BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1738
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1738 (McCarty) - As Amended March 28, 2016
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|Committee: |Materials | | |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Department of Housing and Community
Development (HCD) to develop building standards for the
construction, installation, and alteration of dark graywater
systems. Specifically, this bill:
AB 1738
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1)Defines "dark graywater" as including untreated wastewater
from kitchen sinks or dishwashers that has not been
contaminated by any toilet discharge, has not been affected by
infectious, contaminated, or unhealthy bodily wastes, and does
not present a threat from contamination by unhealthful
processing, manufacturing, or operating wastes.
2)Requires HCD, at the next triennial building standards
rulemaking cycle, to develop and submit for approval, building
standards for the construction, installation, and alteration
of dark graywater systems for indoor and outdoor uses.
3)Requires HCD, at the next triennial building standards
rulemaking cycle, to add the consideration of dark graywater
regulation to existing requirements for graywater regulation.
4)Requires HCD to consult with the State Water Resources Control
Board (SWRCB) when developing building standards for dark
graywater.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Increased staffing and overhead costs of $145,000 (GF) for HCD
to develop dark greywater building standards over an 18-month
period.
2)Potential future costs of $500,000 (GF) to prepare an
Environmental Impact Report (EIR)if the Governor's emergency
order providing a CEQA exemption for drought-related
activities is not extended beyond 2020, and the regulations
developed for the triennial code adoption cycle are legally
challenged.
3)Increased cost in the $140,000 range (GF) for SWRCB to advise
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HCD on the development of the dark graywater building
standards.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, because the current
definition of graywater does not include water from kitchen
sinks and dishwashers, that water cannot be recycled for
on-site use. This bill will create a regulatory framework to
allow for the issuance of permits for graywater systems that
recycle water from kitchens.
2)Background. Under California law, graywater includes
wastewater from bathtubs, showers, bathroom washbasins,
clothes washing machines, and laundry tubs. Under current
law, both dark graywater and blackwater (toilet wastewater)
must be conveyed to and treated by centralized wastewater
treatment plants. Only graywater can be treated on-site for
non-potable usage.
The recycling and reuse of graywater can create health risks,
such as a potential exposure to
pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Exposure to graywater can
occur both through direct
contact and through exposure to graywater-contaminated irrigated
landscaping, crops, or
groundwater. Because dark graywater can contain chemicals from
dishwashing detergents, food
particles, oils, fats, grease, pathogens from meat preparation,
and even, as some studies have
shown, concentrations of fecal coliform similar to toilet water,
it can be considered a
high-risk wastewater. For this reason, it is important that
robust regulations with strong
public health and environmental protections are promulgated for
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the reuse of graywater and dark
graywater.
To ensure health and safety, the author may wish to expand the
role of SWRCB in
developing the regulations.
3)Graywater regulation in California. In 2008, California
revised its approach to graywater regulation by enacting SB
1258 (Lowenthal, Chapter 172, Statutes of 2008), the "Showers
to Flowers" bill, which shifted responsibility for regulating
residential graywater use from the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) to HCD. SB 1258 required HCD to revise
building standards for the construction, installation, and
alteration of graywater systems for indoor and outdoor uses.
The goal of the bill was to facilitate and encourage safe
graywater systems in California.
HCD promulgated the new residential graywater standard,
incorporated into the 2007 California
Plumbing Code (Title 24, Part 5, Chapter 16A). According to the
HCD, the regulations
were developed with input from stakeholders representing a wide
variety of interests
during several public meetings, with several drafts for public
comment. Toward the end of the
development of the regulations, the HDC made a decision to
propose the graywater
standards on an emergency basis in order to allow the
regulations to become effective
approximately 18 months sooner than they would have been through
the standard adoption
process.
This bill adds dark graywater to the existing regulatory
framework for graywater.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916) 319-2081