(a) Subject to the availability of funds for the purposes of this section, the department shall contract with the University of California to conduct a study of the effects that reduced waterflows at the mouths and upstream estuaries of rivers selected under subdivision (b) would have on existing salmon and steelhead populations and on existing or prospective salmon and steelhead population restoration or reintroduction programs.

(b) The department shall select the rivers to be included in the study and shall limit its selection to rivers that are within the combined river systems described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 1215.5 of the Water Code, and that are the subject of an application that has been filed with the State Water Resources Control Board to appropriate water in an amount equal to more than three cubic feet per second or more than 500 acre feet per annum of storage, involving the delivery of water by means other than a pipeline, natural watercourse, well, or aqueduct to any place of use that is outside of the protected area described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 1215.5 of the Water Code.

(c) The findings of the study conducted under this section shall be a factor in any decision of the State Water Resources Control Board to approve or deny an application to appropriate water from any river selected under this section. If the application involves the delivery of water, by means other than a pipeline, natural watercourse, well, or aqueduct, to any place of use that is outside of the protected area described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 1215.5 of the Water Code, the board may not approve that application until after the study has been completed.

(d) Any study conducted pursuant to this section shall conclude within five years of the start of that study.

(e) This section applies to the University of California only if the Regents of the University of California, by resolution, make it applicable to the university.

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 681, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2004.)