BILL ANALYSIS
AB 890
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 890 (John A. Perez) - As Amended: April 23, 2009
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety Vote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Public Health (DPH), upon
request of the City of Maywood City Council, to review permits
issued to public water systems serving the residents of the city
to consider whether the public water system possesses adequate
financial, managerial, and technical capability to ensure the
delivery of safe, wholesome, and potable drinking water. The
bill also requires DPH to develop regulations needed to enforce
the provisions of this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT
Approximately $250,000 (GF) in 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively,
to develop regulations, review permits and make determinations,
and enforce compliance.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. According to the author, the City of Maywood
suffers from tap water that is light brown, foul tasting and
noxious. To avoid this unappealing water, many residents
purchase bottled water. The author contends this bill will
allow the city's government to assure residents that the
city's water supply is safe, wholesome, and potable, in
keeping with state law.
2)State Regulation of Drinking Water. Two state entities-the
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and
DPH-are responsible for assuring that the state's drinking
water is safe, pure, and potable.
AB 890
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a) OEHHA scientifically assesses the risks to human health
posed by contaminants that may be found in the state's
public drinking water systems and are regulated or proposed
to be regulated under DPH's safe drinking water regulatory
program. Based on that scientific assessment, OEHHA adopts
contaminant-specific goals, known as PHGs, that specify,
based solely on public health considerations, the maximum
levels of concentration at which various contaminants can
be found in drinking water without adversely affecting
human health.
b) DPH manages the risk to human health identified in
OEHHA's PHGs (which are advisory) by setting primary
drinking water standards (also known as "maximum
contaminant levels" or "MCLs"). Statute requires DPH to set
its MCL for each regulated contaminant as close as is
technologically and economically feasible to the
corresponding PHG. In this way, OEHHA's PHGs form the
scientific basis of DPH's regulation of drinking water to
ensure public health and safety: MCLs specify the maximum
level of each contaminant allowable in the state's public
drinking water systems regulated by DPH.
3)Public drinking water systems (PDWS) , which can be either
publicly or privately owned, are those systems that regularly
supply drinking water to at least 25 people or 15 service
connections. In California, there are over 7,000 public
drinking water systems, each of which is regulated and
permitted by DPH. These systems include both groundwater
systems and surface water systems and supply drinking water to
the majority of Californians.
Existing law requires DPH to permit a PWDS that demonstrates
it can provide a reliable and adequate supply of water at all
times that is pure, wholesome, potable, and does not endanger
the health of consumers. A PWDS must notify users of
contaminants found in water supplies, of certain failures in
water quality and water quality monitoring, and of other
imminent dangers to public health. A PWDS must also notify
the governing body of the local agency 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.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
AB 890
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