Amended in Assembly July 16, 2015

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 begin delete July end delete begin insert October end insert 1, 2017, and begin delete annually end delete begin insert on or before July 1 of end insert 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 State Water Resources Control 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 begin insert using funds available for the 2016- 17 fiscal year end insert towards begin delete the department’s costs incurred in performing validations of end delete begin insert procuring end insert water loss audit begin delete reports during the period beginning on July 1, 2016, and ending on or before July 1, 2017. end delete begin insert report validation assistance for urban retail water suppliers. 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. For the purposes of this
section, “validating” is a process whereby begin delete a technical expert
engages with end delete an urban retail water supplier begin insert uses a technical expert end insert
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.

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

(2) The department shall update rules adopted pursuant to
paragraph (1) 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. begin insert Except
as provided by the department, until the department adopts updated
rules pursuant to this paragraph , an urban retail water supplier
may rely upon a subsequent edition of the American Water Works
Association’s Water Audits and Loss Control Programs, Manual
M36 or the Free Water Audit Software. end insert

(b) On or before begin delete July end delete begin insert October end insert 1, 2017, and begin delete annually end delete begin insert on or before
July 1 of end insert 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 Water loss audit reports submitted on or before
October 1, 2017, may be completed and validated with assistance
as described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (c). end insert

(c)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert Using begin delete available funds, end delete begin insert funds available for the 2016- 17
fiscal year, end insert the board shall contribute up to four hundred thousand
dollars ($400,000) towards begin delete the department’s costs incurred in
performing validations of water loss audit reportsduring 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 delete begin insert procuring water loss audit report validation assistance for
urban retail water suppliers. end insert

begin insert

(2) The board shall determine whether providing water loss
audit report validation assistance is an appropriate use of state
funds or whether an urban retail water supplier shall be solely
responsible for its own validation costs after the 2016-17 fiscal
year.

end insert

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.