BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2071
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Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2071 (Levine) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
Policy Committee: Water, Parks and
Wildlife Vote: 15-0
Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Public Health (DPH), in
consultation the Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA), to
determine if disinfected tertiary treated recycled water may be
safely used to water pasture animals. If DPH determines this
water use would harm public or animal health, this bill requires
DPH to establish uniformed statewide recycling criteria for this
water use. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires DPH to consider the recommendations from several
sources, when evaluating the use of tertiary treated water
including:
a) The State of California Constituents of Emerging Concern
Recycled Water Policy Science Advisory Panel.
b) State-funded research on recycling.
c) Research by the State Water Resources Control Board
(State Water Board) regarding unregulated pollutants.
2)Requires the completion of the regulations for pasture animals
by December 31, 2016.
3)Prohibits the use of recycled water as a water supply for
dairy animals and provided that recycled water is optional for
all other pasture uses.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Increased GF costs to DPH of about $200,000 to convene a panel
of experts
AB 2071
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2)Unknown potential research costs if DPH determines available
data on the effects of recycled water usage by pasture animals
is not sufficient to make the determination.
3)Minor, absorbable costs for DFA to provide consultation.
It is likely DPH would convene an expert panel to examine this
issue, similar to the Potable Reuse expert panel. This process
required a contract with an outside agency to oversee and
administer the panel.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose. According to the author, there is currently
regulatory uncertainty about the use of tertiary treated
recycled water for livestock watering. This bill establishes
a health standard for the use of tertiary recycled water for
livestock watering to allow for the use.
2)Background. Tertiary treated recycled water is wastewater
that has been filtered and disinfected and meets bacterial
content requirement. This bill does not apply to the water
used for consumption by pasture animals, but only watering
them.
A panel of experts recently completed an analysis of the risks
associated with the use of treated waste water on livestock in
California, ( Risks and Benefits of Tertiary Sewage Effluent as
Drinking Water for Livestock in California - February 2014 ).
The experts considered whether tertiary treated recycled water
presented an elevated or unacceptable level of risk relative
to other available livestock watering sources. The report,
prepared at the request of the WateReuse Association,
concluded that using tertiary treated recycled water as a
temporary water source during a drought emergency was a
minimal risk in almost all cases and certainly a better
alternative than losing animals due to lack of water.
AB 2071
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Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081