BILL NUMBER: AB 134	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Dickinson
   (Principal coauthor: Senator Steinberg)

                        JANUARY 12, 2011

   An act to add Section 1486 to the Water Code, relating to water
resources.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 134, as introduced, Dickinson. Appropriation of water:
Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District.
   Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board
administers a water rights program pursuant to which the state board
grants permits and licenses to appropriate water.
   Existing law requires the owner of a wastewater treatment plant to
obtain the approval of the state board prior to making any changes
in the point of discharge, place of use, or purpose of use of treated
wastewater, and requires the state board to review the proposed
changes in accordance with prescribed procedures.
   This bill would authorize the Sacramento Regional County
Sanitation District to file an application for a permit to
appropriate a specified amount of water that is based on the volume
of treated wastewater that the district discharges into the
Sacramento River and recovers for reuse. The bill would require the
state board to grant a permit to appropriate that treated wastewater
upon terms and conditions determined by the state board. The bill
would exempt from the above-described approval and review
requirements, the appropriation of water, and any change in the point
of discharge, place of use, or purpose of use of treated wastewater,
in accordance with a permit granted pursuant to the bill's
provisions.
   This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the Sacramento Regional County
Sanitation District.
   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.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) The conservation of all available water resources requires the
maximum reuse of recycled water in satisfying the requirements for
beneficial uses of water.
   (b) Encouraging water conservation and water recycling are
commonsense methods to make more efficient use of existing water
supplies.
   (c) The people of the State of California have a primary interest
in the development of facilities to recycle wastewater to supplement
existing surface water and groundwater supplies and to assist in
meeting the future water requirements of the state.
   (d) Providing a more reliable water supply for the state includes
the implementation of wastewater reclamation projects.
   (e) The Legislature has established statewide goals to recycle a
total of seven hundred thousand acre-feet of water per year by the
year 2000 and one million acre-feet of water per year by the year
2010.
   (f) It is the intent of the Legislature that the state
expeditiously undertake all possible steps to continue to encourage
the development of water recycling facilities so that recycled water
may be made available to meet the growing water requirements of the
state.
   (g) It is the policy of the state that each region that depends on
water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed should improve
its regional self-reliance for water through investment in water
recycling, and local and regional water supply projects.
   (h) It is in the best interest of the people of the State of
California, in enacting this act, to provide an additional means for
the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District to realize the
benefit of its production and discharge of high-quality recycled
water, and to provide a potential revenue stream to offset the high
costs associated with upgrades to the sanitation district's
wastewater treatment plant, to meet new wastewater treatment
requirements under the national pollutant discharge elimination
system permit issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control
Board, Central Valley.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1486 is added to the Water Code, to read:
   1486.  (a) The Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, and
any successor thereto, with respect to treated wastewater produced
by the sanitation district that meets the requirements of the
appropriate regional board, and that is discharged into the
Sacramento River, may file an application for a permit to appropriate
an amount of water that is equal to either of the following:
   (1) Up to the amount of treated wastewater that is discharged into
the Sacramento River, if the treated wastewater is delivered
directly for reuse prior to discharge.
   (2) Up to the amount of treated wastewater that is discharged into
the Sacramento River, less diminution by seepage, evaporation,
transportation, or other natural causes between the point of
discharge from the wastewater treatment plant and the point of
recovery for reuse.
   (b) Upon application for a permit to appropriate water pursuant to
subdivision (a), the board shall grant the permit subject to the
terms and conditions as in the board's judgment are necessary for the
protection of the rights of others.
   (c) The appropriation of water, or any change in the point of
discharge, place of use, or purpose of use of treated wastewater, in
accordance with this section, shall not be subject to Section 1211.
   (d) Water appropriated in accordance with this section may be sold
or utilized for any beneficial purpose.
   (e) The right to the use of water granted by this section shall
not include water flowing in underground streams.
  SEC. 3.  The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of the unique problems applicable to the full utilization of
the waters of the Sacramento River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta, into which treated wastewater discharged by the Sacramento
Regional County Sanitation District flows.