BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 555
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
555 (Wolk)
As Amended August 17, 2015
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 36-2
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Water |10-3 |Levine, Dababneh, |Beth Gaines, |
| | |Dodd, Cristina |Harper, Mathis |
| | |Garcia, Gomez, Lopez, | |
| | |Medina, Rendon, | |
| | |Salas, Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |12-4 |Gomez, Bloom, Bonta, |Bigelow, Gallagher, |
| | |Calderon, Nazarian, |Jones, Wagner |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, Weber, | |
| | |Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SB 555
Page 2
SUMMARY: Requires each urban retail water supplier, on or before
July 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, to submit annual water
loss audit (WLA) reports to the Department of Water Resources
(DWR) as specified and requires DWR to post such WLAs and
provide technical assistance. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires DWR, by January 1, 2017, to adopt rules for
standardizing and validating WLAs, including the method for
submitting WLAs, and to update those rules within six months
of a release of subsequent editions of the American Water
Works Association's (AWWA's) Water Audits and Loss Control
Programs Manual.
2)Requires DWR, as part of its rules, to specify the technical
qualifications required of a person performing validations and
the certification requirements for a person selected by an
urban retail water supplier to provide validations of its own
water loss audit report.
3)Defines validating, for the purpose of this bill, to mean a
process whereby an urban water supplier uses a technical
expert, who is identified by name and qualifications, to
confirm the basis of all data entries and appropriately
characterize the quality of the reported data by following the
principles and terminology set out in the AWWA manual and free
software.
4)Requires that 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 WLA report for
the previous calendar year.
5)Requires the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water
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Board), using funds available for the 2016-17 Fiscal Year, to
contribute up to $400,000 towards procuring water loss audit
report validation assistance for urban retail water suppliers.
Allows water loss audit reports submitted on or before
October 1, 2017, to be completed and validated utilizing this
assistance.
6)Requires each WLA report to be accompanied by information
identifying the steps taken to: increase the validity of data
entered into the final audit; reduce the volume of apparent
losses; and, reduce the volume of real losses.
7)Specifies that a chief financial officer, chief engineer, or
general manager of the urban retail water supplier shall
attest to the WLA.
8)Requires DWR to return incomplete, invalid, or unattested WLAs
to the urban retail water supplier for resubmission within 90
days.
9)Requires DWR to post all validated WLAs on its Internet Web
site and to otherwise make the WLAs available for public
viewing.
10)Requires DWR, using available funds, to provide technical
assistance to urban retail water suppliers regarding water
loss detection programs.
11)Requires the State Water 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.
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12)Requires the State Water Board to employ full life cycle cost
accounting to evaluate the costs of meeting the performance
standards.
13)Allows the State Water Board to 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.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires all urban water suppliers to prepare and adopt Urban
Water Management Plans (UWMPs), update them every five years,
and submit them to DWR. Among other requirements, UWMPs must:
a) Provide a description of the service area of the
supplier;
b) Identify and quantify water resources; and,
c) Make water use projections.
2)Specifies that compliance with the Urban Water Management
Planning Act is a prerequisite to receiving state funding for
water projects and programs.
3)Requires, beginning with the 2015 update, that UWMPs contain a
calculation of the distribution system water losses.
4)Requires distribution system water losses to be reported in
accordance with a worksheet approved or developed by DWR using
water loss calculations that are based on the water system
balance methodology developed by the AWWA.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
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1)One-time General Fund (GF) costs of approximately $150,000 for
DWR to develop the rules for standardizing and validating
water loss audit reports and auditors.
2)Annual GF costs of approximately $150,000 for DWR to review
urban water supplier audit reports and post the reports on its
Internet Web site.
3)Increased annual GF costs shifts of between $150,000 and
$200,000 to provide technical assistance to urban water
suppliers on water loss detection programs.
This bill requires DWR to provide technical assistance with
existing resources. However, DWR indicates this cost is not
absorbable and would require reductions in existing programs.
4)Absorbable one-time costs for the State Water Board to consult
with DWR to develop water loss metrics and performance
standards.
The 2015-16 Budget Act provides $833,000 (special fund) and
two positions to the State Water Board for water conservation
activities that are available to fulfill these requirements.
5)Absorbable one-time costs to the State Water Board of up to
$400,000 (Drinking Water State Revolving Fund) for its
contribution towards procuring water loss audit report
validation assistance for urban water suppliers.
It is presumed the urban water suppliers will be responsible
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for their validation costs after the first year. The author
may wish to clarify that the urban water supplier is
responsible for its ongoing validations costs after the
2016-17 year.
COMMENTS: This bill seeks to increase water use efficiency by
requiring water suppliers to document and control water losses
from their systems through annual audit reports to DWR. This
bill also directs DWR to set audit standards and provide
technical assistance. This bill also requires the State Water
Board to provide funding for validation assistance to urban
water suppliers for the first audits due under this bill and
then to later adopt rules requiring urban retail water suppliers
to meet performance standards.
According to the California Water Plan, in its discussion on
urban water use efficiency, the amount of water lost due to
leakage in the distribution system of the state's water
suppliers is not well known. This is largely due to the fact
that not all water suppliers perform regular water loss audits.
If water audits are not conducted, it is difficult for a water
agency to know the extent of its losses and unlikely that the
agency will implement practices to reduce these losses.
The author advises that California's water supply is under
intense pressure from climate change, increasing population, and
aging infrastructure and that the financial demands from
communities around the state for additional water and wastewater
currently exceeds the available state and federal budgetary
resources. The author advises that despite the availability of
free audit software and the establishment of a Best Management
Practice for water loss by the California Urban Water
Conservation Council (CUWCC), urban water suppliers have been
slow to realize the full potential of water loss control. The
author posits that one reason for the slow adoption of water
loss control methods is the unreliability of water loss audit
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data and cites to a CUWCC study that found that 35% of water
audit data submitted by California water suppliers was invalid.
The author concludes that by requiring urban water suppliers to
report system audit results and directing DWR to set audit
standards, while providing the necessary technical assistance,
water suppliers will achieve effective water loss control and
contribute to California's water management, climate mitigation
and climate adaptation goals.
Supporters state that water lost from leaks and breaks in urban
water suppliers' distribution systems is a significant problem
in California. Supporters add that a 2010 study conducted for
the California Public Utilities Commission estimated that 10% of
urban water (870,000 acre-feet) is lost to leaks and that 40% of
that water (350,000 acre-feet) could be cost-effectively
recovered through pressure management, leak repair, and targeted
pipe replacement. Other supporters state that conducting annual
water loss audits will help California achieve its goal of
reducing urban water use 20% by 2020 and that water conservation
is a key strategy to make the best use of our limited water
supplies.
The August 17, 2015, amendments to this bill removed all known
opposition.
Prior legislation has also focused on distribution system water
losses. SB 1420 (Wolk), Chapter 490, Statutes of 2014 requires,
among other provisions, that beginning with the 2015 update
UWMPs are to contain a distribution system water loss
calculation.
Analysis Prepared by:
Tina Leahy / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096 FN:
SB 555
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