California Water Code

§ 10783

WAT § 10783 Effective Jan 1, 2020Div. 6 · Part 2.76

Statute text

(a)The Legislature finds and declares that protecting the state’s groundwater for beneficial use, particularly sources and potential sources of drinking water, is of paramount concern.

(b)The Legislature further finds and declares that strategic, scientifically based groundwater monitoring of the state’s oil and gas fields is critical to allaying the public’s concerns regarding well stimulation treatments of oil and gas wells.

(c)On or before July 1, 2015, in order to assess the potential effects of well stimulation treatments, as defined in Article 3 (commencing with Section 3150) of Chapter 1 of Division 3 of the Public Resources Code, on the state’s groundwater resources in a systematic way, the state board shall develop model groundwater monitoring criteria, to be implemented either on a well-by-well basis for a well subject to well stimulation treatment or on a regional scale. The model criteria shall address a range of spatial sampling scales from methods for conducting appropriate monitoring on individual oil and gas wells subject to a well stimulation treatment, to methods for conducting a regional groundwater monitoring program. The state board shall take into consideration the recommendations received pursuant to subdivision (d) and shall include in the model criteria, at a minimum, the components identified in subdivision (f). The state board shall prioritize monitoring of groundwater that is or has the potential to be a source of drinking water, but shall protect all waters designated for any beneficial use.

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Legislative history

Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 771, Sec. 23. (AB 1057) Effective January 1, 2020.