BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER
                             Senator Fran Pavley, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:            SB 664          Hearing Date:    April 28,  
          2015
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          |Author:    |Hertzberg              |           |                 |
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          |Version:   |April 6, 2015    >As proposed to be amended          |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |Yes              |
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          |Consultant:|Dennis O'Connor                                      |
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           Subject:  Water:  integrated regional water management planning


          BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW
          1.Under the Urban Water Management Act, every urban water agency  
            is required to produce an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP)  
            every five years.  Plans are required to include, among other  
            things, an urban water shortage contingency analysis that  
            includes, among other things, actions to be undertaken by the  
            urban water supplier to prepare for, and implement during, a  
            catastrophic interruption of water supplies including, but not  
            limited to, a regional power outage, an earthquake, or other  
            disaster.

            According to the Department of Water Resources' (DWR) draft  
            guidelines for the next update of UWMPs, the catastrophic  
            supply interruption analysis should "[i]dentify what actions  
            will be taken by a water supplier if there is a catastrophic  
            reduction in water supplies."

          2.The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides a  
            variety of types of non-emergency disaster assistance,  
            including funding for mitigation projects.  To qualify, State,  
            tribal and local governments are required to develop a hazard  
            mitigation plan. The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and  
            Emergency Assistance Act (Public Law 93-288), as amended by  
            the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (P. L. 106-390), provides  
            the legal basis for state, local and tribal governments to  
            undertake a risk-based approach to reducing risks from natural  







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            hazards through mitigation planning.  Federal regulations  
            require, among other things, that local plans include the  
            following:

                  A risk assessment  that provides the factual basis for  
               activities proposed in the strategy to reduce losses from  
               identified hazards. Local risk assessments must provide  
               sufficient information to enable the jurisdiction to  
               identify and prioritize appropriate mitigation actions to  
               reduce losses from identified hazards.

                  A mitigation strategy  that provides the jurisdiction's  
               blueprint for reducing the potential losses identified in  
               the risk assessment, based on existing authorities,  
               policies, programs and resources, and its ability to expand  
               on and improve these existing tools.

          PROPOSED LAW
          This bill, as proposed to be amended (see proposed amendments  
          below), would require UWMPs to also include a seismic risk  
          assessment and mitigation plan, which would assesses the  
          vulnerability of each the various facilities of a water system  
          and a capital improvement plan to mitigate those  
          vulnerabilities.

          The bill would allow, but not require, an agency to comply with  
          this requirement by submitting a copy of an adopted local hazard  
          mitigation plan or multi-hazard mitigation plan as specified in  
          the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (P. L. 106-390)  
          provided the local hazard mitigation plan or multi-hazard  
          mitigation plan addresses seismic risk.

          For the urban water management plan update due on July 1, 2016,  
          the seismic risk assessment and mitigation plan would be due to  
          DWR by July 1, 2017.  The seismic risk assessment and mitigation  
          plan would be a part of the UWMP for all subsequent updates of  
          UWMPs.

          ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT
          According to the author, "Public policymakers cannot ignore  
          forecasts showing a greater than 99-percent chance of a 6.7  
          earthquake within the next 30 years. Much of California's  
          infrastructure, including key water-delivery systems, remains  
          seismically unsafe and extremely vulnerable.  With California  








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          entering the fourth year of the current and serious drought,  
          scientists predict our changing climate will increase the  
          frequency, length, and severity of droughts in California. The  
          State must prioritize water security."

          "Although California has addressed seismic safety many times,  
          including mandatory retrofits for schools and hospitals,  
          voluntary upgrades, mapping hazardous faults, and cataloguing  
          unsafe buildings, much of California's infrastructure -  
          including key water delivery systems - remains seismically  
          unsafe and extremely vulnerable.  SB 664 will help identify and  
          address seismically vulnerable water infrastructure."

          ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: None received
          
          COMMENTS
           How Vulnerable Are California Water Supplies?   It is not clear.   
          There are studies that show that Delta levees are vulnerable  
          failure in a significant seismic event.  And undoubtedly some  
          water agencies have done their own assessment.  However, there  
          does not appear to be any systematic assessment of the seismic  
          risk of the state's water infrastructure.  

           How Expensive Are Seismic Upgrades?  For some systems it can be  
          very expensive.  The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission  
          has already spent billions of dollars to seismically upgrade  
          their water system.  And, just recently the Los Angeles  
          Department of Water and Power identified $15 billion in  
          potential need for seismic upgrades to water infrastructure.

           What about Funding?   By including the seismic risk assessment  
          and mitigation plans in UWMPs, those system upgrades can be  
          funded through integrated regional water management plans  
          (IRWMP) and grants.  Proposition 1 provides $510 M for IRWMP  
          grants.

          PROPOSED AMENDMENTS 
          
          Delete existing language and replace with:

               SECTION 1.  Section 10632.5 is added to the Water Code to  
          read:
               10632.5.  (a) In addition to the requirements of paragraph  
          (3), subdivision (a), of Section 10632, the plan shall include a  








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          seismic risk assessment and mitigation plan, which assesses the  
          vulnerability of each the various facilities of a water system  
          and a capital improvement plan to mitigate those  
          vulnerabilities.
               (b) An agency may comply with this section by submitting a  
          copy of an adopted local hazard mitigation plan or multi-hazard  
          mitigation plan as specified in the federal Disaster Mitigation  
          Act of 2000 (P. L. 106-390) provided the local hazard mitigation  
          plan or multi-hazard mitigation plan addresses seismic risk.
               (c) (1) For the urban water management plan update due on  
          July 1, 2016, the seismic risk assessment and mitigation plan  
          described in subdivision (a) is due to the department by July 1,  
          2017.
               (2) For urban water management plan updates due after July  
          1, 2016, the seismic risk assessment and mitigation plan  
          described in subdivision (a) is due as required by Section  
          10621. 
               
          SUPPORT
          East Bay Municipal Utility District

          OPPOSITION
          None Received

          
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