For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Basin” has the same meaning as defined in Section 10721 of the Water Code.
(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 Section 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 Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(m) “State small water system” has the same meaning as defined in Section 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.)
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