive Director Environmental Action Committee of West Marin CLEAN WATER -- caazsoema 3 Y. .EEL cameo - .gfftac ?ate COUNSEL - $3133. I Sc ACCQUNTABIIJTY ?tting tip What attentive;a (trimmer: on Race, PENENTY . 8i. Raw-a eo-wmemt (Zahara-a Rural: Legal Assistaztee Foundation March 17, 2015 The Honorable Fran Pavley Chair, Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee California State Senate State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Re: SB 20 (Support) Dear Chair Pavley and Committee Members, The above listed organizations, most of which work directly in, or on behalf of, small and rural disadvantaged communities (DACs) throughout the state, write in support of SB 20. This bill will make well completion reports publicly available, allowing'for the creation of more efficiently managed groundwater basins. ln.a other western states well logs are public, but California statute currently requires that these logs not be made public. As the effects of the drought worsen, from loss of water supplies to increased concentrations of groundwater contamination, the need for reliable and transparent data on our state?s groundwater basins grows. Well completion reports contain critical information for groundwater managers, hydrologist, engineers, and others interested in learning the geologic, hydrologic and water quality characteristics of an aquifer. The information contained within well completion reports would allow communities to identify new well locations that might yield safe drinking water, a concern affecting thousands across the state. Additionally, well completion reports will play an important role in the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The information in the logs can be used to create models and detailed maps of the underground aquifers. This information can then be used to develop and implement effective and sustainable groundwater management plans. Public access to well completion reports will help better protect and restore groundwater quality and elevations, as well as provide more protection for those, like DACs, who rely heavily on groundwater. Our organizations and the communities that we work with have been frustrated in our efforts to gain access to this critical information information that is available in every other state, often on?iine. We support this bill and thank Senator Pavley for her leadership on this important issue. Sincerely, Laurel Firestone Co?Director S: Attorney at Law Community Water Center Jennifer Clary Water Policy Analyst Clean Water Action Phoebe Sarah Seaton Executive Director Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability Col-in Bailey Executive Director Environmental Justice Coalition for Water Noe Paramo Legislative Advocate California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation Ingrid Brostrom Senior Attorney Center on? Race, Poverty the Environment Chione L. Flegal Director PolicyLink The Honorable Fran Pavley California StateAssembly State Capitol Building, Room 5108 Sacramento, CA 958141 RE: Senate Bill 20 -- Oppose Dear Senator Pavley, We, the undersigned organizations, oppose SB 20, which seeks to make well reports available to the public. Current law requires every person who digs, bores, or drills a water or groundwater monitoring well, abandons or destroys such a well, or deepens or reperforates such a well, to file a report of completion of that well with the Department of Water Resources (?Department?). This report must contain well information such as a description of the well to permit location and identification of the well; a detailed log ofthe well; and a description of construction of the well and perforation. Our organizations represent hundreds of farmers, ranchers and dairies that rely on and are committed to preserving an adequate groundwater supply. This has become increasineg important in this prolonged period of drought. Our members understand the need for governmental agencies utilization of information found in well reports, which they have access to under existing law, and rely on the privacy of this information in order to effectively work with governmental agencies to protect our groundwater and ensure a reliable water supply for the future. Making these reports available to the public would be an invasion of privacy which would not be outweighed by any public benefit. While SB 20 requires the Department to redact the name and address of the well owner, the public would still have access to the well location and pumping data. This release of information will lead to the trolling of lawsuits, theft of materials used to construct the wells and destruction of personal property. Last year you authored the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act allowing local management of the groundwater supply. SGMA authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency to require registration of wells and monitoring of pumping activity. SGMA also requires that this information to remain confidential. This confidentiality will allow for better formation and facilitation of groundwater sustainability plans if groundwater pumpers can provide the necessary information to the groundwater sustainability agencies while remaining protected from public exposure. The purpose of the release of well completion reports is to allow state and?local agencies to understand, monitor and protect our groundwater resources. Current law meets this purpose and allowing disclosure of well reports to the public does not outweigh the right to privacy of the owners of these groundwater wells. Management of California?s groundwater supply is an important step in ensuring a reliable groundwater supply for the future. This process should be encouraged without fear or threat of public disclosure of well location and data. For the reasons stated above, we oppose SB 20. Sincerely, yea/MC {gig AM Joel Nelsen California Citrus Mutual Roger lsom California Cotton Ginners Association California Cotton Growers Association Western Agricultural Processors Association Barry Bedwell Erb? 0 California Fresh Fruit Association cal'fom'a Dames: Inc- Manuel Cunha Renee Pine' . . Nisei Farmers League Western Plant Health Assomatlon