BILL NUMBER: SB 555 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 7, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 16, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 7, 2015
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 department, in consultation with the
State Water Resources Control Board, to develop metrics for
reporting year-over-year progress on water loss reduction and would
require the board no earlier than January 1, 2019, and
no later than July 1, 2020, to adopt rules requiring urban
retail water suppliers to meet performance standards for the volume
of water losses. 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.
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. 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. A validated water loss audit report shall include the
name and technical qualifications of the person engaged for
validation.
(C) The technical qualifications required of a person to engage in
validation, as described in subparagraph (B).
(D) The certification requirements for a person selected by an
urban retail water supplier to provide validation of its own water
loss audit report.
(C)
( E) 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) every five years and 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).
(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.
(c)
( d) 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.
(d)
( e) 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.
(e)
( f) 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.
(f)
( g) 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.
(g)
( h) 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, and utilization of portable and
permanent water loss detection devices, and funding.
devices.
(h) (1) The department, in consultation with the board, shall
develop metrics for reporting year-over-year progress on water loss
reduction.
(2) On or before
(i) No earlier than January 1, 2019,
and no later than July 1, 2020, the board shall adopt rules
requiring urban retail water suppliers to meet performance standards
for the volume of water losses. In adopting these rules, the
board shall employ full life cycle cost accounting to evaluate the
costs of meeting the performance standards.