GOOD CAUSE APPEARING upon the duly-noticed Motion of West Basin Municipal Water District:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT THE JUDGMENT HEREIN BE AMENDED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Any party herein may petition the Watermaster for a non-consumptive water use permit as part of a project to recover old refined oil or other pollutants that has leaked into the underground aquifers of the Basin. If the petition is granted as set forth in this part, the petitioner may extract the groundwater covered by the petition without the production counting against the petitioner's production rights.

2. If the Watermaster determines that there is a problem of groundwater contamination which the proposed project will remedy or ameliorate, an operator may make extractions of groundwater to remedy or ameliorate that problem if the water is not applied to beneficial surface use, its extractions are made in compliance with terms and conditions established by the Watermster, and the Watermaster has determined either of the following:

1. The groundwater to be extracted is unusable and cannot be economically blended for use with other water.
2. The proposed program involves extraction of usable water in the same quantity as will be returned to the underground without degradation of quality.

3. The Watermaster may provide those terms and conditions the Watermaster deems appropriate, including, but not limited to, restrictions on the quantity of extractions to be so exempted, limitations on time, periodic reviews, requirement of submission of test results from a Watermaster-approved laboratory, and any other relevant terms or conditions.

4. The Watermaster shall conduct a public hearing on the petition and all parties herein and their representatives shall have an opportunity to be heard concerning the same.

5. The Watermaster shall, in its discretion, grant or deny the petition and fix a reasonable annual administrative fee to be paid to the Watermaster by the permittee. Within fifteen (15) days after the rendition of its decision, the Watermster shall give written notice thereof to the designees of all parties herein.

6. After a noticed, public hearing, the Watermaster may, on the motion of any party herein or on its own motion, interrupt or stop a project for non-compliance with the terms of its permit or rescind or modify the terms of a permit to protect the integrity of the Basin of the Judgment herein. An order to interrupt or stop a project or to rescind or modify the terms of a permit shall apply to groundwater extractions occurring more than 10 days after the date of the order. The permit holder and the designees of all parties herein shall be given two weeks written notice of any hearing to consider interrupting or stopping a permitted project or the rescission or modification of the terms of a permit. Notice will be deemed given when mailed by first-class mail or when personally delivered.

7. The Watermaster's decision to grant, deny, modify or revoke a permit or to interrupt or stop a permitted project may be appealed to this court within thirty (30) days of the notice thereof and upon thirty (30) days notice to the designees of all parties herein.

8. The Watermaster shall monitor and periodically inspect the project for compliance with the terms and conditions of the permit hereunder.

9. No party shall recover costs from any other party herein.”

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the amendment to the judgment approved by the court on March 22, 1984 (“former amendment”) is hereby repealed, provided, all permits issued by the Watermaster under the former amendment shall be deemed under the instant amendment.

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Last modified: July 11, 2005
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