California Code of Civil Procedure 832 – For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions …
For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Basin” has the same meaning as defined in § 10721 of the Water Code.
Terms Used In California Code of Civil Procedure 832
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- State: includes the District of Columbia and the territories when applied to the different parts of the United States, and the words "United States" may include the district and territories. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
(b) “Complaint” means a complaint filed in superior court to determine rights to extract groundwater and includes any cross-complaint that initiates a comprehensive adjudication in response to a plaintiff‘s complaint or other cross-complaint.
(c) “Comprehensive adjudication” means an action filed in superior court to comprehensively determine rights to extract groundwater in a basin.
(d) “Condition of long-term overdraft” means the condition of a groundwater basin where the average annual amount of water extracted for a long-term period, generally 10 years or more, exceeds the long-term average annual supply of water to the basin, plus any temporary surplus. Overdraft during a period of drought is not sufficient to establish a condition of long-term overdraft if extractions and recharge are managed as necessary to ensure that reductions in groundwater levels or storage during a period of drought are offset by increases in groundwater levels or storage during other periods.
(e) “Department” means the Department of Water Resources.
(f) “Expert witness” means a witness qualified pursuant to § 720 of the Evidence Code.
(g) “Groundwater” means water beneath the surface of the earth within the zone below the water table in which the soil is completely saturated with water, but does not include water that flows in known and definite channels.
(h) “Groundwater extraction facility” means a device or method for extracting groundwater in a basin.
(i) “Groundwater recharge” means the augmentation of groundwater, by natural or artificial means.
(j) “Person” includes, but is not limited to, counties, local agencies, state agencies, federal agencies, tribes, business entities, and individuals.
(k) “Plaintiff” means the person filing the complaint initiating a comprehensive adjudication and includes a cross-complainant who initiates a comprehensive adjudication by cross-complaint.
(l) “Public water system” has the same meaning as defined in § 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(m) “State small water system” has the same meaning as defined in § 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(n) “Sustainable Groundwater Management Act” means Part 2.74 (commencing with Section 10720) of Division 6 of the Water Code.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 86, Sec. 26. (SB 1171) Effective January 1, 2017.)