BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1130 SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Senator Jerry Hill, Chair 2013-2014 Regular Session BILL NO: SB 1130 AUTHOR: Roth AMENDED: March 26, 2014 FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 2, 2014 URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Rachel Machi Wagoner SUBJECT : DRINKING WATER: COUNTY WATER COMPANY OF RIVERSIDE WATER SYSTEM: LIABILITY SUMMARY : Existing law : 1) Under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), a) Authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to set standards for drinking water quality and to oversee the states, localities and water suppliers who implement those standards. b) Establishes the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program, which authorizes the US EPA to award capitalization grants to states and authorizes the states to, in turn, provide low-cost loans and other types of assistance to public water systems to finance the costs of infrastructure projects needed to achieve or maintain compliance with federal SDWA requirements. 2) Under the California SDWA, a) Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to regulate drinking water and to enforce the federal SDWA and other related regulations. b) Authorizes DPH to delegate regulatory authority for small water systems (fewer than 200 service connections) to local primacy agencies (counties). SB 1130 Page 2 c) Establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SDWSRF) and continuously appropriates the SDWSRF to DPH to provide grants or revolving fund loans for the design and construction of projects for public water systems that will enable suppliers to meet safe drinking water standards. 3) Declares the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. All relevant state agencies, shall consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies, regulations, and criteria are pertinent to the uses of water, as specified. 4) Under the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, provides for the formation of municipal water districts, grants to those districts specified powers and permits a district to acquire, control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recycle, recapture, and salvage any water for the beneficial use of the district, its inhabitants, or the owners of rights to water in the district. This bill : 1) Exempts the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD), the Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), the Western Municipal Water District, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from liability, as prescribed, for claims by past or existing County Water Company of Riverside customers or those who consumed water provided through the County Water Company of Riverside water system prior to and during the interim operation period, as specified. 2) Prohibits the immunity from liability from being construed SB 1130 Page 3 either to relieve any water district, water wholesaler, or any other entity from compliance with drinking water standards, impair any cause of action or proceeding brought by specified public entities, or to extend to claims alleging the taking of property without compensation. 3) Requires the interim operation period to last until permanent replacement facilities are accepted by the EVMWD and the EMWD with the concurrence of DPH, or December 31, 2015, whichever occurs first. 4) Requires DPH to extend the interim operation period for up to 3 successive one-year periods at the request of the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and the Eastern Municipal Water District, as prescribed. COMMENTS : 1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, this bill would allow the public agencies of EMWD and EVMWD to extend water service and provide the necessary assistance to the 140 service connections currently being served by the County Water Company of Riverside, without being held liable for past administrative or operational deficiencies of the existing water system, including litigation costs. 2) Background . The County Water Company of Riverside, a small privately owned, non-mutual water company, currently owns a well which is the sole water supply serving 140 homes in western Riverside County. This well is operationally unreliable and fails to meet state drinking water standards. It is also functionally unable to provide emergency life-saving fire flows if needed. On several occasions this well has been totally unable to pump water, leaving residents without a supply of piped water for extended periods of time. Residents within the County Water Company system have been placed in the situation wherein the water they drink, cook, and bathe in comes from a roadside tanker or bottles purchased from the store. Neighboring public water providers have stepped up to SB 1130 Page 4 provide customers of the County Water Company with emergency water service until a long-term solution can be established. However, interim assistance and the development of temporary solutions can open the existing public agencies up to liabilities stemming from past actions of the County Water Company. Riverside County health officials have asked two adjacent local water agencies for assistance in providing both short-term and long-term solutions to the health and safety risks the residents face as a result of this failing water system. Such assistance comes with the risk of liability and potential costs to the existing ratepayers of the agencies offering assistance. In an effort to protect existing public water agency customers, while working to secure the health and safety of the County Water Company of Riverside residents, EMWD and EVMWD are seeking to establish a narrowly crafted bill that would provide legal protections that would allow the public agencies to move forward with assisting those families in crisis. 3) While this bill is narrowly drafted to address immediate and urgent needs of a small community in Riverside County, the case of the County Water Company of Riverside raises several questions: a) How many small, private or mutual water companies are there in California that are not in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act and are delivering unsafe drinking water? b) How long have these residents or residents in other small water systems been receiving unsafe water? c) Why has the state DPH or County of Riverside DPH allowed this system to continue delivering water and collecting fees for delivering undrinkable water for as long as they have? The Senate Environmental Quality Committee has had informational and legislative hearings to discuss some of the deficiencies that exist in the delivery of clean, safe drinking water in California. This case is an illustration SB 1130 Page 5 of where the state and local public health officials have failed. 4) Double Referral to Senate Judiciary Committee . This bill primarily relates to issues of liability relief for the two water districts, which will be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. If this measure is approved by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, the do pass motion must include the action to re-refer the bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee. SOURCE : Eastern Municipal Water District Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District SUPPORT : California Special Districts Association County of Riverside OPPOSITION : None on file