BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1398|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1398
Author: Leyva (D)
Amended: 5/31/16
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 6-1, 4/20/16
AYES: Wieckowski, Bates, Hill, Jackson, Leno, Pavley
NOES: Gaines
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-1, 5/27/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Nielsen
SUBJECT: Public water systems: lead pipes
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires public water systems, by July 1,
2018, to compile an inventory of lead pipes in use and, after
completing the inventory to provide a timeline for replacement
of lead pipes in the system to the State Water Resources Control
Board (SWRCB).
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.
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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.
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).
Background
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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.
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 five 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.
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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
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
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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 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).
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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
SWRCB, 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
water system is aging, and that infrastructure poses a risk to
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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 SWRCB'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
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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.
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.
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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 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 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
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill has
minor costs to the SWRCB.
SUPPORT: (Verified5/27/16)
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
California Environmental Justice Alliance
California League of Conservation Voters
California Public Interest Group
Center for Food Safety
Community Water Center
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Environment California
Environmental Justice Coalition for Water
Environmental Working Group
Food and Water Watch
Natural Resources Defense Council
Pacific Water Quality Association
Rural Community Assistance Corporation
Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/27/16)
None received
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Prepared by:Rachel Machi Wagoner / E.Q. / (916) 651-4108
5/31/16 20:58:26
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