New SWRCB Program Requires Diverters to Submit Reports by July 1

Water users who divert water from streams are now required to file statements with the State Water Resources Control Board under the board’s Water Diversion and Use Program.

The State Board is requiring that statements be filed every three years in an effort to better identify how much water is being diverted from the state’s watersheds. The requirement is part of the comprehensive package on water enacted by the Legislature in November 2009.

Diverters generally must file statements with the State Board by July 1 of this year or face hundreds of dollars in fines.

There are several exemptions to the requirement. Statements do not need to be filed if less than 25 acre-feet is diverted in any year from a spring that does not flow off the diverter’s property. Water users whose diversions are covered by a permit or license on file with the State Board do not need to file statements. Diversions that are regulated by a state water master also are exempt.

Initial statements are due July 1 for diversions that occurred between Jan. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2009. Supplemental statements will be required every three years following the initial statement.

More on the requirement is available from the State Water Resources Control Board’s Statement of Water Diversion and Use Program Web site.