Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) RWPGs shall
evaluate:
(1) source water Availability during
Drought of Record conditions; and
(2) Existing Water Supplies that are legally
and physically available to each WUG and WWP within the RWPA for use during the
Drought of Record.
(b)
Evaluations shall consider surface water and groundwater data from the State
Water Plan, existing water rights, contracts and option agreements relating to
water rights, other planning and water supply studies, and analysis of water
supplies existing in and available to the RWPA during Drought of Record
conditions.
(c) For surface water
supply analyses, RWPGs shall use most current Water Availability Models from
the Commission to evaluate the adequacy of surface water supplies. As the
default approach for evaluating existing supplies, RWPGs shall assume full
utilization of existing water rights and no return flows when using Water
Availability Models. RWPGs may use better, more representative, water
availability modeling assumptions or better site-specific information with
written approval from the EA. Information available from the Commission shall
be incorporated by RWPGs unless better site-specific information is available
and approved in writing by the EA.
(1)
Evaluation of existing stored surface water available during Drought of Record
conditions shall be based on Firm Yield as defined in §
357.10
of this title (relating to Definitions and Acronyms). The analysis may be based
on justified operational procedures other than Firm Yield. The EA shall
consider a written request from an RWPG to use procedures other than Firm
Yield.
(2) Evaluation of existing
run of river surface water available for municipal WUGs during Drought of
Record conditions shall be based on the minimum monthly diversion amounts that
are available 100 percent of the time, if those run of river supplies are the
only supply for the municipal WUG.
(d) RWPGs shall use modeled available
groundwater volumes for groundwater Availability, as issued by the EA, and
incorporate such information in its RWP unless no modeled available groundwater
volumes are provided. Groundwater Availability used in the RWP must be
consistent with the desired future conditions as of the most recent deadline
for the Board to adopt the State Water Plan or, at the discretion of the RWPG,
established subsequent to the adoption of the most recent State Water Plan.
(1) An RWP is consistent with a desired
future condition if the groundwater Availability amount in the RWP and on which
an Existing Water Supply or recommended WMS relies does not exceed the modeled
available groundwater amount associated with the desired future condition for
the relevant aquifers, in accordance with paragraph (2) of this subsection or
as modified by paragraph (3) of this subsection, if applicable. The desired
future condition must be either the desired future condition adopted as of the
most recent deadline for the Board to adopt the State Water Plan or, at the
option of the RWPG, a desired future condition adopted on a subsequent
date.
(2) If no groundwater
conservation district exists within the RWPA, then the RWPG shall determine the
Availability of groundwater for regional planning purposes. The Board shall
review and consider approving the RWPG-Estimated Groundwater Availability,
prior to inclusion in the IPP, including determining if the estimate is
physically compatible with the desired future conditions for relevant aquifers
in groundwater conservation districts in the co-located groundwater management
area or areas. The EA shall use the Board's groundwater availability models as
appropriate to conduct the compatibility review.
(3) In RWPAs that have at least one
groundwater conservation district, the EA shall consider a written request from
an RWPG to apply a MAG Peak Factor in the form of a percentage (e.g., greater
than 100 percent) applied to the modeled available groundwater value of any
particular aquifer-region-county-basin split within the jurisdiction of a
groundwater conservation district, or groundwater management area if no
groundwater conservation district exists, to allow temporary increases in
annual availability for planning purposes. The request must:
(A) Include written approval from the
groundwater conservation district, if a groundwater conservation district
exists in the particular aquifer-region-county-basin split, and from
representatives of the groundwater management area;
(B) Provide the technical basis for the
request in sufficient detail to support groundwater conservation district,
groundwater management area, and EA evaluation; and
(C) Document the basis for how the temporary
availability increase will not prevent the groundwater conservation district
from managing groundwater resources to achieve the desired future
condition.
(e) Water supplies based on contracted
agreements shall be based on the terms of the contract, which may be assumed to
renew upon contract termination if the contract contemplates renewal or
extensions.
(f) Evaluation results
shall be reported by WUG in accordance with §
357.31(a)
of this title (relating to Projected Population and Water Demands) and MWP in
accordance with §
357.31(b)
of this title.
