Title 43

SECTION 418.28

418.28 Conditions of delivery.

§ 418.28 Conditions of delivery.

There are four basic elements for enforcement with all necessary quantities and review determined in accordance with the relevant sections of this part.

(a) Valid headgate deliveries. If water is delivered to ineligible land or in excess of the appropriate water duty then:

(1) The District will stop the illegal delivery immediately;

(2) The District will notify the Bureau of the particulars including the known or estimated location and amounts;

(3) The amount will not be included as a valid headgate delivery for purposes of computing the Project efficiency and resultant incentive credit or debit to Lahontan storage; and

(4) If the amount applies to a prior year, then the amount will be treated directly as a debit to Lahontan storage in the same manner as an efficiency debit.

(b) District efficiency. To the extent that the actual District efficiency determined for an irrigation season is greater or less than the established target efficiency, as determined for the corresponding actual valid headgate deliveries, then the difference in efficiency, expressed as a quantity in acre-feet, may be added to or subtracted from the actual Lahontan Reservoir storage level before it is compared to the monthly storage objective as follows:

(1) Greater efficiency - Credited to the District as storage in Lahontan or subtracted from any accumulated debit, or two-thirds as storage in Lahontan for their discretionary use in accordance with state law.

(2) Less efficient - Debited or added to Lahontan storage as an adjustment to the actual storage level.

(c) Maximum Allowable Diversion (MAD). The MAD must be computed each year to determine the amount of water required to enable the delivery of full entitlements at established Project efficiencies. Project diversions must not exceed the MAD. Within the operating year, the Bureau will notify the District in writing of any expected imminent violations of the MAD. The District will take prompt action to avoid such violations. The Bureau will exercise reasonable latitude from month to month to accommodate the District's efforts to avoid exceeding the MAD.

(d) Maximum Efficiency Debit (MED). If the MED exceeds 26,000 AF at the end of any given year, the District must prepare and submit to the Bureau for review and approval, a plan detailing the actions the District will take to either earn adequate incentive credits or to restrict deliveries to reduce the MED to less than 26,000 AF by the end of the next year. The plan must be submitted to the Bureau in writing before the date of March 1 immediately subsequent to the exceeding of the MED. If the District fails to submit an approvable plan, Project allocations will be reduced by an amount equal to the MED in excess of 26,000 plus 13,000 (one-half the allowable MED). Nominally this will mean a forced reduction of approximately five percent of entitlements. The Bureau will notify the District in writing of the specific allocation and method of derivation in sufficient time for the District to implement the allocation. Liabilities arising from shortages occasioned by operation of this provision must be the responsibility of the District or individual water users.