BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1100
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 20, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1100 (Duvall) - As Amended: May 5, 2009
Policy Committee: Environmental
Safety Vote: 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes bottling of potable reuse demonstration
water (PRDW) for educational purposes and to promote water
recycling. Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines "potable reuse demonstration water" (PRDW) as
secondary effluent from a wastewater treatment facility that
meets specified conditions.
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 and exempts such an operator
from existing requirements for bottled water, except as
explicitly required by this bill.
3)Authorizes the distribution of PRDW at no cost for educational
purposes or to promote water recycling, provided that the PRDW
meets or exceeds all federal and state drinking water
standards, all maximum contaminant levels, and all conditions
imposed by regulatory agencies on the water quality of PRDW.
4)Specifies bottling and labeling requirements for PRDW.
AB 1100
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5)Prohibits a water recycling facility from bottling more than
10000 gallons of PRDW in a calendar year.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible costs to the Department of Public Health (DPH).
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author notes that California is in the midst
of a multi-year drought and water crisis and that the state
needs new sources of drinking water. The author states that
technology exists that permits the safe conversion of
wastewater into drinking water. The author contends that
allowing limited bottling of recycled water for educational
purposes will help to counteract misinformation and negative
publicity that unfairly and inaccurately depicts PRDW.
2)Background .
a) Don't Drink the Water. DPH evaluates the treatment,
production, distribution and use of recycled water for
public health and safety. DPH has not approved any
disinfected tertiary or advanced treated recycled water,
including PRDW, for direct drinking. DPH does, however,
allow disinfected tertiary or advanced treated recycled
water for "indirect drinking use" such as recharging
domestic water supply aquifers by surface spreading.
Similarly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does
not authorize the ingestion of disinfected tertiary or
advanced treated recycled water.
In 1996, the California Potable Reuse Committee-an
18-member joint committee of the Department of Health
Services and Department of Water Resources-reported that,
before allowing drinking of treated waste water, reliable
water quality monitoring methods and emergency response
systems must be available. Such treatment methods and
response systems have yet to be established.
b) But We Already Drink the Water. Completed and online in
January 2008, Orange County's Groundwater Replenishment
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(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. The GWR System reports that the water is
purified to beyond bottled water quality and state and
federal drinking water standards. The GWR System serves
samples of treated water to visitors at its facilities;
however, current law does not allow it to transport water
to other locations for demonstration purposes.
3)Supporters, including several southern California water
agencies, see the education that would be enabled by this bill
as key to overcoming irrational aversion to drinking treated
wastewater. These supporters note that the millions of
gallons of waste water that flow to the sea daily is wasted
water.
4)Opponents. There are no registered opponents to this bill.
However, Orange County Coastkeeper, a local environmental
organization, expresses concern that the bill ignores the
adverse environmental impacts of plastic water bottles, such
as waste, marine debris, and petroleum use issues, and urges
the author to consider an alternative to bottling PRDW.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081