BILL NUMBER: AB 134 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 23, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dickinson
(Principal coauthor: Senator Steinberg)
( Coauthor: Assembly Member
Huber )
( Coauthor: Senator Wolk
)
JANUARY 12, 2011
An act to add Section 1486 to the Water Code, relating to water
resources.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 134, as amended, 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 ,
as specified . The bill would require
authorize 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)
(a) The people of the State of California have a
primary interest in the development of facilities to recycle
wastewater produce recycled water 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)
(b) 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 supply needs 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)
(c) 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 California
Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley , 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
appropriate 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 diversion out of the
Sacramento River or the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta .
(b) Upon application for a permit to appropriate water pursuant to
subdivision (a), the board shall may
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 any legal user of the water .
(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)
(c) 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.
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