22-1101_STATE WATER RESOURCES BOARD_Notice regarding Application No. 3069623325194.1
November 1, 2021
Via Email and Mail
State Water Resources Control Board
Attn: Division of Water Rights
P.O. Box 100
Sacramento, CA 95812-0100
Re: Notice regarding Application No. 30696 Submitted by the City of San Juan
Capistrano
Dear State Water Resources Control Board,
The City of San Juan Capistrano (“City”) and the Santa Margarita Water District
(“SMWD”) send this letter to provide additional information regarding Application No.
30696 submitted by the City to the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Board”).
While the City’s water needs are currently being met through the City’s riparian rights,
the contractual allocations associated with Permit No. 21074 issued by the State Board to
the San Juan Basin Authority, and purchased imported water, the City also claims the
right to extract water from the San Juan Basin based on the City’s predecessors’ diversion
of water for the reasonable and beneficial uses of the inhabitants of the community since
the founding of the Mission of San Juan Capistrano (“Pueblo Right”) and a pre-1914
appropriative right to extract water from the San Juan Basin (“Pre-1914 Appropriative
Right”).
This letter provides the following clarification regarding Application No. 30696:
•The water rights described in Section 10 of Application No. 30696 do not include
the claimed right to return flow from imported water, but does include the City’s
Pre-1914 Appropriative Right.
This letter further serves to notify the State Board that the City has (1) designated
SMWD as the City’s exclusive agent and trustee for the exercise of the Pueblo Right and
(2)assigned the City’s Pre-1914 Appropriative Right to SMWD. Since SMWD has been
23325194.1
designated as the City’s exclusive agent and trustee for the exercise of the Pueblo Right
and the City’s Pre-1914 Appropriative Right has been assigned by the City to SMWD,
SMWD is now a co-applicant on Application No. 30696.
Sincerely,
Benjamin Siegel Daniel Ferons
City Manager General Manager
City of San Juan Capistrano Santa Margarita Water District
cc: Dan Ferons, General Manager, Santa Margarita Water District
Edward Casey, Special Counsel, Santa Margarita Water District
Steve May, Project Manager, Public Works and Utilities, City of San Juan
Capistrano
Stephanie Hastings, Special Counsel, City of San Juan Capistrano