BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1463
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
AB 1463
(Gatto) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Onsite recycled water
SUMMARY: Requires that the State Water Resources Control Board
(State Water Board), in consultation with the State Department
of Public Health (DPH), the California Building Standards
Commission, and stakeholders, develop standards that are
protective of public health, safety, and the environment for
reusing graywater, rainwater, and other water at the same
location that it is captured, also called onsite water reuse.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act
giving authority to the State Water Board over state water
rights and water quality policy.
2)Designates the State Water Board with the primacy to enforce
federal and state safe drinking-water acts and regulatory
responsibility for oversight of 8,000 public water systems
throughout the state.
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3)Defines "recycled water" as "water which, as a result of
treatment of waste, is suitable for a direct beneficial use or
a controlled use that would not otherwise occur and is
therefore considered a valuable resource."
4)Establishes the Water Recycling Act of 1991, creating a
statewide goal to recycle a total of 700,000 acre-feet of
water per year by the year 2000 and 1,000,000 acre-feet of
water per year by the year 2010. The State Water Board
updated these goals to 1,000,000 acre feet per year above 2002
levels by 2020 and by at least 2,000,000 acre feet per year by
2030.
5)Required DPH to establish uniform statewide recycling criteria
for each type of use of recycled water use, as specified.
These duties transitioned to the State Water Board on July 1,
2014.
6)Required DPH to: (1) adopt regulations regarding groundwater
replenishment with recycled water; (2) adopt regulations
regarding surface water augmentation with recycled water; and,
(3) report to the Legislature on the feasibility of developing
uniform water recycling criteria for direct potable reuse.
These duties transitioned to the State Water Board on July 1,
2014.
7)Required the State Water Board adopt a general permit for
landscape irrigation use of recycled water.
8)Requires each urban water supplier to prepare, and update
every five years, an urban water management plan with
specified components, including information on recycled water
and its potential for use as a water source in the service
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area of the urban water supplier.
9)Authorizes the Building Standards Commission (BSC) to approve
and adopt building standards. Every three years building
standards rulemaking is undertaken to revise and update the
California Building Standards Code. (Title 24 of the
California Code of Regulations).
10)Allows the use of recycled water in condominium projects
subject to specified conditions, including a requirement that
the agency delivering the recycled water to the condominium
project file a report with the appropriate regional water
quality control board, etc.
11)Allows a public agency to require the use of recycled water
in floor trap priming, cooling towers and air-conditioning
devices when public health is adequately protected as
specified.
12)Establishes, in the California Plumbing Code, design
standards for plumbing buildings with both potable and
recycled water systems. These statewide standards apply for
installing both potable and recycled water plumbing systems in
commercial, retail, and office buildings, theaters,
auditoriums, condominiums, schools, hotels, apartments,
barracks, dormitories, jails, prisons, and reformatories.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: This bill requires the State Water Board to spearhead
a process for the development of standards that will encourage
the safe use of onsite water.
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California is now experiencing its fourth consecutive year of
drought. On April 1, 2015 Governor Jerry Brown issued Executive
Order B-29-15 with 31 directives intended to help California
respond to the drought State of Emergency. Directive 17 is for
the California Energy Commission, the Department of Water
Resources, and the State Water Board to deploy an innovative
Water Energy Technology (WET) program for businesses, residents,
industries and agriculture by accelerating the use of
cutting-edge technologies. The Governor includes among those
technologies "integrated on-site reuse systems."
Supporting arguments: The author states that this bill is
needed because water conservation and water-use efficiency
cannot be overstated as "California faces the fourth year of the
worst drought in 1000 years." The author adds that despite
incredibly dire conditions, water continues to be wasted through
the state and there are existing opportunities to conserve water
and use it more efficiently, including increasing the use of
recycled water. Other supporters add that this bill is a
"worthy successor to last year's AB 2282 'purple pipe'
legislation" and "seeks to clear barriers to responsible onsite
water recycling." Supporters add that this bill will help
California to "keep making a better, more sustainable 'New
Normal'" by "putting fresh, potable water to its best use and
employing 'near potable' recycled water for other uses."
Supporters state this bill will "spark a transformation in how
well buildings use water, and will literally create the basic
plumbing or a new generation of innovative filtration and
storage projects."
Related legislation
AB 2282 (Gatto), Chapter 606, Statutes of 2014, required the
Department of Housing and Community Development, in consultation
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with other designated entities, to conduct research to assist in
the development, and submission for adoption, of mandatory
building standards for the installation of recycled water
systems for newly-constructed single-family and multifamily
residential buildings.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Coastal Protection Network
California League of Conservation Voters
Nexus eWater
Sierra Club California
Surfrider Foundation
Tree People
U.S. Green Building Council California
West Marin Environmental Action Committee
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Wholly H2O
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916)
319-2096