BILL NUMBER: AB 969 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Charles Calderon
FEBRUARY 26, 2009
An act to amend Sections 13576 and 13577 of, and to repeal Section
13578 of, the Water Code, relating to water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 969, as introduced, Charles Calderon. Recycled water.
Existing law, the Water Recycling Act of 1991, establishes a
statewide goal 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 act requires, to the extent that specified funds
are made available, the Department of Water Resources to identify and
report to the Legislature on opportunities for increasing the use of
recycled water and constraints and impediments to increasing the use
of recycled water. The act requires the department to convene a task
force, known as the 2002 Recycled Water Task Force, to advise the
department in implementing the report requirement. Existing law
requires the department and the task force to report to the
Legislature no later than July 1, 2003.
This bill would repeal the report and task force requirements. The
bill would change the statewide goal for recycled water to an
unspecified number of acre-feet of water per year by the year 2020.
The bill also would make changes to findings and declarations under
the act.
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. 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 44 million by
the year 2010 2020 .
(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.
(c) There is an increasing need to develop reliable water
supplies, both potable and nonpotable, to protect investments in
agriculture, greenbelts, and recreation, to protect and enhance
fisheries, wildlife habitat, and riparian areas, to replenish
groundwater basins, and to provide for other domestic uses.
(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) The use of recycled water has proven to be safe from a public
health standpoint, and the State Department of Health
Services Public Health is updating regulations
for the use of recycled water.
(f) The use of recycled water is a cost-effective, reliable method
of helping to meet California's water supply needs.
(g) The development of the infrastructure to distribute recycled
water will provide jobs and enhance the economy of the state.
(h) 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.
(i) 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.
(j) 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.
(k) 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.
() 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. 2. Section 13577 of the Water Code is amended to read:
13577. This chapter establishes a statewide goal 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 2020 .
SEC. 3. Section 13578 of the Water Code is repealed.
13578. (a) In order to achieve the statewide goal for recycled
water use established in Section 13577 and to implement the Governor'
s Advisory Drought Planning Panel Critical Water Shortage Contingency
Plan recommendations, Section F2, as submitted December 29, 2000,
the department shall identify and report to the Legislature on
opportunities for increasing the use of recycled water, as defined in
paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 13575, and identify
constraints and impediments, including the level of state financial
assistance available for project construction, to increasing the use
of recycled water.
(b) The department shall convene a task force, to be known as the
2002 Recycled Water Task Force, to advise the department in
implementation of subdivision (a), including making recommendations
to the Legislature regarding the following:
(1) How to further the use of recycled water in industrial and
commercial applications, including, but not limited to, those
applications set forth in Section 13552.8. The task force shall
evaluate the current regulatory framework of state and local rules,
regulations, ordinances, and permits to identify the obstacles and
disincentives to industrial and commercial reuse. Issues to be
investigated include, but are not limited to, applicability of visual
inspections instead of pressure tests for cross-connections between
potable and nonpotable water systems, dual piping trenching
restrictions, fire suppression system design, and backflow
protections.
(2) Changes in the Uniform Plumbing Code, published by the
International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, that
are appropriate to facilitate the use of recycled water in industrial
and commercial settings. The department shall make recommendations
to the California Building Standards Commission with regard to
suggested revisions to the California Plumbing Code necessary to
incorporate the changes identified by the task force.
(3) Changes in state statutes or the current regulatory framework
of state and local rules, regulations, ordinances, and permits
appropriate to increase the use of recycled water for commercial
laundries and toilet and urinal flushing in structures including, but
not limited to, those defined in subdivision (c) of Section 13553.
The department shall identify financial incentives to help offset the
cost of retrofitting privately and publicly owned structures.
(4) The need to reconvene the California Potable Reuse Committee
established by the department in 1993 or convene a successor
committee to update the committee's finding that planned indirect
potable reuse of recycled water by augmentation of surface water
supplies would not adversely affect drinking water quality if certain
conditions were met.
(5) The need to augment state water supplies using water use
efficiency strategies identified in the CALFED Bay-Delta Program. In
its report pursuant to subdivision (a), the department shall identify
ways to coordinate with CALFED to assist local communities in
educating the public with regard to the statewide water supply
benefits of local recycling projects and the level of public health
protection ensured by compliance with the uniform statewide water
recycling criteria developed by the State Department of Health
Services in accordance with Section 13521.
(6) Impediments or constraints, other than water rights, related
to increasing the use of recycled water in applications for
agricultural, environmental, or irrigation uses, as determined by the
department.
(c) (1) The task force shall be convened by the department and be
comprised of one representative from each of the following state
agencies:
(A) The department.
(B) The State Department of Health Services.
(C) The state board.
(D) The California Environmental Protection Agency.
(E) The CALFED Bay-Delta Program.
(F) The Department of Food and Agriculture.
(G) The Building Standards Commission.
(H) The University of California.
(I) The Resources Agency.
(2) The task force shall also include one representative from a
recognized environmental advocacy group and one representative from a
consumer advocacy group, as determined by the department, and one
representative of local agency health officers, one representative of
urban water wholesalers, one representative from a groundwater
management entity, one representative of water districts, one
representative from a nonprofit association of public and private
members created to further the use of recycled water, one
representative of commercial real estate, one representative of land
development, one representative of industrial interests, and at least
two representatives from each of the following as defined in Section
13575:
(A) Recycled water producer.
(B) Recycled water wholesaler.
(C) Retail water supplier.
(d) The department and the task force shall report to the
Legislature not later than July 1, 2003.
(e) The department shall carry out the duties of this section only
to the extent that funds pursuant to Section 79145, enacted as part
of the Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Watershed Protection, and
Flood Protection Act (Division 26 (commencing with Section 79000)),
are made available for the purposes of this section.