BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2583
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Pedro Nava, Chair
AB 2583 (Hall) - As Amended: April 7, 2010
SUBJECT : Water treatment facilities safety.
SUMMARY : Requires water treatment facilities to use safer
technologies and raw materials to reduce the environmental
threat from hazardous material. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires water agencies that operate water treatment
facilities and their direct suppliers to use safer
technologies to reduce the public health and environmental
hazards from the release of hazardous substance.
2)Requires water agencies and their direct suppliers to use
safer technologies that are appropriate for the disinfection
methodology used by the water agency.
3)Requires the safer technology to be commercially available and
not be materially cost prohibitive to the water utility or
rate payers.
4)Defines "safer technology" to as technology, product raw
material or practices that, when compared to existing
practices, significantly reduces or eliminates the possibility
of the release of hazardous material and hazards to public
health and the environment.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires anyone who discharges waste anywhere in the state, to
obtain waste discharge requirements (i.e., a water quality
permit) under the provisions of the Porter-Cologne Water
Quality Control Act (Commencing with Section 13000 of the
Water Code).
2)Requires businesses handling hazardous materials to maintain
an inventory of hazardous materials and to prepare a business
plan relating to the handling and response to a release or
threatened release of hazardous materials.
3)Requires any person generate, store or transporting hazardous
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waste in California to possess a registration issued by the
Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : According to the author "the use of chlorine
is a primary method to chemically process, treat and disinfect
drinking and waste water. While there are significant public
health benefits to this method of water treatment, millions of
Californians are exposed to potentially deadly chemical spills
and accidents resulting from the transportation of chlorine,
particularly along rail lines. Current law requires water
agencies to make chemical purchase decisions for water treatment
based on cost alone. This requirement prevents these agencies
from being able to factor public safety and environmental safety
impacts when purchasing potentially hazardous substances, like
chlorine to treat drinking water."
Inherently safer technology (IST) - federal action:
Congress is currently considering legislation to reauthorize the
current chemical facility security program that could require
use of safer chemicals in some cases and force water systems to
adopt security measures. The provision, known as "inherently
safer technology", was included in a bill (H.R. 2868) that
passed the House of Representatives in November.
Issues:
1)Implementation and enforcement.
This bill adds the requirement for water agencies and their
direct supplies to use safer technologies to the State's
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Law but fails to provide
authority for State or Regional Water Boards to enforce the
requirements of this bill.
The provisions of this bill are similar in concept to the
California Accidental Release Prevention Program (CalARP)
(Health and Safety Code Section 25531 et. seq.). CalARP is
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administered by the California Office of Emergency Services and
the administering agency in each city or county.
The Committee may wish to move the provisions of this bill into
the statutory and enforcement framework provided in the CalARP
program.
2)Purchasing Preferences.
This bill requires water treatment facility operators and
contractors to find and use safer technologies for hazardous
materials. This is similar in concept to the preferred
purchasing requirements that apply to California State
government (Public Contract Code, sections 12400-12404).
The current state law provides a standard of comparison when
purchasing products or services, specifically,
"this comparison shall take into consideration, to the
extent feasible, raw materials acquisition, production,
manufacturing, packaging, distribution, reuse, operation,
maintenance, disposal, energy efficiency, product
performance, durability, safety, the needs of the
purchaser, and cost."
The standard of comparison proposed by AB 2583 is that the
product be "Commercially available without being materially cost
prohibitive to the water utilities or the rate payers."
The Committee may wish to recommend that the standard of
comparison for the safer technology requires the consideration
of alternative product which "perform adequately for their
intended use, provide adequate competition, and be available at
a reasonable price in a reasonable period of time."
Related Legislation:
SCR 60 (Negrete McLeod): This resolution urges water agencies
to mitigate the potential harm involved in the release of
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hazardous substances by substituting Inherently Safer Technology
(Awaiting action in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
GreenPeace
K2 Pure Solutions
Sierra Club
Opposition
American Chemistry Council
Association of California Water Agencies
California Association o f Sanitation Agencies
El Dorado Irrigation District
Metropolitan Waste District of Southern California
Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965