BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1728
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Pedro Nava, Chair
AB 1728 (Gilmore) - As Amended: March 18, 2010
SUBJECT : Water quality standards: test methods.
SUMMARY : Allows publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) to use
an automatic composite water sample in lieu of individual grab
samples for monitoring discharge water quality.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Pursuant to the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act
(commencing with Section 13000 of the Water Code), anyone who
discharges waste in the state, except to a community sewer
system, must obtain waste discharge requirements (i.e. a water
quality permit).
2)Provides for the imposition of civil penalties for each
serious waste discharge violation. The penalties may be
issued administratively by the State Water Resources Control
Board or the Regional Water Quality Control Board or through
the superior court.
3)Under the federal Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls
water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge
pollutants. Industrial, municipal, and other facilities must
obtain NPDES permits if their discharges go directly into
surface waters.
FISCAL EFFECT : Not Known
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill: According to the sponsors of the bill,
Nevada County, water samples readings based on a single test
from an instantaneous sample is problematic, and does not make
sense to operators who know the science of testing. Typically
plants report monthly. Sampling requirements vary from daily,
multiple times a week, once a week, monthly, quarterly, semi
annual, annual, etc depending on the parameter and size of the
plant. A composite sample would mitigate errors from a
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localized spike or testing artifact.
Sampling Techniques : Wastewater sampling is generally performed
by one of two methods, grab sampling or composite sampling.
Grab sampling is all of the test material that is collected at
one time. As such, a grab sample reflects performance only at
the point in time that the sample was collected. Composite
sampling consists of a collection of numerous individual
discrete samples taken at regular intervals over a period of
time, usually 24 hours. The material being sampled is collected
in a common container over the sampling period. The analysis of
this material, collected over a period of time, will therefore
represent the average performance of a wastewater treatment
plant during the collection period.
Problems with composite sampling:
1)This bill would allow POTWs to use composite sampling to
monitor contaminants, including certain metals and specific
parameters such as chlorine, ammonia, pH, and low dissolved
oxygen, which can have an instantaneous adverse effect on
aquatic life. However, composite sampling may fail to detect
the instantaneous or short-term toxic effects of these metals
and specific parameters, because composite sampling averages
the concentration of the effluent within a 24-hour period, and
the results are not indicative of high concentrations of
toxics in a short period of time. Composite sampling would
result in the dilution of a sample, potentially masking a
discharge that violates the conditions of a Water Board permit
and negatively affecting water quality.
2)The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
Permit Writers Manual does not support composite sampling for
many types of pollutants including the sampling of pH,
residual chlorine, temperature, cyanides, volatile organics,
microbiological tests, oil and grease, or total phenols,
because these toxic chemicals are short-lived, degrade
rapidly, and would not be present in the most toxic form after
lengthy compositing, even with refrigeration or other forms of
preservation.
3)This bill may conflict with federal regulations regarding
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NPDES permits. This bill would allow POTWs to ignore specific
provisions in waste discharge permits that require grab
sampling, and instead use composite sampling, for monitoring
pollutants. The Code of Federal Regulations requires all
NPDES permits to include specific monitoring and reporting
requirements.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Nevada County (Sponsor)
Opposition
California Coastkeeper Alliance
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965