Chapter 1. Definitions of California Water Code >> Division 3. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 1.

Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions in this chapter govern the construction of this part.

"Dam" means any artificial barrier, together with appurtenant works, which does or may impound or divert water, and which either (a) is or will be 25 feet or more in height from the natural bed of the stream or watercourse at the downstream toe of the barrier, as determined by the department, or from the lowest elevation of the outside limit of the barrier, as determined by the department, if it is not across a stream channel or watercourse, to the maximum possible water storage elevation or (b) has or will have an impounding capacity of 50 acre-feet or more.

Any such barrier which is or will be not in excess of six feet in height, regardless of storage capacity, or which has or will have a storage capacity not in excess of 15 acre-feet, regardless of height, shall not be considered a dam.

(a) No obstruction in a canal used to raise or lower water therein or divert water therefrom, no levee, including but not limited to a levee on the bed of a natural lake the primary purpose of which levee is to control floodwaters, no railroad fill or structure, and no road or highway fill or structure, no circular tank constructed of steel or concrete, or both, no tank elevated above the ground, and no barrier which is not across a stream channel, watercourse, or natural drainage area and which has the principal purpose of impounding water for agricultural use shall be considered a dam.
  (b) No obstruction in the channel of a stream or watercourse which is 15 feet or less in height from the lowest elevation of the obstruction and which has the single purpose of spreading water within the bed of the stream or watercourse upstream from the obstruction for percolation underground shall be considered a dam.
  (c) The levee of an island adjacent to tidal waters in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as defined in Section 12220, even when used to impound water, shall not be considered a dam and the impoundment shall not be considered a reservoir if the maximum possible water storage elevation of the impounded water does not exceed four feet above mean sea level, as established by the United States Geological Survey 1929 datum.
  (d) No noncircular tank, constructed of steel or concrete, or both, that is constructed in a county of the third class by a public agency, under the supervision of a civil engineer registered in the state, that does not exceed 75 acre feet in capacity or 30 feet in height, and no barrier that is not across a stream channel, watercourse, or natural drainage area and that has the principal use as a sewage sludge drying facility shall be considered a dam.

"Reservoir" means any reservoir which contains or will contain the water impounded by a dam.

"Owner" includes any of the following who own, control, operate, maintain, manage, or propose to construct a dam or reservoir:
  (a)The state and its departments, institutions, agencies, and political subdivisions.
  (b) Every municipal or quasi-municipal corporation.
  (c) Every public utility.
  (d) Every district.
  (e) Every person.
  (f) The duly authorized agents, lessees, or trustees of any of the foregoing.
  (g) Receivers or trustees appointed by any court for any of the foregoing. "Owner" does not include the United States.

"Alterations," "repairs," or either of them, mean only such alterations or repairs as may affect the safety of the dam or reservoir.

"Enlargement" means any change in or addition to an existing dam or reservoir, which raises or may raise the water storage elevation of the water impounded by the dam or reservoir.

Water storage elevation means that elevation of water surface which could be obtained by the existing dam or reservoir, as previously operated, were there no outflow and were the reservoir full of water.