This report provides a summary of all pending applications to appropriate water by permit in the counties of Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt, pursuant to Water Code section 1259.2.

Water Code section 1259.2
The board shall annually prepare a written summary, in chart form, of pending applications to appropriate water in the Counties of Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt. The summary shall include a description of the status of each pending application, the actions taken in the preceding year, proposed actions for the upcoming year, and the proposed date for final action with regard to that application.
Processing times for water right applications can vary considerably and are influenced by numerous factors, many of which are not entirely within the control of the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board). Limited staff resources combined with a large volume of pending water right applications in these counties requires that the State Water Board prioritize work assignments and allocate staff resources in order to ensure that the highest priority applications can be processed. The highest priority applications are those for unbuilt projects; projects of regional or statewide significance; projects designed to benefit or minimize impacts to fish and wildlife; projects that are consistent with the Policy for Maintaining Instream Flows in Northern California Coastal Streams; projects that have substantively completed environmental review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act; and projects that have taken steps to resolve pending protests filed by interested parties. These projects receive the greatest allocation of staff resources in any given year. Projects that lack these characteristics are typically assigned low to moderate priority, regardless of the associated date of application. Permitting staff work on low to moderate priority projects as their high priority workload allows. The priority of pending applications may change from year to year as the State Water Board takes action on pending applications, applications are modified, and as new applications are received.

Although this report does not include a listing of priority for pending applications, priority is reflected in the “proposed date for final action” column of the report. In general, low to moderate priority projects are assigned later final action dates than high priority projects and will note “No action - staff resources unavailable” in the proposed actions column of the report.