BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2594
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Date of Hearing: April 19, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS, AND WILDLIFE
Marc Levine, Chair
AB 2594
(Gordon) - As Amended March 17, 2016
SUBJECT: Stormwater resources: use of captured water
SUMMARY: Permits a public entity that captures stormwater
before the water reaches a natural channel to use the water.
Specifically, this bill: Requires the capture to be in
accordance with a stormwater resource plan.
EXISTING LAW:
1) Authorizes local agencies to develop Stormwater Resource
Plans. Requires Stormwater Resources Plans, to among other
things, be compliant with the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA)
2) Requires the State Water Resources Control Board (State
Water Board) to provide guidance for stormwater resource
planning to identify opportunities for stormwater capture.
3) Recognizes that property owners may capture rainwater
that has not entered any offsite drainage.
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4) The Federal Clean Water Act requires stormwater
discharged to a body of water to receive a National
Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS: This bill permits a public entity that has a
stormwater resource plan, and captures stormwater before it
reaches a natural channel in accordance with that plan, to use
the captured water.
1) Author's statement: Climate change models predict more
frequent storms and more floods in California; at the same
time, our state's infrastructure treats stormwater as a
waste product rather than a natural resource that can help
mitigate drought. The Stormwater Resources Planning Act
encourages local watersheds to develop plans to
beneficially use stormwater. Compliance with a Stormwater
Resource Plan does not entitle public entities to use the
stormwater or to use it for water supply or water quality
purposes. This means that billions of gallons of
relatively clean water flows into the ocean every year.
This bill will make clear that public entities can capture
stormwater and can use it. This will encourage more
stormwater capture and will provide additional options to
finance stormwater systems.
2) Background:
Numerous things have come together over the last several
years to highlight stormwater as a water source opportunity
where it had traditionally been treated as a water quality
problem. The historic drought, reduced reliability of
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imported water, new laws promoting stormwater, and regions
looking to develop local water supply have underscored a
change in how stormwater is viewed.
Statewide, it has been estimated that stormwater capture
could produce 630,000 acre-feet of new water. Much
attention has been paid to how the Los Angeles area could
benefit from greater stormwater capture. It has been
estimated that 30-45 percent of Los Angeles water needs
could be met through stormwater capture, producing over
250,000 acre-feet of new water. For the most part,
infrastructure in coastal cities has been developed to
funnel stormwater to the ocean. 50 percent of the rain
falling in the Los Angeles watershed flows to the ocean.
The Clean Water Act includes stormwater in NPDES
requirements, this dictates cities reduce stormwater
discharges. Cities or regions have a municipal separate
stormwater sewer system (MS4) permit to comply with the
Clean Water Act. Stormwater that winds up in the MS4
system is unused and flushed out to a body of water,
typically the ocean.
There are numerous agencies that could have responsibility
for stormwater capture. Until recently, many of those
agencies viewed managing stormwater as a burden with a
significant cost. That view has changed with many agencies
now wanting to capture stormwater and use it; the big
missing piece to the picture is financing. Implementing
stormwater capture projects will require a very different
approach to stormwater infrastructure as new or
reconfigured infrastructure has a significant price tag.
In Los Angeles that price tag is estimated to be $20
billion over the next 25 years.
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Proposition 1 included $200 million for multibenefit
stormwater management projects and specifically made
rainwater and stormwater capture eligible for funding. In
2004 Los Angeles Measure O authorized $500 million in
general obligation bonds that funded some watershed
improvement projects.
This bill could provide help with the financing challenge
by recognizing that an agency who appropriately captures
stormwater has an entitlement to use that water.
Existing infrastructure, especially MS4s, catch stormwater
that is oftentimes not being used. How stormwater that is
otherwise not being used is identified, quantified and
attributed under this bill is still being developed. There
are stakeholder conversations on how to address these
issues currently underway. The prospect that those
conversations are productive is high. There is clearly a
quantity of stormwater that is not being used today. There
will be a benefit from defining an entitlement to
stormwater. The question remains how to define the scope
of the entitlement that covers all, but not more than, the
stormwater that is currently not being used.
The author may wish to amend the bill to further define the
scope of the entitlement by including compliance, where
appropriate, with an MS4 permit.
3) Prior and Related Legislation:
a) SB 790 (Pavley) Chapter 620, Statues of 2009,
authorized stormwater resource plans.
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b) AB 1750 (Solorio) Chapter 537, Statues of
2012, recognized property owners did not need a water
right to capture rainwater.
c) SB 985 (Pavley) Chapter 555, Statues of 2014,
required the State Water Board to provide guidance for
stormwater resource planning.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on File
Opposition
None on File
Analysis Prepared by:Ryan Ojakian / W., P., & W. / (916)
319-2096
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