BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Senator Wieckowski, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: SB 1398 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Leyva | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |-----------+-----------------------+-------------+----------------| |Version: |3/28/2016 |Hearing |4/20/2016 | | | |Date: | | |-----------+-----------------------+-------------+----------------| |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|Rachel Machi Wagoner | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Public water systems: lead pipes ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1) Requires public water systems to take specified actions to test for and remediate certain contaminants in drinking water, including lead and copper. 2) Prohibits the use of any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting or fixture, solder, or flux that is not "lead free" in the installation or repair of any public water system or any plumbing in a facility providing water for human consumption, except as specified. 3) Prohibits any person engaged in the business of selling plumbing supplies, except manufacturers, from selling solder or flux that is not "lead free" as defined in statute. 4) Prohibits the introduction into commerce of any solder or flux that is not "lead free" unless the solder or flux bears a label stating that it is illegal to use the solder or flux in the installation or repair of any plumbing providing water for human consumption. SB 1398 (Leyva) Page 2 of ? 5) Prohibits the introduction into commerce of any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting, or fixture intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption that is not "lead free" as defined in statute. This bill: 1) Requires a public water system to compile an inventory of lead pipes in use by July 1, 2018. 2) Requires, after completing the inventory, the public water systems provide a timeline for replacement of lead pipes in the system to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). 3) Requires the board to establish best practices to ensure that chemicals introduced into public water systems do not create corrosion or contamination within the system. Background 1) Lead in Plumbing. Lead is a common additive in plumbing materials such as lead solder, brass, bronze, and other alloys. Any plumbing product containing lead that is in contact with water is a potential source of drinking water contamination. Lead primarily enters drinking water from the corrosion of plumbing materials that contain lead and are in contact with the water. Lead that leaches from household pipes and faucets into drinking water cannot be easily detected nor removed. Exposure to lead in drinking water can cause a variety of adverse health effects, especially in children and infants. Their exposure to high levels of lead in drinking water can result in delays in physical or mental development, reduced intelligence, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, behavioral problems, stunted growth, impaired hearing and kidney damage. SB 1398 (Leyva) Page 3 of ? For adults, high levels of exposure to lead in drinking water can result in kidney problems, high blood pressure, nerve disorders, fertility problems, muscle and joint pain, irritability, memory and concentration problems. Furthermore, pregnant women can pass lead contained in their bodies to their fetuses. Lead exposure across the United States has fallen dramatically since the 1980s; however, no blood-lead level is considered completely safe. Children under age five, and especially infants and fetuses, bear the greatest risk of deleterious and irreversible health outcomes. From 2012 to the present (2016), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set a "reference level" of 5 micrograms per deciliter (?g/dL), in order to target for case management the 2.5% of young American children with the highest blood-lead levels. At 45 ?g/dL, chelation therapy is considered. Among the many ways lead can enter a modern American's bloodstream is through lead plumbing. Acidic water makes it easier for the lead found in pipes, leaded solder, and brass faucets to be dissolved and to enter a home's drinking water. Therefore, public water treatment systems are legally required to use control measures to make water less acidic. Plumbing that contains lead is often found in buildings built in the 1980s and earlier. Beginning January 1, 2010, California law prohibits the introduction into commerce of any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting, or fixture intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption through drinking or cooking that is not "lead free" as defined in statute. This includes kitchen faucets, bathroom faucets, and any other end-use devices intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption through drinking or cooking. However, service saddles, backflow preventers for non-potable services such as irrigation and industrial, and water distribution main gate valves that are two inches in diameter and above are excluded. 2) Flint, Michigan. The Flint, Michigan drinking water crisis started in April 2014. After Flint changed its water source from treated SB 1398 (Leyva) Page 4 of ? Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water (which was sourced from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River) to the Flint River (to which officials had failed to apply corrosion inhibitors), its drinking water had a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a serious public health danger. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal. In Flint, between 6,000 and 12,000 children have been exposed to drinking water with high levels of lead and they may experience a range of serious health problems. Due to the change in water source, the percentage of Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels may have risen from about 2.5% in 2013 to as much as 5% in 2015. The water change is also a possible cause of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the county that has killed 10 people and affected another 77. Several lawsuits have been filed against government officials on the issue, and several investigations have been opened. On January 5, 2016, the city was declared to be in a state of emergency by the Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, before President Barack Obama declared it as a federal state of emergency, authorizing additional help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security less than two weeks later. Four government officials-one from the City of Flint, two from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), and one from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)-resigned over the mishandling of the crisis, and one additional MDEQ staff member was fired and another has a termination hearing pending. Governor Snyder issued an apology to citizens and promised to fix the problem, and then sent $28 million to Flint for supplies, medical care and infrastructure upgrades, and later budgeted an additional $30 million to Flint that will give water bill credits of 65% for residents and 20% for businesses. The water disaster called attention to the problem of aging and seriously neglected water infrastructure nationwide. The Flint crisis recalled recent lead contamination crises in SB 1398 (Leyva) Page 5 of ? the tap water in various cities, such as the lead contamination in Washington, D.C. drinking water (2001), Columbia, South Carolina (2005); Durham and Greenville, North Carolina (2006); Jackson, Mississippi (2015), and Sebring, Ohio (2015). The New York Times notes in an article on February 8, 2016, written by Michael Wines & John Schwartz, entitled, "Unsafe Lead Levels in Tap Water Not Limited to Flint," that "Although Congress banned lead water pipes 30 years ago, between 3.3 million and 10 million older ones remain, primed to leach lead into tap water by forces as simple as jostling during repairs or a change in water chemistry." Inadequate regulation was cited as one reason for unsafe lead levels in tap water and "efforts to address shortcomings often encounter push-back from industries like agriculture and mining that fear cost increases, and from politicians ideologically opposed to regulation." The crisis called attention to a "resource gap" for water regulators. The annual budget of the US EPA's drinking water office declined 15% from 2006 to 2015, with the office losing over 10% of employees, and the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators reported in 2013 that "federal officials had slashed drinking-water grants, 17 states had cut drinking-water budgets by more than a fifth, and 27 had cut spending on full-time employees, with serious implications for states' ability to protect public health." 3) Why Flint is not California. In the April 6, 2016 oversight hearing of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee regarding the transfer of the Drinking Water Program from the Department of Public Health to the State Water Resources Control Board, testimony was given by the Deputy Director of the Division of Drinking Water that California has stringent testing and monitoring protocols in place that ensure that drinking water supplies meet California's Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) and that appropriate chemistry is maintained to inhibit corrosion of the pipes delivering drinking water that prevents a Flint, Michigan type incident from happening in California. However, like Michigan and most other states, California's SB 1398 (Leyva) Page 6 of ? water system is aging, and that infrastructure poses a risk to public health, especially because the extent of old infrastructure is not known. 4) Indication for Concern for California. While California is not Michigan, there are concerns that have been noted in California public water systems. An Associated Press article published April 6, 2016, by Scott Smith outlined an analysis done by the Associated Press on US EPA data that found that nearly 1,400 water systems nationwide, including dozens in California, reported lead levels exceeding the government's allowable level of 15 parts per billion at least once between January 1, 2013, and September 30, 2015. The AP article states that in California, the federal data show that roughly 57 water systems, including schools, parks, prisons and neighborhoods, reported being over the allowable lead content within the last three years. According to the article some of the readings, however, were recorded in error when the state manually input data collected from local water systems, said Cindy Forbes, Deputy Director of the State Water Resources Control Board's Division of Drinking Water. State water officials said they are closely monitoring 19 water systems. Some are included in the analysis of the federal data as exceeding the allowable limits for lead. Comments 1) Purpose of Bill. According the author: In recent decades, California has been a leader in reducing lead exposure in drinking water. In 1986, the use of lead-pipes and solder were banned. By 2010, all plumbing part and water fixtures sold in California were required to be lead-free". Given the detrimental health impacts of lead, even in very low levels, it is critical that California continues to take every step necessary to eliminate lead in drinking water. SB 1398 (Leyva) Page 7 of ? Recognizing that there is "no safe blood lead level" the National Drinking Water Advisory Council's (NDWAC) 2015 comprehensive recommendations for the long-term revisions of the LCR called for publicly accessible inventories of all lead service line connections and a strategy for proactively replacing all lead pipes from contact with drinking water. Many communities throughout the nation, most notably Flint, Michigan, are suffering from severe lead contamination in drinking water systems which have caused a public health crisis. Like much of the nation's public water systems, California is suffering the negative impacts of an aging water infrastructure. Given the age of many of the underground pipes utilized within PWSs, it is not commonly known where lead pipes disproportionately threaten the public health of local communities. In fact, current federal or state law does not require water districts to report locations of lead service pipes. While lead pipes may be less common in California, it is vital that we know where these pipes are and eliminate them. From 2012-2015, 98 public water systems in the state recorded high level lead readings - impacting families, children and pregnant mothers throughout the state. SB 1398 enhances public knowledge of remaining lead pipes in use and implements a plan for their complete removal from water for human consumption. By setting in motion a plan to remove all lead from public water system pipes, SB 1398 helps to reduce public health risks and the costs of corrosion control treatment from lead in public water system pipes. Related/Prior Legislation SB 334 (Leyva, 2015) would have prohibited drinking water that does not meet the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) drinking water standards for lead from being provided at a school facility, requires schools that have lead-containing plumbing components to flush all drinking water sources at the beginning of each school day, and deletes the authority for SB 1398 (Leyva) Page 8 of ? school district governing boards to adopt a resolution stating that it is unable to comply with the requirement to provide access to free, fresh drinking water during meal times in the food service areas. SB 334 was vetoed by the Governor. In his veto message, Governor Brown states: "I am returning Senate Bill 334 without my signature. This bill requires a school district that has a drinking water source that does not meet the Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standards to provide alternative drinking water to their students. I agree that all California students should have access to safe drinking water but this bill creates a state mandate of uncertain but possibly very large magnitude. As our first order of business, local schools should understand the nature of their water quality problem, if there is one. Accordingly, I am directing the State Water Resources Control Board to work with school districts and local public water systems to incorporate water quality testing in schools as part of their lead and copper rule. School districts should utilize this information to ensure all students are provided safe water." AB 1953 (Chan, Chapter 853 Statutes of 2006) enacted the Lead Free Plumbing Act, which reduced the permitted lead level in plumbing fixtures used for drinking water, as specified. SOURCE: Author SUPPORT: California Association of Environmental Health Administrators California League of Conservation Voters California Public Interest Group Center for Food Safety Clean Water Action Community Water Center Consumer Attorneys of California Environment California Environmental Justice Coalition for Water Environmental Working Group SB 1398 (Leyva) Page 9 of ? Food and Water Watch Rural Community Assistance Corporation Sierra Club California OPPOSITION: None received -- END --