BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 134
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Date of Hearing: April 26, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Jared Huffman, Chair
AB 134 (Dickinson) - As Amended: April 15, 2011
SUBJECT : Appropriation of treated wastewater
SUMMARY : Allows the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation
District (SRCSD) to apply for a permit from the State Water
Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to appropriate an amount of
water up to the amount of discharged wastewater. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Allows the SRCSD to file an application with the SWRCB for a
permit to appropriate an amount of water equal to the amount
of treated wastewater discharged, less carriage losses, for
diversion out of the Sacramento River or Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta.
2)Clarifies that any permit granted by the SWRCB will be subject
to the terms and conditions authorized under applicable law.
3)Declares a special law is necessary due to the unique problems
applicable to full utilization of the waters of the Sacramento
River into which the SRCSD discharges treated wastewater.
EXISTING LAW
1)Provides that the owner of a wastewater treatment plant shall
hold the exclusive right to the treated wastewater.
2)Requires approval from the State Water Resources Control Board
for a change in the point of discharge, place of use, or
purpose of use of treated wastewater, unless such change does
not decrease flow in any portion of a watercourse.
3)Protects wastewater which has been introduced into the
watercourse with the intention of maintaining or enhancing
fishery, wildlife, recreational or other instream beneficial
uses from being treated as abandoned and subject to
appropriation by others.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
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The importance of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary
(Delta) as a regional, state and national treasure and an
integral part of an ecosystem which is home to more than 750
wildlife species and more than 120 species of fish is well
documented. Equally well documented has been the precipitous
decline of its fisheries including, but not limited to, fish
species listed under both the Federal Endangered Species Act
(ESA) and California Endangered Species Act (CESA) such as Delta
smelt, winter-run Chinook salmon and spring-run Chinook salmon.
There have been many reasons for this decline including the
effects of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water
Project (SWP). The CVP/SWP, which operate in a coordinated
fashion, have two huge pumping plants located near one another
in the south of the Delta which export water primarily to
Central Valley agriculture and southern California cities.
Collectively, these pumping plants change the overall
hydrodynamics of the Delta including causing Old River and
Middle River to cease to flow westward towards the San Francisco
Bay and instead run backwards towards the pumps themselves.
This reverse flow causes direct losses of fish, larva and eggs
due to entrainment (being drawn in to the pumping facilities)
and impingement (being trapped against screens) as well as
indirect losses due to straying, predation, and loss of food
production.
The killing of ESA and CESA listed species is legally prohibited
without a permit. The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP)
process is a stakeholder-driven effort to obtain new 50 year
endangered species authorizations for CVP/SWP Delta operations.
During BDCP planning, the agencies that contract with the
Federal Bureau of Reclamation and State Department of Water
Resources for CVP/SWP export supplies have increasingly focused
on the possible role of other "stressors" besides the water
projects in the fish declines. In particular, they have
contributed to studies analyzing ammonia as affecting the Delta
food web and fish species and called for more stringent permits
on discharges into the Sacramento River from the Sacramento
Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (Treatment Plant) owned and
operated by SRCSD. On December 9, 2010 the Central Valley
Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a new Waste
Discharge Requirement for the SRCSD Treatment Plant which, among
its provisions, requires increased wastewater filtration and
limits ammonia levels.
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SRCSD's wastewater discharges form part of the water supply
exported by the CVP/SWP. This is because, while most water
permits are for quantifiable amounts of water to be diverted at
a specific location during a specific time period for a specific
place of use, the CVP/SWP Delta pumping plants take all the
water in the system that they are capable of diverting
constrained by physical limitations (the size of the pumps and
canals) and legal standards. In some years this has allowed
them to deliver both contracted-for amounts of water plus
amounts in excess of those contracts.
Currently, the BDCP process has focused on up to five new
intakes on the Sacramento River stretching from approximately
the town of Freeport to downstream at the town of Courtland.
The SRCSD Treatment Plant's outfall is also at Freeport. The
proposed BDCP intakes, which collectively would be almost fifty
times larger than any other screened diversion in the Delta,
would be used to export water via a new peripheral facility
either around or under the Delta. Under the terms of the new
Waste Discharge Requirement, the Treatment Plant will be
providing nearly drinking water quality water almost directly at
the proposed new diversion points.
Support Arguments : SRCSD and other supporters of this bill
assert that Treatment Plant upgrades will cost up to $2 billion
and that a multi-faceted approach is needed at the "local, state
and federal level to minimize the burden on the Sacramento
Region." They point out this bill follows an approach that was
established in 1961 for the San Joaquin River and that the
amended version of the bill provides assurances that any permit
issued by the SWRCB would contain the terms and conditions
necessary to protect other legal users of water, including the
environment.
Opposition Arguments : Opponents state that some of the effluent
discharge that could be sold by SRCSD under this bill "has
historically been considered Delta inflow available for use
and/or export downstream." They state that "many other
communities have had to do similar upgrades to their sewage
treatment to meet Clean Water Act requirements without seeking
to radically transform existing water rights law."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
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CA Apartment Association
CA Association of Sanitation Agencies
CA League of Food Processors
CA Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Campbell Soup Company
Central Contra Costa Sanitary District
Congress Member Doris Matsui
City of Citrus Heights
City of Elk Grove
City of Rancho Cordova
City of Sacramento
City of West Sacramento
Downtown Sacramento Partnership
Jim Provenza, Yolo County Supervisor
Marriott Cal Expo Properties
Midtown Business Association
Mike McGowan, Yolo County Supervisor
Nor-Cal Beverage Co., Inc.
North State Building Industry Association
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
Sacramento Metro. Chamber of Commerce
Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce
Sacramento Regional Co. Sanitation District
The River District
Opposition
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Alameda County Flood Control and Water
Conservation District Zone 7
Alameda County Water District
Association of CA Water Agencies
Burbank Chamber
Burbank Water and Power
California Chamber of Commerce
California Municipal Utilities Assoc.
Calleguas Municipal Water District
Castaic Lake Water Agency
Central City Association
Chambers of Commerce Alliance,
Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties
Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce
City of Corona (unless amended)
Coachella Valley Water District
Contra Costa Water District (unless amended)
Downey Chamber of Commerce
Eastern Municipal Water District
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EI Monte/South EI Monte Chamber of Commerce
Friant Water Authority
Fullerton Chamber of Commerce
Inland Empire Utilities Agency (unless amended)
Irvine Chamber of Commerce
Irvine Ranch Water District
Irwindale Chamber of Commerce
Kern County Water Agency
LaVerne Chamber of Commerce
Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles Business Council
Modesto Irrigation District
Mojave Water Agency
Montclair Chamber of Commerce
Montebello Chamber
North Orange County Legislative Alliance
Orange County Business Council
Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau
Regional Chamber of Com/-San Gabriel Valley
San Diego County Water Authority
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San Fernando Chamber of Commerce
San Gabriel Valley Legislative Coalition of Chambers
Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce
Southern California Water Committee
Southwest California Legislative Council
The Greater Corona Valley Chamber of Commerce
Three Valleys Municipal Water District
United Chambers of the San Fernando Valley
Upland Chamber of Commerce
Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District
Valley Industry & Commerce Association
Ventura Co. Economic Development Assoc.
WaterReuse California
Western Municipal Water District (unless amended)
Westlands Water District
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Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096