Chapter 4. Maintenance Of Flow In Streams of California Water Code >> Division 4. >> Chapter 4.

The flow of water in any natural stream to the intake of any canal diverting water from the stream for any public use, or the use of any farming neighborhood may be maintained by the person in charge of the use.

The flow may be maintained by restoring or repairing any break in the bank of the stream, by maintaining the banks of the stream, and by preventing by physical structure and other appropriate means any increased flow of water through any natural by-ways of water which carry or threaten to carry an increased flow of water of the stream away from the canal intake.

No act authorized in this chapter when performed, shall prevent, retard or obstruct the building and maintenance thereafter of any reclamation, protection, or flood control levee.

No act authorized in this chapter shall prevent the use or enlargement of any natural channel for municipal purposes or for use in connection with any artificial system of drainage, irrigation, or flood control which does not cause the flow of water in the channel at the intake of the canal to be less than the quantity of water the owners and appropriators have the right to divert into the intake.

Only as applied to the New River in Imperial County, as used in this chapter, "use or enlargement of any natural channel for municipal purposes" includes, but is not limited to, sewage treatment and pollution prevention and the encasing and piping of the New River to protect human health and the natural environment.

No act authorized in this chapter shall prevent the use or enlargement of any natural channel to convey water appropriated under the laws of this State, where the channel is designated as the means, or part of the means of conveying the water so appropriated.

No acts authorized by this chapter shall limit the powers of the Department of Water Resources to accomplish in its own way the purposes of this chapter nor interfere with the construction of any flood control works in accordance with any plan of flood control adopted by the Reclamation Board.