Amended in Assembly August 17, 2015

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 October 1, 2017, and on or before July 1 of 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 using funds available for the begin delete 2016- 17 end delete begin insert 2016-17 end insert fiscal year towards procuring water loss audit report validation assistance for urban retail water suppliers.

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 an urban retail water
supplier uses a technical expert 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 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. 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.

(b) On or before October 1, 2017, and on or before July 1 of
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). 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).

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

begin delete

(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 delete

(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. begin insert The board may consider establishing a
minimum allowable water loss threshold that, if reached and
maintained by an urban water supplier, would exempt the urban
water supplier from further water loss reduction requirements. end insert