BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE HEALTH
COMMITTEE ANALYSIS
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: AB 1194
A
AUTHOR: Block
B
AMENDED: As Introduced
HEARING DATE: June 15, 2011
1
REFERRAL: Environmental Quality
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CONSULTANT:
9
Orr
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SUBJECT
Drinking water
SUMMARY
Makes changes to the California Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA) to conform state drinking water law to federal law.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing federal law:
Establishes the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (federal
SDWA) to regulate the nation's public drinking water
supply.
Requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)
to establish mandatory nationwide drinking water standards.
Requires state drinking water programs to set drinking
water standards that are at least as stringent as the US
EPA standards.
Existing state law:
Establishes the California Safe Drinking Water Act (Act) to
Continued---
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govern the state's Drinking Water Program and to be the
delegated authority by the US EPA for enforcement of the
federal SDWA. Establishes the Drinking Water Program (DWP)
within the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to
regulate public drinking water systems and enforce federal
and state drinking water acts.
Under the Act, defines "human consumption" to mean the use
of water for drinking, bathing or showering, hand washing,
or oral hygiene.
Under the Act, exempts public water systems that meet
specified conditions, including systems that sell water to
users through a submetered service system if the water
supply is obtained from a regulated public water system.
Requires CDPH to exempt from water quality requirements any
noncommunity water system serving a transient population
that provides restrooms for employees or the public,
provided that the water system meets all of the following
criteria:
No water is served by the water system for any
public human consumption other than for handwashing.
If water is served for public human consumption other
than for handwashing, bottled water from a source
approved by CDPH is provided;
The water for handwashing is bacteriologically
safe, as specified; and,
The noncommunity water system is not a business
regulated as a food facility.
Authorizes CDPH to levy penalties against public water
systems of up to $1,000 per day for violation of a primary
drinking water standard and certain health-based secondary
standards; authorizes a penalty of $200 per day for other
violations, as specified.
This bill:
Adds the use of water for cooking, preparing food, and
washing dishes to the definition of human consumption under
the Act.
Narrows an exemption from regulation for public water
systems that sell water to users through a submetered
distribution system, by also requiring that users not be
charged higher rates than users would otherwise be charged
by the public water system.
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Repeals the exemption for noncommunity water systems
serving transient populations from water quality
requirements in the Act.
Revises penalty provisions, including authorizing DPH to
levy penalties per day, per violation, beginning from the
date the violation occurred, rather than from the date
specified for correction in the citation or order.
Makes other technical and clarifying changes.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
analysis, no significant costs associated with this
legislation. However, CDPH could possibly see an increase
in revenue due to an increase in the maximum amounts CDPH
can assess for administrative penalties. The analysis also
states that failure to conform California's safe drinking
water laws to federal law could result in a loss of over
$100 million in federal funding from US EPA.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The author has introduced AB 1194 to conform existing state
statutes to federal laws and regulations on drinking water.
The author contends that as a "primacy state" (a state with
federally designated authority to enforce federal
standards) California's laws and regulations must conform
to the federal SDWA and be no less stringent than federal
safe drinking water regulations. Should California's laws
or regulations fail to conform to federal laws and
regulations, the author asserts that California could lose
state primacy, which is a condition of a state's
eligibility for federal funding, and would result in the
loss of up to $132 million annually from the US EPA. The
author contends that US EPA could reduce or withhold CDPH's
funding for implementing a drinking water primacy program
and for public water system infrastructure improvements,
which would hinder the systems' ability to provide safe
drinking water. In addition, the author contends that the
federal funds are used for DWP activities and a loss of
funding would hinder DWP's ability to carry out its
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regulatory activities.
Federal SDWA
The federal SDWA includes a requirement that US EPA
establish and enforce standards (maximum contaminant
levels, treatment techniques, and monitoring) to which
public drinking water systems must adhere. States and
Indian Tribes are given primary enforcement responsibility,
(also known as primacy) for public water systems in their
jurisdiction if they meet certain requirements. Because
California is a primacy state, the US EPA delegates to
California its authority to implement a drinking water
program, which is administered by CDPH. To retain this
authority, California must enact laws and regulations
related to drinking water that conform to, and are no less
stringent than, the federal SDWA and federal regulations.
CDPH, the sponsor of the bill, argues this bill is
necessary to amend the California SDWA to ensure
conformance with federal law from time to time. CDPH
claims that meetings and correspondence with the US EPA
regarding federal SDWA, US EPA claims that:
Existing state law, which defines "human
consumption," is not broad enough to conform to the
federal provision because it omits cooking, food
preparation, and other such forms of human ingestion
of water.
Existing state law exempts apartments and other
multi-unit dwellings from regulation as public water
systems. US EPA contends that specified sections of
California's drinking water statutes referring to the
exemption criteria lack clarity and are inconsistent
with federal policy. US EPA believes it is more
appropriate to explicitly describe the criteria for
exemption.
Existing state law authorizes CDPH to exempt from
most water quality requirements any system that does
not serve residents, provided that certain
requirements are met, including that the system either
only serves water for hand-washing, or, if it serves
water for other purposes, makes bottled water
available for those purposes. Federal law provides no
similar exemption; therefore, California law in this
area is less stringent than federal law.
Existing state law authorizes penalties against
public water systems of up to $1,000 per day for a
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violation of a primary drinking water standard and
certain health-based secondary standards, but
authorizes a penalty of only $200 per day for other
violations. In some instances, California's SDWA does
not authorize such penalties until CDPH first issues a
citation with a deadline by which the system must come
into compliance, and CDPH finds that the system fails
to meet that deadline. Consequently, a public water
system may avoid paying a penalty for the days on
which it violated applicable laws or regulations by
coming into compliance. Federal law, however,
authorizes a penalty of up to $1,000 per day per
violation that cannot be avoided by coming into
compliance, as allowed under state law. California
law in this area is less stringent than the applicable
federal requirements.
DWP
California's Drinking Water program, within CDPH's Division
of Drinking Water and Environmental Management, is
responsible for the regulatory oversight of about 8,000
public water systems throughout the state, and directly
regulates more than 3,400 large and small public water
systems. According to the Senate Office of Research May
2011 Report, "The Water We Drink: What is California Doing
to Ensure Its Water is Safe?", California has delegated the
drinking water program regulatory authority for some small
water systems to local primary agencies in 33 counties,
which then regulate approximately 4,600 small public water
systems. These small water-system owners may be churches,
schools, restaurants, and hotels.
DWP issues permits to drinking water systems, inspects
water systems, reviews and approves of proposed treatment
facilities, monitors water quality, sets and enforces
drinking water standards and requirements, and administers
and awards infrastructure grants and loans. DWP also
promotes and provides information on drought preparedness
and water conservation; oversees water recycling projects;
certifies residential water treatment devices; certifies
drinking water treatment and distribution operators;
supports and promotes water system security; provides
support for small water systems and for improving
technical, managerial, and financial capacity; and provides
funding opportunities for water system improvements.
Prior legislation
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AB 1540 (Assembly Committee on Health), Chapter 298,
Statutes of 2009, made clarifying changes to provisions
authorizing point-of-use and point-of-entry treatment
devices for the removal of contaminants in public drinking
water in order to conform to federal law, among other
changes.
AB 2507 (Audra Strickland) of 2009 would have required the
local public health officer to establish standards for, and
be the primary enforcement agency over, local small water
systems, as defined. AB 2507 was held in the Assembly
Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee.
AB 783 (Arambula), Chapter 614, Statutes of 2007, required
CDPH, in administering programs to fund improvements and
expansions of small community water systems, to award funds
using specified priorities, and defined "small community
water system" and "disadvantaged community" in California's
Safe Drinking Water Act.
PRIOR ACTIONS
Assembly Health: 17- 0
Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials:9- 0
Assembly Appropriations: 16- 0
Assembly Floor: 78- 0
COMMENTS
1. Clarifying amendment. The author may wish to clarify
the exemption criteria for public water systems in HSC
116280(c).
2. Double Referral. This bill has been double referred to
the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
POSITIONS
Support: California Department of Public Health
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Oppose:None received.
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