BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1100
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 1100 (Duvall) - As Introduced: February 27, 2009
SUBJECT : Potable reuse demonstration water.
SUMMARY : Authorizes bottling of potable reuse demonstration
water (PRDW), as defined, for educational purposes and to
promote water recycling. Establishes bottling, labeling,
handling, quality and treatment requirements for bottled PRDW.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines "potable reuse demonstration water" (PRDW) as
secondary effluent from a wastewater treatment facility
operated by a wastewater treatment agency with a source
control program that goes beyond conventional source control.
Requires PRDW to come from an agency that employs specified
secondary effluent treatment processes, and requires the
secondary effluent to meet or exceed all federal and state
drinking water standards, and all maximum contaminant levels
set by the DPH for public drinking water.
2)Authorizes the operator of a facility producing PRDW to cause
PRDW to be bottled and distributed for educational purposes
and to promote water recycling.
3)Exempts the operator of a facility producing PRDW from having
to comply with the terms of the existing requirements for
bottled water, except as explicitly required by this bill.
4)Requires an operator seeking to bottle PRDW to collect water
samples prior to the commencement of the bottling process, and
test that water by a certified or approved laboratory, as
specified.
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5)Prohibits PRDW from being distributed unless that water meets
or exceeds all federal and state drinking water standards, all
maximum contaminant levels established by the department for
public drinking water, and all conditions imposed by
regulatory agencies on the water quality of the PRDW.
6)Requires that PRDW is only bottled at a licensed
water-bottling plant that tests for conformance to state and
federal standards, and tests and submit results for organic
chemical substances.
7)Requires that PRDW is handled from the point of production to
the completion of bottling in accordance with all regulations
governing the transportation, bottling, and handling of
bottled water.
8)Authorizes a water bottling plant that bottles PRDW in
accordance with this bill to also bottle other potable water.
9)Requires PRDW to be bottled in non-returnable (one-way)
bottles or in packages with labels stating the following
information in an easily readable format:
a) "Not for sale" and "highly treated recycled wastewater
meeting all federal and state drinking water standards."
b) The name, address, telephone number, and Internet Web
site of the operator of the facility producing the potable
reuse demonstration water.
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c) A brief description of the potable reuse demonstration
water, including its source and the treatment processes to
which the water is subjected.
10)Prohibits water recycling facility from bottling more than an
unspecified number of gallons of potable reuse demonstration
water in a calendar year.
11)Prohibits the sale or distribution in exchange for financial
consideration of potable reuse demonstration water.
12)Authorizes the distribution at no cost for educational
purposes or to promote water recycling of bottled potable
reuse demonstration water.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW :
1)Authorizes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), under the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act, to regulate bottled
water products that are in interstate commerce.
2)Authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(US EPA), under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), to set
national health-based standards for drinking water to protect
against both naturally-occurring and anthropogenic
contaminants.
3)Requires, when US EPA sets a new standard for a contaminant in
drinking water, that the FDA must establish a new standard for
the same contaminant in bottled water or find that US EPA's
new standard is not applicable to bottled water.
EXISTING STATE LAW :
1)Authorizes DPH to licence and regulate manufacturers of
bottled water and vended water and requires DPH to charge and
collect a fee for each license application.
2)Requires all water-bottlers (regardless of whether located
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in-state, out-of-state, or in a foreign country) and private
source operators to apply annually to obtain a license to
bottle, collect, treat, hold, distribute, haul, vend, or sell
water in California.
3)Requires, as a condition of licensure, water-bottling plants
to annually prepare a bottled water report, including
disclosure of the source of the bottled water, and to make the
report available to each customer.
4)Requires DPH to establish uniform statewide recycling criteria
for the various uses of recycled water to assure protection of
public health (Water Code Section 13521).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
Purpose : According to the author's office, "California is in
the midst of a multi-year drought and water crisis. We need new
sources of water to serve our ever-growing needs. It has been
estimated that in Los Angeles County alone, some 2-3 million
acre-feet of treated wastewater are discharged into the ocean
annually. This is literally wasted water? The technology is
here-California can make efficient use of its wastewater. For
example, the GWRS in Orange County provides the northern part of
the county with approximately 25% of its water needs, just
through recycling. They're also working on expanding. This
approach should be replicated everywhere possible? Allowing
limited bottling of recycled water for educational purposes will
help to battle the misinformation and negative PR that this
crucial water source has dealt with for years."
Bottled and recycled water requirements : DPH's Division of
Drinking Water and Environmental Management (DDWEM) is
responsible for evaluating the treatment, production,
distribution and use of recycled water as related to its public
health safety. DDWEM has not approved any disinfected tertiary
or advanced treated recycled water, including PRDW, for direct
drinking.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) also does not
allow any disinfected tertiary or advanced treated recycled
water to be ingested directly, whether it has been treated by
reverse osmosis or not (EPA Guidelines for Water Reuse, 2004,
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Publication #EPA/625/R-04/108). DDWEM allows
disinfected-tertiary or advanced treated recycled water for
"indirect drinking use" such as: recharging domestic water
supply aquifers by surface spreading (CFR, Title 22, Section
60320) or injecting disinfected advanced treated recycled water
into an aquifer. In both cases, a waiting period of at least
six months is required before extracting water from the aquifer
for drinking.
In 1996, the California Potable Reuse Committee concluded in a
report, A Proposed Framework for Regulating Indirect Potable
Reuse of Advanced Treated Reclaimed Water by Surface Water
Augmentation in California, that, before direct drinking use
could be allowed, "reliable real-time water quality monitoring
methods" and "means to react to accidental emergencies or system
upsets" must be available and provided. Such treatment
techniques, methods, and means have not yet been established.
While DDWEM is responsible for recycled water, it doesn't
regulate bottled water or vended water -- these are regulated as
food by CDPH's Food and Drug Branch. It remains unclear whether
bottled PRDW is allowable under current recycled water
requirements.
Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System (GWR): Completed
and online in January 2008, Orange County's Groundwater
Replenishment (GWR) System is the largest water purification
project of its kind in the world. The GWR System takes highly
treated sewer water from the Orange County Sanitation District
and treats it to beyond drinking water standards using advanced
membrane purification technologies at the Orange County Water
District in Fountain Valley. According to GWR, the GWR System
water exceeds all state and federal drinking water standards and
has water quality similar to or better than, bottled water.
Currently, roughly half of the purified water from the GWR
System is injected into Orange County's expanded seawater
intrusion barrier. The remaining water is piped to percolation
basins in Anaheim where the water filters through clay and rock
into groundwater aquifers. There, the water blends with the
existing groundwater before it is used as drinking water for
northern and central Orange County residents.
GWR states that an independent water quality study indicated
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that this new purified water is the safest water available to
Orange County from any source. The water is purified to beyond
bottled water quality, better than state and federal drinking
water standards. The project contends that while it is
currently permitted to disseminate samples of treated water for
visitors to drink at the GWR project, it is unable to transport
water to other locations for demonstration purposes.
Alternatives to plastic water bottles : Orange County
Coastkeeper (OCC) writes while they support the bottling and
distribution of recycled Orange County water, there must be a
similar devotion to environmentally conscious marketing. OCC
references the adverse environmental impacts of plastic water
bottles, such as waste, marine debris, and petroleum use issues,
and urges that an alternative for bottling PRDW is considered.
Proposed amendments : The Committee may wish to amend the bill
as follows:
1)Clarify that PRDW facility operators must comply with all
water quality and testing standards for bottled water.
2)Require that PRDW demonstration programs that dispense bottled
water include a collection and recycling program for
distributed bottles.
3)Require that DPH determine the appropriate gallons of water
that can be bottled in a calendar year.
Work with DPH : The author's office has indicated that they are
working with DPH, and the Committee urges continued deliberation
to ensure that the provisions of the bill do not conflict with
existing drinking water, bottled water or recycled water
requirements and that the provisions of the bill are
sufficiently protective of public health and the environment.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Groundwater Resources of California
Orange County Sanitation District
Orange County Water District
Western Municipal Water District
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Orange County Coast Keeper (if amended)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Shannon McKinney / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965