Cannabis Cultivation Policy - Principles and Guidelines (Requirements) for Cannabis Cultivation

Fully Contained Springs
Fully contained springs do not flow off a person’s property in the absence of diversion, including wet years, or after periods of heavy rain. The Cannabis Cultivation Policy allows cultivators to request an exemption from certain flow requirements if the spring being used for cannabis cultivation meets a set of pre-determined conditions. The full text of the requirements is available.  Detailed information on how to request a fully contained spring exemption is available at the Fully Contained Springs page.

Compliance Gages
Online Cannabis Compliance Gage Mapping Tool - The Online Mapping Tool provides cannabis cultivators that divert surface water with a tool to check whether they may divert for cannabis cultivation on a given day.

Cannabis Compliance Gages Website (Cannabis Policy, Attachment A, Section 4)- Provides an overview of the Cannabis Policy’s current list of active compliance gages and the associated Tessmann Instream Flow Requirements. Please use the online mapping tool above to determine whether water is available to divert at your point of diversion.

On June 27, 2016, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed Senate Bill No. 837 (SB 837), which required the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), in consultation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), to adopt interim and long-term principles and guidelines (requirements) for the diversion and use of water for cannabis cultivation in areas where cannabis cultivation may have the potential to substantially affect instream flows.

Per Water Code section 13149, the principles and guidelines:

• Shall include measures to protect springs, wetlands, and aquatic habitats from negative impacts of cannabis cultivation;
• May include instream flow objectives, limits on diversions, and requirements for screening of diversions and elimination of barriers to fish passage; and

May include requirements that apply to groundwater extractions.

• Cannabis Policy with Attachment A
• Cannabis Policy Staff Report
• Cannabis Cultivation General Order (Order No. WQ 2019-0001-DWQ)
  • Attachment A: Cannabis Policy Attachment A
  • Attachment B: Monitoring and Reporting Program
  • Attachment C: Notice of Termination
  • Attachment D: Technical Report Guidance

The Cannabis Policy allows for cultivators to request approval from the Deputy Director of the Division of Water Rights (Division), to implement agreements entered into with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and/or other cultivators in place of the instream flow Requirements in the Cannabis Policy (numeric, narrative, and forbearance) if the agreement provides watershed-wide protection of aquatic species that is comparable or greater than the Cannabis Policy’s instream flow Requirements.  Other local cooperative solutions proposed by cultivators may include but are not limited to alternative means of reducing water use to preserve the required instream flows, coordination of diversions or water sharing, and requests to use, install or operate a local gage and move the flow Requirement compliance point to that gage location.

The Deputy Director may approve submitted requests subject to such conditions, including reporting requirements, that the Deputy Director deems necessary to prevent injury to other legal users of water or the environment.  Any interested person may file an objection to the proposed agreement, proposed local cooperative solution, or decision.

• KNAPEK, Local Co-Op Approval Letter
• DOHERTY, Local Co-Op Approval Letter