BILL ANALYSIS
AB 80
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 80
AUTHOR: Blakeslee
AMENDED: As introduced
FISCAL: No HEARING DATE: July 6, 2009
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Randy Pestor
SUBJECT : RESERVOIR RECREATIONAL USE
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1) Declares state policy that multiple use should be made of
all public water in the state consistent with public health
and safety, and prohibits recreational uses where there is
bodily contact with water in a reservoir that is stored for
domestic use, with four limited exceptions (certain San
Diego County reservoirs, Nacimiento Reservoir in San Luis
Obispo County, Modesto Reservoir in Stanislaus County, Sly
Park Reservoir in El Dorado County, and Canyon Lake in
Riverside County).
2) Under provisions allowing bodily contact recreational uses
at Nacimiento Reservoir, water must receive complete water
treatment in compliance with applicable Department of
Public Health (DPH) regulations, including coagulation,
flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection.
This bill :
1) Adds Lopez Lake Reservoir to the Nacimiento Reservoir
exemption from the bodily contact prohibition and thereby
specifically allows bodily contact with the water by any
participant under the Nacimiento Reservoir conditions.
2) Revises the water treatment requirements by allowing an
alternative filtration system that complies with all
applicable DPH regulations and requirements.
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COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . Nacimiento Dam, in northern San Luis
Obispo County, was constructed in 1957 by the Monterey
County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (now
the Monterey County Water Resources Agency (MCWRA)). The
dam and reservoir are operated by MCWRA and the lake has a
capacity of 377,900 acre feet with a surface area of 5,727
acres at spillway crest elevation. San Luis Obispo County
Flood Control and Water Conservation District has
entitlement for 17,500 acre feet per year from the lake,
and of this amount the proposed Nacimiento Water Supply
Project will transport a maximum of 16,200 acre feet of
water per year from the lake for delivery to purveyors
throughout San Luis Obispo County.
Current law prohibits recreational uses that include bodily
contact because of the problems associated with that use.
AB 1460 (Bordonaro) Chapter 524, Statutes of 1997, enacted
the bodily contact prohibition exemption for Nacimiento
Reservoir. Only a few drinking water reservoirs have this
exception. AB 1460 sets treatment requirements for the
reservoir and the sponsor now wants to change that
requirement. According to the sponsor of AB 80, a
simplified membrane filtration approach at Nacimiento
Reservoir is "considerably less costly to the public and
requires that [current law be changed]." The sponsor is
primarily concerned about the Paso Robles treatment plant.
Bodily contact is currently allowed at Lopez Lake because a
separate reservoir ahead of the treatment plant is
provided. However, the operator now wants to "seasonally"
bypass that separate reservoir. If this is done, then
water could be used for domestic use from this reservoir
that experiences a high level of bodily contact use.
2) Pathogenic organism concerns . The Metropolitan Water
District (MWD) has been studying water quality issues
associated with body contact recreation at its Diamond
Valley Lake. MWD information indicates that
"Cryptosporidium is the pathogenic organism of greatest
concern mainly because it is extremely resistant to
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conventional methods of disinfection such as chlorination,
is difficult to detect through monitoring, and causes
cryptosporidiosis." Cryptosporidiosis is a disease of the
intestinal tract and has been known to cause disease in
humans since 1976. Cryptosporidium lives in a protective
shell that is referred to as an oocyst, and allows it to
survive various environmental conditions and be resistant
to disinfection. Sources of contamination at recreational
waters are the individuals using those waters for
recreation when constituents of residual fecal matter may
be washed off the body on contact with water. Infants,
young children, and others may also contribute more
significantly to contamination by accidental fecal
releases.
MWD studies have shown an increased risk to consumers with
body contact recreation, ranging from 20 to 140 times
higher than the current Cryptosporidium risk of 1 infection
per about 28,000 people.
Public health is protected primarily through four
complimentary measures: source protection, appropriate
treatment, adequate monitoring, and ongoing distribution
system maintenance. Source protection is considered the
most important since the risk of disease will be greatly
reduced if pathogens are never introduced to the water.
3) Changing course . AB 1460 (Bordonaro) Chapter 524, Statutes
of 1997, enacted the bodily contact prohibition exemption
for Nacimiento Reservoir. In order for recreational
activity to continue under AB 1460, certain conditions must
be met - one dealing with water treatment. Nacimiento
water treatment under this exemption requires either: 1)
compliance with all DPH requirements, including
coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and
disinfection; or 2) certain treatment methods for water
allowed to percolate into the groundwater for subsequent
extraction.
AB 80 amends the first provision to also allow "an alternative
filtration system that complies with all applicable
department regulations and requirements." According to
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Paso Robles, a "simplified membrane filtration approach is
considerably less costly to the public and requires [a
change in current law]."
The sponsor reports that the Nacimiento Water Project is on
schedule to provide water delivery to Atascadero, Paso
Robles, Templeton, and San Luis Obispo by mid-2010 - yet
there is no information in the environmental documents for
the water project regarding a change in water treatment
methods even though the environmental documents clearly
reference AB 1460 requirements.
4) Insufficient information to expand exemption to Lopez Lake
Reservoir . According to the sponsor, "Lopez Lake is
another San Luis Obispo County reservoir that is utilized
for swimming and waterskiing. Lopez complies with the
recreation restriction by maintaining a separate, terminal
reservoir upstream of its water treatment plant that is
restricted from recreation. There are water quality
benefits to by-passing the terminal reservoir, at least
seasonally; however, [an] amendment to the Water Code is
needed to permit this operational mode."
A purpose for a terminal reservoir is to ensure separation of
bodily contact areas. If the sponsor plans on diverting
water from a terminal reservoir, that is a discretionary
action requiring compliance with the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Committee staff cannot
adequately analyze a Lopez Lake Reservoir bodily contact
exemption without CEQA documentation - and sufficient time
to review that documentation.
The bodily contact exemption for Lopez Lake Reservoir must
therefore be stricken until this information is provided
and reviewed by committee staff.
5) Outstanding issues regarding Nacimiento Reservoir
exemption . Given that the sponsor is primarily concerned
at this point about the Paso Robles treatment plant portion
of the Nacimiento Water Project, and in order to be
consistent with more recent provisions for exceptions to
the bodily contact exemption, amendments are needed to: a)
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specify an alternative filtration provision for advanced
technology at the Paso Robles treatment plant that is
capable of inactivating certain organisms ( e.g. , virus,
cryptosporidium, giardia) ( NOTE : committee staff will need
additional time to review the proposed filtration system
change to determine whether ozonation or ultraviolet
treatment is necessary); b) reference certain federal
requirements; c) enable DPH to impose more stringent
treatment standards than those required by federal law; and
d) allow for additional conditions and restrictions by the
reservoir operating entity and DPH (including conditions
and restrictions on recreational uses).
SOURCE : City of Paso Robles
SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file