Living Rivers Council v. State Water Res. Control Bd.
Opinion
lead Opinion
Needham, J.
Appellant Living Rivers Council (Living Rivers) appeals from a judgment denying its petition for writ of mandate to compel respondent the State Water Resources Control Board (Board) to rescind its approval of a policy designed to maintain instream flows in coastal streams north of San Francisco. Living Rivers alleges several violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Public Res. Code, § 21000 et seq.) relating to the indirect environmental effects of surface water users switching to groundwater pumping as a result of the policy. We affirm.
I. BACKGROUND
A. The Board
The Board was created as the State Water Commission in 1913 to administer the appropriation of water for beneficial purposes. ( Light v. State Water Resources Control Bd. (2014) 226 Cal.App.4th 1463 , 1481, 173 Cal.Rptr.3d 200 ( Light ).) Its enabling *706 statute describes its function as providing for "the orderly and efficient administration of the water resources of the state" and grants it the power to "exercise the adjudicatory and regulatory functions of the state in the field of water resources." ( Wat. Code, § 174, subd. (a) ; former Wat. Code, § 174.)