BILL ANALYSIS
AB 890
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 890 (John Perez) - As Amended: April 23, 2009
SUBJECT : City of Maywood: public water system (PWS).
SUMMARY : Provides for a review of the PWSs in the City of
Maywood. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes legislative findings that PWSs must provide safe and
potable drinking water and the City of Maywood shall have the
necessary powers to ensure safe, wholesome, and potable
drinking water for its residents.
2)Provides that the city of Maywood, upon a vote of the city
council, may request a review by the California Department of
Public Health (DPH) on whether the PWSs who provides water to
the residents of Maywood possess the adequate financial,
managerial, and technical capacity to provide safe, wholesome
and potable drinking water.
3)Requires DPH, upon the request of the City of Maywood, shall
consider whether the PWSs in Maywood possess the adequate
financial, managerial, and technical capacity to provide safe,
wholesome and potable drinking water. If DPH finds that the
water system is unable to provide the necessary quality of
water, it shall impose conditions on the PWSs.
4)Provides that in the event the PWS system fails to meet the
conditions establish by the DPH, then the DPH shall revoke its
permit to operate.
5)Provides that an appeal of the permit revocation must be made
to the DPH and the City of Maywood.
6)Limits the application of this bill to the City of Maywood.
EXISTING LAW :
Under the California Safe Drinking Water Act,
1)Requires every public water system to notify users when
certain monitoring or other requirements have not been
AB 890
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complied with; to notify customers when failure to comply with
a primary drinking water standard represents an imminent
danger; to notify customers that they should avoid consumption
of the water supply due to a chemical contamination that may
pose a health risk and to instead use bottled water; to notify
consumers of confirmation of detected contaminants; and to
annually deliver a copy of the consumer confidence report to
each customer.
2)Requires a person operating a public water system to notify
the governing body of the local agency in which the users of a
drinking water supply reside, within 30 days of the closure of
a well or upon discovery of a contaminant exceeding a maximum
contaminant level or an action level set for drinking water.
3)Requires PWSs to be permitted by the DPH and demonstrate that
they provide a reliable and adequate supply of water at all
times that is pure, wholesome, potable, and does not endanger
the health of consumers.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Purpose: According to the City of Maywood, the sponsors of this
bill, "The City of Maywood's water is provided directly by three
Mutual Water Companies, although the water originates from the
Metropolitan Water District. For years, residents have
complained about the color, taste and smell of their drinking
water."
The author of the bill reports that, "Often water coming out of
the tap will be malodorous and have the color of iced tea.
Regardless of whether the water violates drinking water
standards, the cosmetic problems make the water undrinkable and
force the residents of the community to purchase bottled water."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
City of Maywood (sponsor)
California Communities Against Toxics
Clean Water Action
Comite Civico Del Valle
AB 890
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Communities for a Better Environment
East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965