BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 849 SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman 2011-2012 Regular Session BILL NO: AB 849 AUTHOR: Gatto AMENDED: June 23, 2011 FISCAL: No HEARING DATE: July 6, 2011 URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Rachel Machi Wagoner SUBJECT : WATER: USE EFFICIENCY: GRAYWATER BUILDING STANDARDS SUMMARY : Existing law authorizes a city, county, or other local agency to adopt, after a public hearing and enactment of an ordinance or resolution, building standards that prohibit entirely the use of graywater, or building standards that are more restrictive than the graywater building standards adopted by the Department of Housing and Community Development and published in the California Building Standards Code (CBSC). This bill repeals the authority of a city, county, or other local agency to adopt building standards that prohibit entirely the use of graywater and instead authorize the adoption, under specified requirements, of standards that differ from the standards adopted by the department (e.g., requires that an ordinance enacted pursuant to this authority include the local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions requiring different building standards). COMMENTS : 1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, "despite the Legislature setting statewide standards to regulate graywater in California, Health & Safety Code Section 18941.7 allows local governments to apply stricter regulations to graywater or to ban graywater altogether. This makes following standards difficult for both builders and private land owners who wish to utilize graywater as a AB 849 Page 2 means of water conservation in residential and commercial developments. In some cases, locals living in areas where graywater is banned have either resorted to using black water to water their lawns or use home-made graywater systems that are unregulated and do not necessarily meet state graywater standards. Local governments should not be able to opt out of a baseline standard for graywater as a means of water conservation." 2) The California Building Standards Law . Under the California Building Standards Law, the CBSC adopts state building standards. Statewide building standards are intended to provide uniformity in buildings across the state. There are a few exemptions, which allow a local governing body, city or county to modify state building standards. A local governing body, city, or county can adopt an ordinance or a resolution in a public meeting that finds that a local building standard must be modified from the state building standard because of local climatic, geological or topographical conditions and file that ordinance with the CBSC. The CBSC reviews the findings of the ordinance to determine if the local governing body followed the correct procedure. 3) Previous Legislation . SB 1258 (Lowenthal) Chapter 72, Statutes of 2008, requires HCD to adopt building standards for graywater systems for residential indoor and outdoor use. The CBSC adopted these standards on July 30, 2009. SB 518 (Lowenthal) Chapter 622, Statutes of 2010, requires the CBSC to adopt, as specified, non-residential building standards for graywater systems for indoor and outdoor use. 4) Protection of Public Health . As the State of California contemplates and adopts water conservation policies that include standards for water reuse, it is important to build in the statutory infrastructure that ensures that there are appropriate standards to address the specific public and environmental health risks associated with the specific use of that water source. The Safe Drinking Water Act AB 849 Page 3 regulates potable/drinking water. The Federal Clean Water Act and the California Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act regulate overall water rights and water quality protection of the surface and groundwater. As new laws are enacted outside the perimeters of these statutes, public and environmental health and safety provisions need to be included. AB 849 needs to be amended to address this need, by requiring the local permitting agency to consult with the local public health agency in the implementation of graywater permitting and installation. Additionally, criteria should be added to allow a city or county to make a public health or safety finding that necessitates a more restrictive standard in addition to climatic, geologic, or topographical findings. 5) Intent Language . The intent language in this bill is overly broad and needs to be stricken. 6) Sunset Review . As graywater standards, permitting and use are relatively new in California, it may be useful to add a sunset date of December 31, 2015, in order to give the Legislature an opportunity to review and determine whether this process is an effective and safe technology for California or if the statute warrants some amendment to expand or limit local authority. SOURCE : Assemblymember Gatto SUPPORT : California Building Industry Association California State Pipe Trades Council Natural Resources Defense Council Planning and Conservation League ReWater Systems Tree People 1 individual letter OPPOSITION : None on file AB 849 Page 4