BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2124
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Date of Hearing: April 12, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 2124
(E. Garcia and Lackey) - As Amended April 5, 2016
SUBJECT: State Water Resources Control Board: grant program
for school drinking water
SUMMARY: Appropriates ten million dollars ($10,000,000) from
the General Fund to the State Water Resources Control Board
(State Water Board) for allocation to local educational agencies
as grants to improve access to, and the quality of, drinking
water at public elementary and secondary schools.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the State Water Board to establish a grant program to
award grants to public elementary and secondary schools to
improve access to, and the quality of, drinking water.
2)Authorizes the State Water Board to award grants for projects
including, but not necessarily limited to, any of the
following:
a) Installation of water bottle filling stations;
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b) Installation or replacement of drinking water fountains
with devices that are capable of removing any contaminants
that are present in the school's water supply;
c) Installation of point-of-entry or point-of-use treatment
devices; and,
d) Plumbing repairs that improve drinking water quality.
3)Requires the State Water Board to implement the grant program
by taking actions including, but not necessarily limited to,
the development of procedures for the submission of
applications for grants by local educational agencies and
criteria for the evaluation of these applications. Exempts
these actions from statutory rulemaking requirements.
4)Requires the State Water Board, in developing the procedure
for awarding grants, to do each of the following:
(A) Establish a set-aside fund for rural areas of not less
than 30%;
(B) Establish a maximum grant amount; and,
(C) Give priority to each the following:
i) Applicants that serve a disadvantaged community;
and,
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ii) Applicants with known violations of primary drinking
water standards.
7)Authorizes the State Water Board, in developing the procedure
for awarding grants, to do either of the following, except for
applicants that serve disadvantaged communities:
a) Give extra consideration to applicants that commit
additional resources to the project; and,
b) Require applicants to commit additional resources to a
project.
1)Appropriates $10,000,000, without regard to fiscal years, from
the General Fund to the State Water Board for allocation to
local educational agencies as grants to improve access to, and
the quality of, drinking water at public elementary and
secondary schools.
2)Provides that the funds allocated to local educational
agencies as part of the grant program shall supplement, and
not supplant, the other state funds apportioned to these local
educational agencies for their support.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires, pursuant to the federal "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids
Act of 2010," schools participating in the National School
Lunch Program (NSLP) to provide free drinking water where
reimbursable meals are served during the meal period. (42
U.S. Code § 1758)
2)Requires school districts to provide access to free, fresh
drinking water during meal times in school food service areas,
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unless the governing board of a school district adopts a
resolution stating it is unable to comply with this
requirement due to fiscal constraints or health and safety
concerns. Provides that a school district may comply with the
drinking water provision requirement by, among other means,
providing cups and containers of water or soliciting or
receiving donated bottled water. (Education Code § 38086)
3)Establishes as 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. (Water Code (WC) § 106.3)
4)Defines "disadvantaged community" as a community with an
annual median household income that is less than 80 percent of
the statewide annual median household income. (WC §
10608.12(f))
5)Defines "small disadvantaged community" as a municipality with
a population of 20,000 persons or less, or a reasonably
isolated and divisible segment of a larger municipality
encompassing 20,000 persons or less, with an annual median
household income that is less than 80 percent of the statewide
annual median household income. (WC § 13193.9 (c))
6)Establishes the California Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and
requires the State Water Board to maintain a drinking water
program (Health & Safety Code (HSC) § 116270, et seq.)
7)Requires the State Water Board to establish primary drinking
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water standards (maximum contaminant levels, or MCLs) that are
not less stringent than the national primary drinking water
standards adopted by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency and that are set at a level as close to the
public health goal as is technologically and economically
feasible, placing primary emphasis on the protection of public
health. (HSC §116365(a))
8)Requires the State Water Board to adopt emergency regulations
for permitting the use of point-of-entry (POE) and
point-of-use (POU) water treatment in lieu of centralized
treatment for public water systems that that have less than
200 service connections; for which usage is allowed under the
federal SDWA; and that have pre-applied for funding to correct
the MCL violations for which POE and POU treatment is
provided. (HSC § 116380)
9)Requires a school or school system, if it has been notified by
the public water system of any noncompliance with primary
drinking water standards, including detection of a contaminant
found in drinking water delivered by the public water system
for human consumption that is in excess of a MCL, to notify
school employees, students and parents if the students are
minors. (HSC§ 116450 (g))
10)Establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to
provide financial assistance for community water systems to
achieve compliance with the SWDA. (HSC §116760.30)
11)Allocates $19 million from the State Water Board's Cleanup
and Abatement Account to meet interim emergency drinking water
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needs. (Item 3940-101-0679 and 3940-102-0679, Section 2.00 of
the Budget Act of 2014)
12)Allocates, pursuant to the Water Quality, Supply, and
Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1), which
was approved by the voters on November 4, 2014, $260,000,000
for grants and loans for public water system infrastructure
improvements and related actions to meet safe drinking water
standards, ensure affordable drinking water, or both.
Requires that priority is given to projects that provide
treatment for contamination or access to an alternate drinking
water source or sources for small community water systems or
state small water systems in disadvantaged communities whose
drinking water source is impaired by chemical and nitrate
contaminants and other health hazards identified by the State
Water Board. (WC § 79724. (a)(1))
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill: According to the author,
"An estimated 25% of California schools do not provide
free, fresh drinking water to students at meal times every
day; despite state and federal laws that require it. Even
worse, according to the most recent state survey, nearly
500 small community water systems and schools haven't
supplied safe drinking water to their communities and
schoolchildren for years, or even decades. We know these
numbers underestimate the problem, because no state agency
regularly maps this data.
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Adequate water consumption is critical to basic health. If
children and youth do not drink water, they often drink
sugary beverages instead which can lead to diseases like
type-2 diabetes and childhood obesity. There also is
correlation between educational achievement and hydration.
Without water learning is impaired. However, if the
available water is contaminated, children should not drink
it. Contaminated water is associated with cancer, impaired
development, cardiovascular disease, neurotoxicity and
diabetes.
State and federal laws require that schools provide access
to drinking water at school during meal times. But schools
that are just beginning to recover from the recession don't
have the resources to install fountains or water bottle
filling stations to deliver reliable water to students.
Instead many are struggling to meet this important mandate
by providing stopgap measures such as bottled water to
students only during lunch time. Students drink less
water, schools spend more and it adds to our overburdened
waste streams.
AB 2124 will implement the development of a grant program
that would award $10 million to improve access and the
quality of drinking water in California schools."
Drinking water contamination in disadvantaged communities.
According to the State Water Board report, "Communities that
Rely on Contaminated Groundwater," released in January 2013, 682
community public water systems, which serve nearly 21 million
people, rely on contaminated groundwater as a primary source of
drinking water. The report points out that an additional two
million Californians rely on groundwater from either a private
domestic well or a smaller groundwater-reliant system that is
not regulated by the state, the water quality of which is
uncertain. The findings from State Water Board report, and a
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2012 UC Davis study, "Addressing Nitrate in California's
Drinking Water," suggest that drinking water contamination in
California disproportionally affects small, rural and low-income
communities that depend mostly on groundwater as their drinking
water source.
The recent drought has further compromised the state's drinking
water supplies. Since many rural households rely on shallow
domestic wells or small, poorly funded community water supply
systems, they have been hardest hit. According to the Public
Policy Institute of California (PPIC), as of early July 2015,
more than 2,000 dry domestic wells were reported, mostly in the
Central Valley and Sierras, with more than half in Tulare
County. Emergency water supply needs have also been identified
for more than 100 small water community water systems around the
state.
Drinking water contamination in schools: Schools have also
faced challenges in providing safe drinking water. The
Community Water Center, in partnership with researchers at
Stanford University and California State University, Stanislaus,
is currently assessing the prevalence of unsafe water in
California public schools. Preliminary results of their
assessment suggest that an estimated 813 - 1,522 schools in
California experienced at least one MCL violation between
2003-2014, with an estimated 336-534 schools experiencing at
least one MCL violation in two or more years during the same
time period. The assessment suggests that arsenic,
dibromochloropropanes, trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, and
nitrates were the most commonly occurring school water
contaminants during 2003 - 2014, excluding bacterial
contaminants. The study found that schools on their own
nontransient, noncommunity water systems appear to be impacted
by unsafe drinking water at a higher rate than schools on larger
public community water systems. The study suggests that 42% -
48% of schools that have experienced a MCL violation are in
disadvantaged communities (as determined by the top 25% of
census tracts identified using the California Communities
Environmental Health Screening Tool (CalEnviroScreen 2.0).
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Safe drinking water provision in schools: Last year, the
California Endowment launched Agua4All, a pilot project, in
partnership with the nonprofit organizations Rural Community
Assistance Corporation (RCAC), Community Water Center and Pueblo
Unido CDC. One of the goals of Agua4All is to install water
taps in communities that lack access to safe drinking water.
Agua4All has installed 75 water stations in the eastern
Coachella Valley, and 71 water stations and 86 point-of-use
filters in South Kern County. According to RCAC, now more than
25,000 students have access to safe drinking water that didn't
before. RCAC notes that the point-of-use filtration systems
installed on water taps through the Agua4All program were funded
by funds allocated from the State Water Board's Clean Up and
Abatement Account.
The goal of this bill is to build on this local program by
creating a funded grant program with statewide eligibility to
provide access to safe drinking water in schools. Based on
their experience in implementing Agua4All, RCAC explains that
each tap, such as a water bottle filling station or other place
where people can access safe drinking water, costs about $5000
per tap, including point-of-use filtration. Each tap serves an
average of 200 students. Taking into account those costs and
the number of students served per tap, supporters estimate that
the $10 million appropriation in this bill, adjusting for the
costs of the administration of the program, could provide safe
drinking water at schools for a little less than 400,000
students.
Recent actions to address drinking water needs: In December
2013, Governor Brown established an interagency drought response
team to coordinate drought relief efforts, and in January 2014,
he declared a statewide drought emergency. According to the
PPIC, the state has recently significantly improved its
emergency response for communities lacking drinking water. The
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multiple agencies involved have strengthened coordination to
identify needs and deliver help.
In light of increasing drinking water system failures
exasperated by the drought, both the Legislature and the
Governor have taken many steps to provide funding for drought
relief, including funding for the provision of safe drinking
water. For example, Proposition 1 authorized $7.545 billion in
general obligation bonds for water projects, including surface
and groundwater storage; ecosystem and watershed protection and
restoration; and, drinking water protection. Proposition 1
allocates $260 million for drinking water grants and loans for
public water system infrastructure improvements and related
actions to meet safe drinking water standards, ensure affordable
drinking water, or both. As of February 1, 2016, about $9
million of this allocation was awarded.
Additionally, on March 27, 2015, Governor Brown approved a $1
billion emergency drought relief package when he signed AB 91
(Committee on Budget, Chapter 1, Statutes of 2015) and AB 92
(Committee on Budget, Chapter 2, Statutes of 2015). As a result
of the Governor's action, the State Water Board approved $19
million in funding from the Cleanup and Abatement Account to
meet interim emergency drinking water needs for those
communities with a contaminated water supply or which suffer
drought related water outages or threatened emergencies. In an
effort to distribute funds as quickly and efficiently as
possible, the State Water Board is coordinating with the
Regional Water Quality Control Boards, the State Water Board's
Division of Drinking Water district offices, the Office of
Emergency Services, Department of Water Resources, and other
stakeholders (e.g., environmental justice groups, community
assistance groups) to identify those communities that are most
at risk and require financial assistance. Approximately $11
million of this funding source has been committed or spent.
While these recent allocations have funded beneficial drinking
water projects, it does not appear that any funding sources
specifically provide funding opportunities for improved access
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to safe drinking water in schools.
Double referral: This bill has been double referred. Should
this bill pass the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
Committee, it will be referred to the Committee on Education.
Committee amendments: The Committee may wish to amend the bill
as follows:
1)To clarify that the grants provided under the new grant
program will provide students with access to safe drinking
water, and not just improved drinking water, amend the bill,
on page 3, line 4 - 6, as follows:
The board shall establish a grant program to award grants
to public elementary and secondary schools to improve
access to, and the quality of, drinking water at those
schools . The board may award grants under this section for
projects that will provide students and school staff with
access to safe drinking water, including, but not
necessarily limited to, any of the following:
2)To provide further clarity to the grant priorities, amend the
section of the bill, beginning on page 3, starting on line 22:
(c)(1)In developing the procedure for awarding grants, the
board shall do each of the following:
(A) Establish a set-aside fund for rural areas of not
less than 30%;
(B) Establish a maximum grant amount;
(C) Set requirements for each recipient to adopt a
program for inspecting and maintaining any water
treatment device funded by the grant;
(D) Give priority to each the following:
i. Applicants that serve a very small
disadvantaged community, as that term is defined in
Section 79505.5; and,
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ii. Applicants with known violations of primary
drinking water standards that are served by public
water systems that the State Water Board finds
consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of
safe drinking water.
(2) (A) In developing the procedure for awarding grants,
the board may do either of the following:, encourage
applicants to commit additional resources to the project,
except matching funds shall not be required for districts
serving very small disadvantaged communities and shall not
interfere with the prioritization of grant funding awarded
to very small disadvantaged communities .
i. Give extra consideration to applicants that
commit additional resources to the project; and,
ii. Require applicants to commit additional
resources to a project.
(B) The authority provided to the board pursuant to
subparagraph (A) does not apply to applicants that serve
disadvantaged communities .
(3) For the purposes of this section, "Very Small
Disadvantaged Community" means a municipality with a
population of 10,000 persons or less, or a reasonably
isolated and divisible segment of a larger municipality
encompassing 10,000 persons or less, with an annual median
household income that is less than 80 percent of the
statewide annual median household income.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Food Policy Advocates
Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC)
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965