(a) (1) Subject to subdivision (b), a person may obtain a right to appropriate water for a small domestic, small irrigation, or livestock stockpond use upon first registering the use with the board and thereafter applying the water to reasonable and beneficial use with due diligence.

(2) With regard to an appropriation for small domestic use, a registration shall not be filed for a facility served by or used pursuant to a permit or license for domestic or municipal use, and not more than one small domestic use registration shall be in effect at any time for any facility. A small domestic use registration and a livestock stockpond use registration may be in effect for the same facility if the total combined water use covered by the registrations does not exceed 10 acre-feet per year.

Terms Used In California Water Code 1228.2

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • Livestock stockpond: means a water impoundment structure constructed for livestock watering use not to exceed direct diversion of 4,500 gallons per day, or diversion to storage of 10 acre-feet per year, as that use is defined by the board, and including impoundment for incidental aesthetic, fire protection, recreational, or fish and wildlife purposes. See California Water Code 1228.1
  • Person: means any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or company. See California Water Code 19
  • Small domestic use: means a domestic use, as that use is defined by board rule, or a use for aesthetic, fire protection, recreational, or fish and wildlife purposes that is associated with a dwelling or other facility for human occupation, that does not exceed direct diversion of 4,500 gallons per day or diversion to storage of 10 acre-feet per year. See California Water Code 1228.1
  • Small irrigation use: means either of the following:

    California Water Code 1228.1

  • water: includes the term "use of water. See California Water Code 1000

(3) With regard to an appropriation for small irrigation use, more than one registration may be in effect at any time for a registrant if the diversion or storage facilities subject to registration for a registrant do not exceed the ratio of one per 20 irrigated acres, and if the total water use on all acreage covered by the registrations, including any water use based on other rights, does not exceed 100 acre-feet per year.

(4) A small domestic use registration and a small irrigation use registration, or a livestock stockpond use registration and a small irrigation use registration, may be in effect for the same facility only if the total combined water use covered by the registrations does not exceed 20 acre-feet per year.

(5) With regard to an appropriation for livestock stockpond use, more than one registration may be in effect at any time for a registrant if stockponds subject to registration for that registrant do not exceed the ratio of one per 50 acres.

(b) Initiation of rights to appropriate water pursuant to this article shall be subject to Article 1.3 (commencing with Section 1205), relating to fully appropriated stream systems. The board shall not accept a registration of water use which proposes as a source of water supply a stream system which has been unconditionally declared by the board to be fully appropriated pursuant to Section 1205, except that subdivision (b) of Section 1206, relating to conditional declarations of fully appropriated stream systems, shall apply to registration of water use pursuant to this article, and the board shall accept those registrations where consistent with the conditions specified in the declaration.

(c) The board shall annually prepare and post on its Internet Web site information summarizing the location, nature, and amount of water appropriated pursuant to this article. The information shall include a description of the availability of unappropriated water in those stream systems which may become fully appropriated within the next reporting period.

(d) If a registration is filed with a source of supply on a stream system that the most recent report submitted under subdivision (c) identifies as a stream system that may become fully appropriated within the next reporting period, the registration shall not take effect unless the board finds that unappropriated water is available for the appropriation proposed by the registration. If the board finds that unappropriated water is not available to supply the proposed appropriation, the board shall, following notice and hearing, determine whether that stream system should be declared fully appropriated pursuant to Article 1.3 (commencing with Section 1205).

(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 683, Sec. 46. (SB 798) Effective January 1, 2016.)

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