BILL NUMBER: AB 559	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 17, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ruskin
    (   Coauthor:   Senator   Migden
  ) 

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2007

   An act to add Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 116900) to Part
12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public
water systems.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 559, as amended, Ruskin. Public water systems.
   Existing law, known as the California Safe Drinking Water Act,
requires the State Department of Health Services to administer
provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect
public health, including, but not limited to, conducting research,
studies, and demonstration programs relating to the provision of a
dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe
Drinking Water Act, adoption of enforcement regulations, and
conducting studies and investigations to assess the quality of water
in domestic water supplies.
   Existing law, the Calderon-Sher Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996,
requires the State Department of Health Services to submit to the
Legislature a Comprehensive Safe Drinking Water Plan for California
once every 5 years, and to take all reasonable measures necessary to
reduce the risk to the public health from waterborne illnesses in
drinking water caused by cryptosporidium and giardia.
   Effective July 1, 2007, responsibility for the administration of
the above-mentioned provisions will be transferred to the State
Department of Public Health.
   This bill would require the department to identify treatment
methods, technologies, and other management options that reduce or
eliminate the need to add disinfectants or additives to drinking
water, to report to the Legislature on its progress by July 1, 2009,
and to post the report and data on its Internet Web site.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 116900) is added to
Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 6.  DRINKING WATER TREATMENT


   116900.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that chemicals
used to treat drinking water often produce disinfection byproducts
which can have detrimental public health and safety and environmental
effects.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage the
development of safe, cost-effective options for the treatment of
drinking water that eliminate or reduce potentially dangerous
disinfection byproducts.
   116902.  (a) The department shall do all of the following:

   (1) Identify potentially dangerous drinking water disinfection
byproducts and their persistence in the environment. Identify

    (1)     Identify  treatment methods,
technologies, and other management options that reduce or eliminate
the need to add chlorine, chloramines, or other additives to drinking
water as a disinfectant.
   (2) In evaluating these options, the water quality and
environmental benefits treatment options may have, including the
removal of other contaminants, and the reduction in the need for
chemical disinfectants.
   (3) Develop a strategy to encourage the development of these
options including identifying research needs, preparing cost benefit
analyses, implementing pilot projects, and other efforts to encourage
the development of options.
   116904.  (a) The department shall work in collaboration with the
Regents of the University of California, the Chancellor of the
California State University, and appropriate state agencies to
implement this chapter, and may work with other groups as
appropriate.
   (b) The department shall report to the Legislature by July 1,
2009, on its progress in implementing this chapter.
   (c) The department shall make the report, and the data and
information gathered as a result of implementing this chapter,
available on its Internet Web site.
   (d) The department shall annually update and make available on its
Internet Web site, information on new treatment options identified
in implementing this chapter.