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<br />Bulletin 160-98 Public Review Draft <br /> <br />003J71 <br /> <br />Appendix 2A. Institutional Framework for Allocating <br />and Managing Water Resources in California <br /> <br />activities are permitted without the need of an individual permit application, Installation of a <br /> <br /> <br />stream gaging station along a river levee is one example of an activity which falls within a <br /> <br />nationwide permit. <br /> <br /> <br />The USACE also administers a permitting program under Section 10 of the 1899 Rivers <br /> <br /> <br />and Harbors Act. Section 10 generally requires a permit for obstructions to navigable water. The <br /> <br /> <br />scope of the permit under Section 10 is narrower than under Section 404 since the term <br /> <br />"navigable waters" is more limited than "waters of the United States." <br /> <br />The majority of water development projects must comply with Section 404, Section 10, <br />or both. <br /> <br />Public Interest Terms and Conditions <br />The Water Code authorizes the SWRCB to impose public interest terms and conditions to <br />conserve the public interest, specifically the consideration of instream beneficial uses, when it <br />issues permits to appropriate water. It also considers environmental impacts of approving water <br />transfers under its jurisdiction. Frequently, it reserves jurisdiction to consider new instream uses <br />and to modify permits accordingly. <br />Releases of Water for Fish <br />Fish and Game Code Section 5937 provides protection to fisheries by requiring that the <br />owner of any dam allow sufficient water at all times to pass through the dam to keep in good <br />condition any fisheries that may be planted or exist below the dam. In California Trout, Inc. v. <br />the State Water Resources Control Board (1989), the court determined that Fish and Game Code <br />sections 5937 and 5946 require the SWRCB to modify the permits and licenses issued to the city <br />of Los Angeles to appropriate water from the streams feeding Mono Lake to ensure sufficient <br />water flows for downstream fisheries. The SWRCB reconsidered Los Angeles's permits and <br />licenses in light of Fish and Game Code section 5937 and the public trust doctrine. In 1994, the <br />SWRCB adopted D-1631, which requires Los Angeles to allow sufficient flows from the streams <br />feeding Mono Lake to reach the lake to cause it to rise to the level of 6,391 feet in approximately <br />twenty years. <br />Streambed Alteration Agreements <br />Fish and Game Code Sections 160 I and 1603 require that any governmental entity or <br />private party altering a river, stream, lake bed, bottom or channel enter into an agreement with <br /> <br />2A-9 <br />