BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 263|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 263
Author: Pavley (D)
Amended: 5/31/11
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMM : 5-3, 04/12/11
AYES: Pavley, Evans, Kehoe, Padilla, Wolk
NOES: La Malfa, Cannella, Fuller
NO VOTE RECORDED: Simitian
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 5-1, 05/02/11
AYES: Simitian, Hancock, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley
NOES: Blakeslee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Strickland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-2, 05/26/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson
SUBJECT : Well logs
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Water
Resources (DWR) to make well log reports available to the
public.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires a person who digs,
bores, or drills a water well, cathodic protection well, or
CONTINUED
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a monitoring well, or abandons or destroys a well, or
deepens or reperforates a well, to file a report of
completion with the Department of Water Resources. Existing
law prohibits those reports from being made available to
the public, except under certain circumstances.
This bill requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR)
to make well log reports available to the public.
Background
In 1949, to help prevent groundwater pollution caused by
improperly constructed water wells, the California
Legislature first required well drillers to file a well
completion report with the State of California for each
well drilled.
Well completion reports, aka drillers' logs or well logs,
are a record of the drilling and construction of the well.
Well logs provide the record necessary to demonstrate that
the well was properly constructed, modified, or
decommissioned, and further provides the necessary
construction detail should the well need to be modified at
some later date. They include, among other things, the
location of the well, the depth of the well, the type of
soils encountered at each elevation as drilling, depth to
water, etc.
In 1965, the legislature declared that "the people of the
state have a primary interest in the location,
construction, maintenance, abandonment, and destruction of
water wells, which activities directly affect the quality
and purity of underground waters." In doing so, the
legislature expanded the well drilling laws to (1)
authorize DWR to establish regulations governing the proper
construction of water wells, (2) require all well
completion reports be filed with DWR, and (3) restricted
access to those reports to government agencies.
The legislative record does not give any insight as to why
the logs were made confidential. The conjecture is that
they were made confidential at the request of the well
drillers. Many well drillers consider the information in
the well logs to be proprietary. For example, let's say
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Driller A has just drilled a well, and someone wants to
have another well to be drilled a short distance away.
Driller A, by virtue of knowing the soil conditions in the
immediate vicinity, would have a competitive advantage over
any other driller.
No other western state restricts access to well logs as in
California. Indeed, most western states provide internet
access to well logs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Providing information minor costs General
to the public
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/31/11 - prior version)
American Society of Civil Engineers
Applied Water Resources Corporation
Californian's Aware
Coastkeeper Alliance
Community Water Center
Groundwater Resources Association
League of Women Voters
Montara Water & Sanitary District
Orange County Water District
Orion Environmental Inc.
Self-Help Enterprises
Sonoma County Water Agency
The Nature Conservancy
Water Master Support Services
Water Replenishment District of Southern California
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/31/11 - prior version)
California Water Service Corporation
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Central Basin Water Association
City of Lakewood
San Gabriel Valley Water Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the Groundwater
Resources Association, "Well completion reports contain
critical information for groundwater managers, consulting
hydrologists, academics, and others interested in and
conducting studies on the geologic, hydrologic, and water
quality characteristics of groundwater basins, earthquake
risk assessments, and other geologic hazards.
Unfortunately, those who would benefit from and need this
information for these critical studies cannot currently
have access to it.
"Well completion reports can also be used to construct
detailed underground aquifer maps. These maps along with
hydrogeological data are critical to developing and
implementing groundwater management plans. For example,
such data can be used to determine possible locations for
efficient and effective groundwater banking, identify key
recharge areas, and to better protect and improve
groundwater quality.
"For over 50 years, the law has prohibited access to well
completion reports by the public except under certain
circumstances. �Moreover], information obtained from well
logs cannot be published in reports and studies, unless
individual well owners sign a release form. Unlike
California, no other western state restricts access to well
completion reports to the public; most western states even
provide Internet access to well logs. This bill would bring
California's outdated law on well completion report
confidentiality up to the current industry standard in
western states and help meet the need for transparency in
groundwater information."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The San Gabriel Valley Water
Association believes "SB 263 contradicts existing state and
federal policies and would increase safety risks to public
water supplies. ?�W]ater systems must conduct vulnerability
assessments and implement homeland security measures to
help protect water supplies and facilities from sabotage
and attack. In support of these efforts, the California
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Department of Public Health, which oversees state-level
homeland security initiatives for water systems, no longer
releases physical well location information to the public.
SB 263 is in direct conflict with local, state and federal
efforts to protect public water supplies."
CTW:nl 5/31/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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