Amended in Assembly July 7, 2015

Amended in Senate April 16, 2015

Amended in Senate April 7, 2015

Senate Bill No. 555

Introduced by Senator Wolk

(Coauthor: Senator Pavley)

February 26, 2015

An act to add Section 10608.34 to the Water Code, relating to water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 555, as amended, Wolk. Urban retail water suppliers: water loss management.

Existing law requires the state to achieve a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use in California by December 31, 2020, and requires the state to make incremental progress towards this goal by reducing per capita water use by at least 10% on or before December 31, 2015. Existing law requires each urban retail water supplier to develop urban water use targets and an interim urban water use target, in accordance with specified requirements.

This bill would require each urban retail water supplier, on or before July 1, 2017, and annually each year thereafter, to submit a completed and validated water loss audit report for the previous calendar year as prescribed by rules adopted by the Department of Water Resources on or before January 1, 2017, and updated as provided. The bill would require the department to post all validated water loss audit reports on its Internet Web site in a manner that allows for comparisons across water suppliers and to make these reports available for public viewing. This bill would require the department to provide technical assistance to guide urban retail water suppliers’ water loss detection programs. The bill would require the begin delete department, in consultation with the end delete State Water Resources Control Board, begin delete to develop metrics for reporting year-over-year progress on water loss reduction and would require the board end delete begin insert no earlier than January 1, 2019, and no later than July 1, 2020, end insert to adopt rules requiring urban retail water suppliers to meet performance standards for the volume of water losses. begin insert This bill would require the board to contribute up to $400,000 towards the department’s costs incurred in performing validations of water loss audit reports during the period beginning on July 1, 2016, and ending on or before July 1, 2017. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 10608.34 is added to the Water Code, to
read:

10608.34.  

(a) (1) On or before January 1, 2017, the department
shall adopt rules for all of the following:

(A) The conduct of standardized water loss audits by urban
retail water suppliers in accordance with the method adopted by
the American Water Works Association in the third edition of
Water Audits and Loss Control Programs, Manual M36 and in the
Free Water Audit Software, version 5.0.

(B) The process for validating a water loss audit report prior to
submitting the report to the department. begin insert For the purposes of this
section, “validating” is a process whereby a technical expert
engages with an urban retail water supplier to confirm the basis
of all data entries in the urban retail water supplier’s water loss
audit report and to appropriately characterize the quality of the
reported data. The validation process shall follow the principles
and terminology laid out by the American Water Works Association
in the third edition of Water Audits and Loss Control Programs,
Manual M36 and in the Free Water Audit Software, version 5.0. end insert
begin insert A validated water loss audit report shall include the name and
technical qualifications of the person engaged for validation. end insert

begin insert

(C) The technical qualifications required of a person to engage
in validation, as described in subparagraph (B).

end insert begin insert

(D) The certification requirements for a person selected by an
urban retail water supplier to provide validation of its own water
loss audit report.

end insert begin delete

(C)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert E) end insert  The method and timing of submitting a water loss audit
report to the department.

(2) The department shall update rules adopted pursuant to
paragraph (1) begin delete every five years and end delete no later than six months after
the release of subsequent editions of the American Water Works
Association’s Water Audits and Loss Control Programs, Manual
M36.

(b) On or before July 1, 2017, and annually each year thereafter,
each urban retail water supplier shall submit a completed and
validated water loss audit report for the previous calendar year as
prescribed by the department pursuant to subdivision (a).

begin insert

(c) Using available funds, the board shall contribute up to four
hundred thousand dollars ($400,000) towards the department’s
costs incurred in performing validations of water loss audit reports
during the period beginning on July 1, 2016, and ending on or
before July 1, 2017. Thereafter, the board shall determine whether
performing validations is an appropriate use of state funds or
whether an urban retail water supplier shall be responsible for its
own validation costs.

end insert begin delete

(c)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert d) end insert  Each water loss audit report submitted to the department
shall be accompanied by information, in a form specified by the
department, identifying steps taken in the preceding year to increase
the validity of data entered into the final audit, reduce the volume
of apparent losses, and reduce the volume of real losses.

begin delete

(d)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert e) end insert  At least one of the following employees of an urban retail
water supplier shall attest to each water loss audit report submitted
to the department:

(1) The chief financial officer.

(2) The chief engineer.

(3) The general manager.

begin delete

(e)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert f) end insert  The department shall deem incomplete and return to the
urban retail water supplier any final water loss audit report found
by the department to be incomplete, not validated, unattested, or
incongruent with known characteristics of water system operations.
A water supplier shall resubmit a completed water loss audit report
within 90 days of an audit being returned by the department.

begin delete

(f)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert g) end insert  The department shall post all validated water loss audit
reports on its Internet Web site in a manner that allows for
comparisons across water suppliers. The department shall make
the validated water loss audit reports available for public viewing
in a timely manner after their receipt.

begin delete

(g)

end delete

begin insert ( end insert begin insert h) end insert  Using available funds, the department shall provide technical
assistance to guide urban retail water suppliers’ water loss detection
programs, including, but not limited to, metering techniques,
pressure management techniques, condition-based assessment
techniques for transmission and distribution pipelines, begin insert and end insert
utilization of portable and permanent water loss detection begin delete devices,
and funding. end delete begin insert devices. end insert

begin delete

(h) (1) The department, in consultation with the board, shall
develop metrics for reporting year-over-year progress on water
loss reduction.

end delete begin delete

(2) On or before

end delete

begin insert (i) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert No earlier than January 1, 2019, and no later than end insert July 1,
2020, the board shall adopt rules requiring urban retail water
suppliers to meet performance standards for the volume of water
losses. begin insert In adopting these rules, the board shall employ full life
cycle cost accounting to evaluate the costs of meeting the
performance standards. end insert