Local Cooperative Solutions (LCSs) under 2021-2022 Scott-Shasta Drought Emergency Regulations

The Drought Emergency Regulations for the Scott River and Shasta River watersheds provided for local cooperative solutions or LCSs in lieu of curtailments. LCSs provide water rights holders with an opportunity to propose alternatives to curtailments under the Drought Emergency Regulation. The State Water Board must list an LCSs as approved or pending to avoid curtailment. Additional information related to LCSs is available:

• Background on Local Cooperative Solutions
• Guidance
• List of Local Cooperative Solutions (by watershed)
• Contacts

BACKGROUND ON 2022-2023 LOCAL COOPERATIVE SOLUTIONS

Subdivision (f) of Section 875 of the 2022 Drought Emergency Regulation allowed for individuals or groups to develop Local Cooperative Solutions (LCSs) that provided fisheries benefits, flow contributions, or specific and trackable water savings, instead of curtailment. The implementation of the plans that were developed as part of an LCS were monitored by a Coordinating Entity through a binding agreement with the individuals or groups proposing the LCS. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District, and Siskiyou Resource Conservation District were approved coordinating entities. The individuals covered by an LCS entered into a binding agreement with a Coordinating Entity for their LCS to be approved, or listed as pending, by the Deputy Director of the Division of Water Rights.
A 2022-2023 LCS could take the following forms:

• Watershed-wide cooperative solutions, CCR 875(f)(4)(A), were solutions that include all diverters in the Scott River or Shasta River watersheds and provide sufficient assurance that the drought emergency minimum flows will be met.
• Tributary-wide cooperative solutions, CCR 875(f)(4)(B), were solutions entered into by diverters in a specific tributary to the Scott River or Shasta River.  There are two goals these LCSs could have:
• (1) allows diverters on a tributary to work together to ensure that their tributary’s pro-rata share of the drought emergency minimum flows reach the mainstem; or
• (2) allows for diverters on a tributary to work together to provide a specific fishery benefit, and CDFW finds that the in-tributary benefits for anadromous fish are equal to or greater than the anticipated contribution to protections provided by the drought emergency minimum flows.
• Individual cooperative solutions, CCR 875(f)(4)(C), could have been approved in the absence of an approved tributary-wide or watershed-wide LCS. An individual cooperative solution could take two forms:
  • A binding agreement between a water user or water users and a Coordinating Entity that specified a timeframe during which the water users shall cease diversion and includes a certification that the diversion under a specified water right(s) has ceased.
  • A binding agreement between an individual diverter or sub-tributary-wide group of diverters and CDFW or NMFS to perform actions for the benefit of anadromous salmonids, and CDFW makes a recommendation for exemption from curtailment based on an assessment that the benefits of these actions in a specific time period are equal to or greater than the protections provided by their contribution to flow over the same specified time period.
• Overlying or adjudicated groundwater solutions, CCR 875 (f)(4)(d), for individuals, groundwater basins or sub basins. More information on how to develop an approvable overlying or adjudicated groundwater LCS for the Scott River watershed can be found in the guidance document. The process for the Shasta River watershed was the same, however different water reduction amounts and time frames were required as indicated below.
  • Scott River Watershed: A net reduction of 30% throughout the irrigation season (April 1 – October 31) as compared to the prior irrigation season, and a monthly reduction of 30% between July 1 through October 31, as compared to the prior year (2021) or 2020.
  • Shasta River Watershed: A net reduction of 15% through the irrigation season (March 1 – November 1) as compared to the prior irrigation season, and a monthly reduction of 15% between June 1 through September 30 as compared to the prior year (2021) or to 2020.

GUIDANCE ON 2023 LOCAL COOPERATIVE SOLUTIONS

• LCS RENEWAL: If one had an Approved or Pending LCS in 2022, and wanted to re-enroll in the program for 2023 with minimal or no changes, one could do so either using (a) the online Water Right Form and Survey Submittal Portal using a water right ID (SG number) and password or (b) The LCS Renewal Form.
• If one wanted to enroll a new LCS in the 2023 LCS program, or re-enroll with a significantly modified LCS, they were instructed to contact Water Boards staff.
• 2023 Guidance on Groundwater Reduction Local Cooperative Solution for the Scott River Watershed

LIST OF 2023 LOCAL COOPERATIVE SOLUTION PROPOSALS (BY WATERSHED)