BILL NUMBER: AB 2270 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 7, 2008
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 12, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 4, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 25, 2008
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Laird and Feuer
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Strickland)
FEBRUARY 21, 2008
An act to amend Sections 10004.6, 10633, 13523.1, 13576, and 13577
of, and to add Sections 13148 and 13523.3 to, the Water Code,
relating to water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2270, Laird. Recycled water: water quality.
(1) Existing law establishes a statewide recycling goal of 700,000
acre-feet of water by 2000 and 1,000,000 acre-feet of water by 2010.
Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to prepare
and update every 5 years the California Water Plan, which is the plan
for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation,
development, and use of the water resources of the state. Existing
law requires each urban water supplier to prepare, and update every 5
years, an urban water management plan with specified components,
including information, to the extent available, on recycled water and
its potential for use as a water source in the service area of the
urban water supplier.
This bill would refer to the statewide recycling goals as targets,
and would require the department to update these targets every 5
years, based on consideration of all relevant information, including,
but not limited to, specified information from the State Water
Resources Control Board and urban water management plans. The
department would be required to include the revised targets in the
California Water Plan beginning in 2013. The bill would require an
urban water supplier to include in its urban water management plan
information on recycled water, including, in acre-feet of water per
year, a description of the quantity of treated wastewater that meets
recycled water standards, a description and quantification of the
potential uses of recycled water, and the projected use of recycled
water within the supplier's service area.
(2) Existing law authorizes each California regional water quality
control board to issue a master reclamation permit to a supplier or
distributor of recycled water and requires the permittee to submit
quarterly reports summarizing recycled water use.
This bill would instead require the permittee to submit the
recycled water use information on an annual basis. The bill would
require any person that is authorized to supply or distribute
recycled water to annually report to the state board the amount of
recycled water supplied or distributed in the previous year, as
specified.
(3) Existing law requires the state board to formulate and adopt
state policy for water quality control. Regional boards are required
to establish water quality objectives in water quality control plans.
Under existing law, a local agency, by ordinance, may limit the
availability, or prohibit the installation, of residential water
softening or conditioning appliances that discharge to the community
sewer system if the local agency makes certain findings and includes
them in the ordinance.
This bill would authorize any local agency that maintains a
community sewer system to take action to control residential salinity
inputs, including those from water softeners, to protect the quality
of the waters of the state, if the appropriate regional board makes
a finding that the control of residential salinity input will
contribute to the achievement of water quality objectives.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) Water use efficiency is a key component of water management
and water supply reliability in California.
(2) Increasing population, climate change, and the need to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and protect California's fish and wildlife
resources make it essential that state and local water suppliers
manage water resources as efficiently as possible.
(3) Recycled water provides additional water supplies that are a
cost effective and reliable method of helping to meet California's
water needs.
(4) The Water Recycling Act of 1991 established a statewide goal
to recycle a total of 700,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2000,
and one million acre-feet of water by 2010.
(5) In 2005, based upon information in the California Water Plan,
the state is 20 years behind in reaching its recycling goals. The
California Water Plan indicates that the statewide potential for
recycled water use by 2030 is between 900,000 acre-feet to 1.4
million acre-feet.
(b) By enacting this act, it is the intent of the Legislature to
maximize the use of recycled water in California by removing barriers
and providing incentives for recycled water use, including using
recycled water for groundwater recharge and other appropriate uses
while ensuring the protection of public and environmental health.
SEC. 2. Section 10004.6 of the Water Code is amended to read:
10004.6. (a) As part of updating The California Water Plan every
five years pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10004, the
department shall conduct a study to determine the amount of water
needed to meet the state's future needs and to recommend programs,
policies, and facilities to meet those needs.
(b) The department shall consult with the advisory committee
established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10004 in carrying
out this section.
(c) On or before January 1, 2002, and one year prior to issuing
each successive update to The California Water Plan, the department
shall release a preliminary draft of the assumptions and other
estimates upon which the study will be based, to interested persons
and entities throughout the state for their review and comments. The
department shall provide these persons and entities an opportunity to
present written or oral comments on the preliminary draft. The
department shall consider these documents when adopting the final
assumptions and estimates for the study. For the purpose of carrying
out this subdivision, the department shall release, at a minimum,
assumptions and other estimates relating to all of the following:
(1) Basin hydrology, including annual rainfall, estimated
unimpaired streamflow, depletions, and consumptive uses.
(2) Groundwater supplies, including estimates of sustainable
yield, supplies necessary to recover overdraft basins, and supplies
lost due to pollution and other groundwater contaminants.
(3) Current and projected land use patterns, including the mix of
residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and undeveloped
lands.
(4) Environmental water needs, including regulatory instream flow
requirements, nonregulated instream uses, and water needs by
wetlands, preserves, refuges, and other managed and unmanaged natural
resource lands.
(5) Current and projected population.
(6) Current and projected water use for all of the following:
(A) Interior uses in a single-family dwelling.
(B) Exterior uses in a single-family dwelling.
(C) All uses in a multifamily dwelling.
(D) Commercial uses.
(E) Industrial uses.
(F) Parks and open spaces.
(G) Agricultural water diversion and use.
(7) Evapotranspiration rates for major crop types, including
estimates of evaporative losses by irrigation practice and the extent
to which evaporation reduces transpiration.
(8) Current and projected adoption of urban and agricultural
conservation practices.
(9) Current and projected supplies of water provided by water
recycling and reuse.
(d) The department shall include in the study a discussion of the
potential for alternative water pricing policies to change current
and projected water uses identified pursuant to paragraph (6) of
subdivision (c).
(e) The department shall include in the study the statewide water
recycling targets established pursuant to Section 13577 as required
by that section.
(f) Nothing in this section requires or prohibits the department
from updating any data necessary to update The California Water Plan
pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10004.
SEC. 3. Section 10633 of the Water Code is amended to read:
10633. The plan shall provide information on recycled water and
its potential for use as a water source in the service area of the
urban water supplier. The preparation of the plan shall be
coordinated with local water, wastewater, groundwater, and planning
agencies that operate within the supplier's service area, and shall
include all of the following:
(a) A description of the wastewater collection and treatment
systems in the supplier's service area, including a quantification of
the amount of wastewater collected and treated and the methods of
wastewater disposal.
(b) A description in acre-feet of water per year of the quantity
of treated wastewater that meets recycled water standards, is being
discharged, and is otherwise available for use in a recycled water
project.
(c) A description of the recycled water currently being used in
the supplier's service area, including, but not limited to, the type,
place, and quantity of use.
(d) A description and quantification in acre-feet of water per
year of the potential uses of recycled water, including, but not
limited to, agricultural irrigation, landscape irrigation, wildlife
habitat enhancement, wetlands, industrial reuse, groundwater
recharge, and other appropriate uses, and a determination with regard
to the technical and economic feasibility of serving those uses.
(e) The projected use in acre-feet of water per year of recycled
water within the supplier's service area at the end of 5, 10, 15, and
20 years, and a description of the actual use of recycled water in
comparison to uses previously projected pursuant to this subdivision.
(f) A description of actions, including financial incentives,
which may be taken to encourage the use of recycled water, and the
projected results of these actions in terms of acre-feet of recycled
water used per year.
(g) A plan for optimizing the use of recycled water in the
supplier's service area, including actions to facilitate the
installation of dual distribution systems, to promote recirculating
uses, to facilitate the increased use of treated wastewater that
meets recycled water standards, and to overcome any obstacles to
achieving that increased use.
SEC. 4. Section 13148 is added to the Water Code, to read:
13148. (a) Notwithstanding Article 1 (commencing with Section
116775) of Chapter 5 of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and
Safety Code, if the appropriate regional board makes a finding at a
public hearing that the control of residential salinity input will
contribute to the achievement of water quality objectives, any local
agency that maintains a community sewer system in an area affected by
the finding may by ordinance take action to control residential
salinity inputs, including those from water softeners, to protect the
quality of the waters of the state. The finding may be made in any
of the following water quality actions adopted by the regional board:
(1) Water quality control plans.
(2) Waste discharge requirements.
(3) Master reclamation permits.
(4) Water recycling requirements.
(5) Cease and desist orders.
(b) Actions to control residential salinity inputs authorized
under subdivision (a) may include, but are not limited to, the
following:
(1) Require that residential self-regenerating water softeners
sold within the jurisdiction of the local agency be at the highest
efficiency commercially available.
(2) Require that plumbing permits be obtained prior to
installation of residential self-regenerating water softeners.
(3) Require that residential self-regenerating water softeners be
plumbed to hook up to hot water only.
(4) Require the removal of previously installed residential
self-regenerating water softeners.
(5) Prohibit the installation of residential self-regenerating
water softeners.
(c) If a local agency adopts an ordinance to require the removal
of previously installed residential self-regenerating water softeners
pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (b), the local agency shall
make available to owners of residential self-regenerating water
softeners within its service area a program to compensate the owner
of the softener for the reasonable value of the removed softener, as
determined by the local agency.
(d) The regional board making a finding pursuant to subdivision
(a) shall base its finding on the evidence in the record. The
standard of judicial review required for a finding made pursuant to
subdivision (a) shall be the same as the standard of review required
for the water quality action in which the finding is made.
SEC. 5. Section 13523.1 of the Water Code is amended to read:
13523.1. (a) Each regional board, after consulting with, and
receiving the recommendations of, the State Department of Public
Health and any party who has requested in writing to be consulted,
with the consent of the proposed permittee, and after any necessary
hearing, may, in lieu of issuing waste discharge requirements
pursuant to Section 13263 or water reclamation requirements pursuant
to Section 13523 for a user of reclaimed water, issue a master
reclamation permit to a supplier or distributor, or both, of
reclaimed water.
(b) A master reclamation permit shall include, at least, all of
the following:
(1) Waste discharge requirements, adopted pursuant to Article 4
(commencing with Section 13260) of Chapter 4.
(2) A requirement that the permittee comply with the uniform
statewide reclamation criteria established pursuant to Section 13521.
Permit conditions for a use of reclaimed water not addressed by the
uniform statewide water reclamation criteria shall be considered on a
case-by-case basis.
(3) A requirement that the permittee establish and enforce rules
or regulations for reclaimed water users, governing the design and
construction of reclaimed water use facilities and the use of
reclaimed water, in accordance with the uniform statewide reclamation
criteria established pursuant to Section 13521.
(4) A requirement that the permittee submit an annual report
summarizing reclaimed water use, including the total amount of
reclaimed water supplied, the total number of reclaimed water use
sites, and the locations of those sites, including the names of the
hydrologic areas underlying the reclaimed water use sites.
(5) A requirement that the permittee conduct periodic inspections
of the facilities of the reclaimed water users to monitor compliance
by the users with the uniform statewide reclamation criteria
established pursuant to Section 13521 and the requirements of the
master reclamation permit.
(6) Any other requirements determined to be appropriate by the
regional board.
SEC. 6. Section 13523.3 is added to the Water Code, to read:
13523.3. (a) A person that is authorized to supply or distribute
recycled water pursuant to any of the following requirements or
permits, shall annually report to the state board the amount of
recycled water supplied or distributed in the previous year:
(1) Water reclamation requirements issued pursuant to Section
13523.
(2) A master reclamation permit issued pursuant to Section
13523.1.
(3) Waste discharge requirements issued pursuant to Article 4
(commencing with Section 13260) of Chapter 4.
(b) The state board may require the information described in
subdivision (a) to be reported electronically in a format specified
by the board.
SEC. 7. Section 13576 of the Water Code is amended to read:
13576. The Legislature hereby makes the following findings and
declarations:
(a) The State of California is subject to periodic drought
conditions.
(b) The development of traditional water resources in California
has not kept pace with the state's population, which is growing at
the rate of over 700,000 per year and which is anticipated to reach
36 million by the year 2010.
(c) There is a need for a reliable source of water for uses not
related to the supply of potable water to protect investments in
agriculture, greenbelts, and recreation and to replenish groundwater
basins, and protect and enhance fisheries, wildlife habitat, and
riparian areas.
(d) The environmental benefits of recycled water include a reduced
demand for water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta which is
otherwise needed to maintain water quality, reduced discharge of
waste into the ocean, and the enhancement of groundwater basins,
recreation, fisheries, and wetlands.
(e) In many areas of the state, recycled water is the least energy
intensive source of new water supply. Increased statewide use of
recycled water will reduce California's energy consumption and help
to meet the state's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990
levels.
(f) The use of recycled water has proven to be safe from a public
health standpoint, and the State Department of Public Health has
updated its regulations for the use of recycled water.
(g) The use of recycled water is a cost-effective, reliable method
of helping to meet California's water supply needs.
(h) The development of the infrastructure to distribute recycled
water will provide jobs and enhance the economy of the state.
(i) Retail water suppliers and recycled water producers and
wholesalers should promote the substitution of recycled water for
potable water and imported water in order to maximize the appropriate
cost-effective use of recycled water in California.
(j) Recycled water producers, retail water suppliers, and entities
responsible for groundwater replenishment should cooperate in joint
technical, economic, and environmental studies, as appropriate, to
determine the feasibility of providing recycled water service.
(k) Retail water suppliers and recycled water producers and
wholesalers should be encouraged to enter into contracts to
facilitate the service of recycled and potable water by the retail
water suppliers in their service areas in the most efficient and
cost-effective manner.
(l) Recycled water producers and wholesalers and entities
responsible for groundwater replenishment should be encouraged to
enter into contracts to facilitate the use of recycled water for
groundwater replenishment if recycled water is available and the
authorities having jurisdiction approve its use.
(m) Wholesale prices set by recycled water producers and recycled
water wholesalers, and rates that retail water suppliers are
authorized to charge for recycled water, should reflect an equitable
sharing of the costs and benefits associated with the development and
use of recycled water.
SEC. 8. Section 13577 of the Water Code is amended to read:
13577. (a) This chapter establishes a statewide target to recycle
a total of 700,000 acre-feet of water per year by the year 2000 and
1,000,000 acre-feet of water per year by the year 2010. The
department shall update the statewide water recycling target every
five years, based on consideration of all relevant information,
including, but not limited to, information from the state board
pursuant to Section 13523.3 and urban water management plans prepared
pursuant to Chapter 2.6 (commencing with Section 10610) of Division
6. Beginning in 2013, the department shall include the revised
targets in the California Water Plan in accordance with subdivision
(b) of Section 10004.
(b) The California Water Plan as updated in 2005 identifies water
use efficiency as a foundational action to ensure sustainable water
uses in California. In order to achieve the goals established in this
section, the department and the state board shall promote the
California Water Plan policies related to water use efficiency in the
priorities for awarding state water management grants and loans.
SEC. 9. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the
development, adoption, and implementation of water recycling targets
as provided by this act is an issue of statewide significance that is
critical to the effective implementation of integrated regional
water management in California. It is the intent of the Legislature
that funds made available by Section 75026 of the Public Resources
Code should be expended, consistent with Division 43 (commencing with
Section 75001) of the Public Resources Code and upon appropriation
by the Legislature, for grants and direct expenditures to implement
Section 13577.