BILL NUMBER: SB 607	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 27, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 24, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Walters
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Harkey)

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

   An act to add Section  13148.5   13170.3
 to the Water Code, relating to water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 607, as amended, Walters. State Water Resources Control Board:
water quality: brackish groundwater treatment.
   Under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State
Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water
quality control boards are the principal state agencies with
responsibility for the coordination and control of water quality in
the state. The act requires the state board to formulate and adopt
state policies for water quality control,  and requires the
regional boards to adopt regional water quality control plans in
compliance with the state policies.   and to formulate
and adopt, and review at least every 3 years, a water quality control
plan for the ocean waters of the state known as the California Ocean
Plan.  
   This bill would require the state board, on or before January 1,
2013, to either amend the California Ocean Plan, or adopt separate
standards, to address water quality objectives and effluent
limitations that are specifically appropriate for brackish
groundwater treatment system facilities that produce municipal water
supplies for local use.  
   This bill would require the state board, on or before December 1,
2012, to adopt a statewide policy establishing water quality
standards applicable to the discharge of wastewater resulting from
the treatment of brackish groundwater for potable use. The bill would
require the state board, in establishing those standards, to comply
with various requirements related to brackish groundwater treatment,
including a requirement to establish waste discharge permit
requirements applicable to brackish groundwater treatment projects,
as specified. 
   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.    Section 13170.3 is added to the 
 Water Code   , to read:  
   13170.3.  On or before January 1, 2013, the state board shall
either amend the California Ocean Plan, or adopt separate standards,
to address water quality objectives and effluent limitations that are
specifically appropriate to brackish groundwater treatment system
facilities that produce municipal water supplies for local use. 

  SECTION 1.    Section 13148.5 is added to the
Water Code, to read:
   13148.5.  (a) On or before December 1, 2012, the state board,
after consultation and collaboration with the department, shall adopt
a statewide policy establishing statewide water quality standards
applicable to the discharge of wastewater resulting from the
treatment of brackish groundwater for potable use. In establishing
those standards, the state board shall do all of the following:
   (1) Consider statewide goals of improving water supplies from
local sources.
   (2) Eliminate impediments to ocean disposal of brine discharges
from brackish groundwater treatment systems.
   (3) Establish waste discharge permit requirements applicable to
brackish groundwater treatment projects that recognize site-specific
conditions and unique project needs to minimize unduly burdensome
costs of the development and use of local water sources.
   (4) Require that the regional boards act consistently in
establishing the technical basis for, and the water quality benefit
to be achieved from, water quality requirements applicable to
brackish groundwater treatment systems, and to establish that there
is a direct connection between the requirement and the benefit.
   (5) Establish a procedure to allow operators of brackish
groundwater treatment facilities to appeal a waste discharge permit
determination that is inconsistent with statewide water quality
standards adopted pursuant to this section, to the state board within
one year after the appeal is filed.
   (b) The policy and standards established pursuant to this section
shall be consistent with the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Sec.
1251 et seq.).