Photo of Wes Miliband

Wes Miliband leads Stoel Rives’ California water practice and focuses on securing and protecting water rights and water supplies, including assistance with water transfers as well as the infrastructure necessary to treat, store and deliver water. Wes’s practice lends itself to related environmental issues involving water quality impacts to surface water and groundwater supplies, regulatory permitting and environmental compliance with federal and state requirements. Wes is listed among Rising Stars (Environmental) by Super Lawyers® for 2013 to 2017.

Despite the wet start of 2016, many parts of California continue to face severe water shortages.  The state has grown ever more tapped with groundwater production wells as Californians seek to utilize aquifers to meet their water needs.  However, experts have warned that this modern-day “gold rush” for water from underground aquifers may carry serious consequences for the environment and the future, as well as groundwater users (particularly as implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act gets underway).

In response, Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) has introduced legislation that will halt the development of new water wells in aquifers at risk of overdraft. The Aquifer Protection Act would require cities or counties overlying groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (Water Code section 10722.4) to require conditional use permits for new water wells.  The bill prohibits new well permits in basins of critical overdraft and basins that are in probationary status.

Cities and counties can avoid the requirements of the Aquifer Protection Act by passing their own limits, which is easier said than done given the hotly contested fights over access to water and water rights. Wells yielding small amounts of water and replacement wells are exempt from the Act.
Continue Reading Aquifer Protection Act – Slowing the Flow from California Aquifers

On Wednesday, February 10, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (Dem.-California) introduced a draft bill with the explicit purpose to “provide short-term water supplies to drought-stricken California and provide for long-term investments in drought resiliency throughout the Western United States.”  Entitled, “California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Provisions for Emergency Drought Relief Act” (hereinafter “bill”), the 184-page bill lays out mandates for the use of funds for water projects, water infrastructure improvements and storage, emergency drought relief, and protection of listed and endangered species.

Technology and financing for water supply and re-use are also focuses of the bill. Notably, the bill supports the use of desalination and water recycling.  With regard to desalination, the bill identifies 26 desalination projects throughout California that are capable of producing more than 330,000 acre-feet of water per year.  The bill proposes adding long-term funding to support desalination projects.  In addition, the bill recognizes the need for conservation and water re-use by authorizing the expenditure of $200 million in funds for the Bureau of Reclamation’s water recycling and reuse program.  This money would be used to fund projects to reclaim and reuse wastewaters and naturally impaired ground and surface water.Continue Reading Fish versus Farms: Proposed Federal Legislation Seeks a Balance for California Water Supplies

Earlier this week, environmental consultant Susanne Heim of Panorama Environmental and Stoel Rives water lawyer Wes Miliband hosted the second part of the California Water Webinar series about the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

In this webinar, Susanne and Wes covered implications of the recently adopted emergency regulations to amend groundwater basin boundaries, as well

California’s unique geography and climate have allowed the State to become one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. Over a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California. In an average year California’s agricultural industry irrigates 9.6 million acres using roughly 34 million acre-feet of water.

California’s growing demand for water has increased the pressure on California’s agriculture industry to use water more efficiently. To encourage the efficient use of agricultural water, the Department of Water Resources (“DWR”) operates the Agricultural Water Use Efficiency Grants Program (“Grant Program”). The Grant Program is funded with $30 million for agricultural water use efficiency projects.

Grants are available for two types of projects: “Implementation Projects” and “Other Projects.” “Implementation Projects” are projects that create measurable water conservation benefits.  “Other Projects” create potential water conservation benefits, such as research, training, education, and public outreach.
Continue Reading DWR Put’s Money Where Its Mouth Is In Ag Water Efficiency Grant Program

Taking effect earlier this month, Senate Bill 88 was approved overwhelmingly last legislative session and signed by the Governor as another effort to combat drought and water supply shortage conditions in the State of California. Senate Bill 88 – among other things – authorized the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Water Board”) to adopt

On October 21, 2015, the California Water Commission (“CWC”) adopted emergency regulations formulated by the Department of Water Resources (“DWR”) that establish a process by which local agencies may seek groundwater basin boundary modifications.  The proposed regulations are the first of their kind authorizing DWR to formally consider requests by local agencies to modify groundwater

October 11, 2015, marked the deadline by which Governor Brown had to act on legislation submitted to him by the legislature in September. In addition to those bills the Governor signed, we note below legislation that has been identified as two-year legislation. Stoel Rives’ Water Law Team has been monitoring water-related legislation, especially given California’s historic drought. We will continue to monitor bills identified as two-year bills, as well as any bills introduced in the second half of the 2015-2016 Legislative Session. We will provide periodic updates as these bills move through the legislative process. Below is the status and summary of some of the bills Stoel Rives is monitoring.

Supply and Groundwater

AB-307 (Mathis): Graywater: groundwater recharge
STATUS: Currently identified as a two-year bill.
If passed by the legislature and signed into law, AB-307 would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to explicitly permit the usage of residential, commercial and industrial graywater for the recharge of a groundwater basin or aquifer.

AB-453 (Bigelow): Groundwater Management
STATUS: Currently identified as a two-year bill and pending in the Senate.
If passed by the legislature and chaptered, this bill would authorize, until a groundwater sustainability plan is adopted, a local agency to amend an existing groundwater management plan in furtherance of, and consistent with, the groundwater management plan’s objectives.

AB-647 (Eggman): Beneficial use: storing of water underground
STATUS: Currently identified as a two-year bill and pending in the Senate.
If signed into law, this bill would:

  • declare that the storing of water underground constitutes a beneficial use of water if the diverted water is used while it is in underground storage for specified purposes;
  • state the intent of the Legislature that this storage of water underground not injure any legal user of the water involved; and,
  • provide that the period for the reversion of a water right does not include any period when the water is being used in the aquifer or storage area or is being held in storage for later application to beneficial use, as prescribed.

Continue Reading Update on California Water Legislation Regarding Groundwater, Recycled Water and More

As one of many implementation steps under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA” codified as Water Code §§ 10720 et seq.), basin boundary regulations were released recently by the California Department of Water Resources (“DWR”), with a public comment deadline set for Friday, September 4. DWR is holding public meetings this week to solicit

AB 1390 aims in unprecedented fashion to expedite procedures and processes for groundwater adjudications, which, in California, are known to take one or two decades before reaching a final judgment. The bill would add various provisions to the California Code of Civil Procedure that would be codified as Sections 830 through 849. AB 1390 was

With the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA”) taking effect on January 1, 2015, the California Department of Water Resources (“DWR”) is in full swing of holding public workshops and information sessions to solicit input from stakeholders and other members of the public as well as to answer questions regarding SGMA’s various milestone requirements.

On July