Part 2.9. Efficient Water Management Practices For Agricultural Water Suppliers of California Water Code >> Division 6. >> Part 2.9.

This part shall be known and may be cited as the Agricultural Water Suppliers Efficient Water Management Practices Act.

The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
  (a) Agriculture is a vital industry in California.
  (b) The waters of the state are a limited and renewable resource.
  (c) Agriculture has already implemented many improvements to water use efficiency.
  (d) Implementation of additional water management practices could further improve agricultural water use efficiency in many areas.
  (e) In many areas agricultural water suppliers are already carrying out water management practices to improve the efficiency of water use.
  (f) Agricultural water suppliers can implement efficient water management practices for the delivery of water and can assist their users to improve the efficiency of their use of water.

Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in this section govern construction of this part.
  (a) "Agricultural water supplier" or "supplier" means a supplier, either publicly or privately owned, supplying water, regardless of the basis of right, for agricultural purposes.
  (b) "Efficient water management practices" means reasonable and economically justifiable programs to improve the delivery and use of water used for agricultural purposes.
  (c) "Water conservation" means the reduction of the amount of water irretrievably lost to saline sinks, moisture-deficient soils, water surface evaporation, or noncrop evapotranspiration in the process of satisfying an existing beneficial use achieved either by improving the technology or method for diverting, transporting, applying, or recovering the water or by implementation of other conservation methods.

(a) The department shall establish an advisory committee comprised of representatives of the California farming community, agricultural water suppliers, the department, the Department of Food and Agriculture, the University of California, the California State University, public interest groups, and other interested parties.
  (b) The department shall periodically review potential efficient water management practices to determine which are feasible to achieve water conservation, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 10902.
  (c) The department may carry out cooperative studies of the effectiveness and efficiency of potential water management practices and implemented efficient water management practices to provide the basis for future recommendations.
  (d) Nothing in this part shall be construed to affect water rights.
  (e) The department shall consult with the advisory committee in carrying out its periodic reviews and conducting studies of water management practices as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c).

(a) The department shall offer assistance to agricultural water suppliers to implement efficient water management practices to improve the efficiency of water use.
  (b) Assistance offered by the department shall include, but not be limited to, technical consultation and training in methods to deliver water to farmers based on their actual water needs, evaluating and recommending improvements to the uniformity with which water is applied, advising farmers on the optimum quantities of water to apply and when to apply it, and any other technologies or management methods to improve the efficiency of water use.