Section 14901 Of Article 1. General Provisions From California Water Code >> Division 7. >> Chapter 23. >> Article 1.
14901
. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) A report on the San Joaquin Valley Drainage Program entitled,
"A Management Plan for Agricultural Subsurface Drainage and Related
Problems on the Westside San Joaquin Valley," has identified 75,000
acres of irrigated agricultural lands that should be retired by the
year 2040 primarily due to characteristics of low productivity, poor
drainability, and high levels of selenium in shallow groundwater.
(b) Federal, state, and local water organizations and officials
should consider the management plan and adopt those parts appropriate
for their long-term strategy of contributing to the management or
solution of the drainage problems of the west side of the San Joaquin
Valley.
(c) The United States Department of the Interior and the State of
California should jointly develop a technical assistance program to
ameliorate the drainage problems.
(d) The people of the state are concerned with the continued
leaching of harmful elements from these lands.
(e) Continued irrigation of these lands could create significant
drainage and environmental problems.
(f) Implementing solutions to the drainage and environmental
problems associated with these lands will be very costly.
(g) The department is responsible for water planning and
development activities throughout the state, has participated in the
development of the plan for the management of subsurface drainage
problems, and shall take an active leadership role in implementing
the plan, including the land retirement element of the plan.
(h) Local agencies have decisionmaking authority, and are subject
to court judgments, and statutory and contractual obligations,
relating to water use and distribution. The department shall
coordinate its activities under this chapter with those local
agencies.
(i) The federal government has ongoing statutory and contractual
obligations to provide drainage service to the lands within the San
Luis Unit of the Central Valley Project. The department shall
recognize those obligations and shall coordinate land retirement
activities with appropriate federal agencies.
(j) The Department of Fish and Game is responsible for the
stewardship of the state's fish and wildlife resources and the
habitat on which they depend, and can offer its considerable
expertise to the department on matters relating to the management of
lands in accordance with this chapter and shall be consulted
concerning the management of the lands acquired pursuant to this
chapter and managed as fish and wildlife habitat.
(k) The Department of Conservation is responsible for
administering programs to conserve the state's agricultural lands and
has information on the state's soil and farmlands and shall be
consulted for the purpose of identifying agricultural lands that may
be acquired pursuant to this chapter.