BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 803| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: AB 803 Author: Gomez (D), et al. Amended: 8/12/13 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 9-0, 7/3/13 AYES: Hill, Gaines, Calderon, Corbett, Fuller, Hancock, Jackson, Leno, Pavley SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/29/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Water Recycling Act of 2013 SOURCE : WateReuse DIGEST : This bill modifies the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCBs) regulation of recycled water. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Pursuant to the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Porter-Cologne Act), SWRCB has the authority over State water rights and water quality policy. Establishes eight RWQCBs to oversee water quality on a day-to-day basis at the CONTINUED AB 803 Page 2 local and regional level. 2. Requires, under Porter-Cologne Act, that tertiary treated recycled water is only reportable at 50,000 gallons or more and that recycled water that is treated to less than a tertiary level is reportable at 1,000 gallons. 3. Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to enforce laws and regulations related to drinking water safety. 4. Requires DPH to establish uniform statewide recycling criteria for each type of use of recycled water use. 5. Requires any person proposing to discharge waste within any region to file a report of waste discharge with the appropriate RWQCB. No discharge may take place until the RWQCB issues waste discharge requirements or a waiver of the waste discharge requirements. This bill: 1. Designates this act as the Water Recycling Act of 2013. 2. Authorizes the use of recycled water in cemeteries hose bibs. 3. Requires a cemetery supplied with disinfected tertiary recycled water that installs a hose bib in a public access area to post visible signage and labeling indicating that the water is nonpotable. 4. Authorizes compliance with effluent limitations and any other permit or waste discharge requirements for the release or discharge of recycled water determined to be suitable for direct potable reuse or surface water augmentation into a conveyance facility to be determined at the point where the recycled water enters the conveyance facility but prior to commingling with any raw water. 5. Requires, before a discharge may be allowed, consent be obtained from the owner or operator of the conveyance facility that directly receives the recycled water. 6. Provides that raw water means surface or groundwater in its naturally occurring state prior to treatment. CONTINUED AB 803 Page 3 Background City of San Diego project . The City of San Diego is currently considering the final phase of the water reuse program which is the construction of a full-scale advanced water treatment plant and transmission pipeline. According to the City, the treatment plant would take recycled water (acceptable for irrigation and industrial applications) from the North City Water Reclamation Plant and apply additional treatment to produce high quality advanced treated water. A 22-mile pipeline would then transport this advanced treated recycled water to San Vicente Reservoir, where it would blend with imported untreated water and reside for several months prior to being sent to water treatment plants for additional treatment and distribution as potable water. Chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) . SWRCB adopted a Recycled Water Policy in February 2009, which is intended to provide permitting clarity for recycled water projects. One challenge in developing that policy was how to address new classes of chemicals, such as pharmaceuticals, current use pesticides, and industrial chemicals, collectively referred to as CECs. Many CECs are potentially present in recycled water, but the detection of many of these chemicals is so recent that robust methods for their quantification and toxicological data for interpreting potential human or ecosystem health effects are unavailable. Requires recycled water to meet standards approved by DPH for the purposes of discharge into a conveyance facility. There is currently not a specific DPH standard or process for approving recycled water, nor does DPH or SWRCB law, regulation or policy regarding discharge of the recycled water contemplate different standards for different types of recycled water. Creating this new term in statute would conflict with the existing policy and statutory framework regarding recycled water. SB 918 (Pavley, Chapter 700, Statutes of 2010) requires DPH to develop uniform criteria for indirect reuse of recycled water and consider direct reuse of recycled water. Because SB 918 did not contemplate different types of recycled water, by inserting a new term for a type of recycled water potentially conflicts with the criteria DPH is developing and thereby may impact the CONTINUED AB 803 Page 4 ability to implement that criteria. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/16/13) WateReuse (source) Association of California Water Agencies Burbank Water and Power California Association of Sanitation Agencies California Coastkeeper Alliance California Municipal Utilities Association California State Pipe Trades Council California Water Association Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Contra Costa Water District Desert Water Agency Dublin San Ramon Services District East Bay Municipal Utility District Irvine Ranch Water District Keith Caldwell, Napa County Supervisor Las Virgenes-Triunfo Joint Powers Authority Metropolitan Water District of Southern California North Bay Water Reuse Program Novato Sanitary District Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District San Diego County Water Authority San Gabriel Valley Water Association Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "This bill will remove barriers to the increased use of recycled water and ensure protection of public health and safety by aligning existing provisions in law to reduce unnecessary paperwork that results from the reporting of incidental run-off from recycled water projects. The bill clarifies existing Regional Water Quality Control Board authority to permit [recycled water] projects at the point where the highly treated water exits the treatment plant and enters a conveyance facility. In the case of the City of San Diego, the permitting approach acknowledged in the bill will avoid the cost and environmental impact of a $220 million pipeline." CONTINUED AB 803 Page 5 Additionally, the author's office states, that currently, cemetery operators who wish to provide hose bibs for use by visitors to fill flower vases at their sites either: (1) install at considerable cost, a parallel potable water distribution system on-site to a significant number of hose bibs, or (2) forego the use of recycled water and continue the wasteful use of potable water for irrigation. This bill will require signage to ensure recycled water is not used for potable purposes. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/29/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Holden, Linder, Vacancy RM:k 8/20/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED