BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 263
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 263 (Pavley)
As Amended August 29, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :25-14
WATER, PARKS & WILDLIFE 8-4 GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION 9-5
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|Ayes:|Huffman, Blumenfield, |Ayes:|Hall, Atkins, Block, |
| |Fong, Gatto, Roger | |Gatto, Hill, Ma, Perea, |
| |Hern�ndez, Hueso, Lara, | |V. Manuel P�rez, Torres |
| |Yamada | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Halderman, Bill |Nays:|Nestande, Cook, Garrick, |
| |Berryhill, Jones, Olsen | |Jeffries, |
| | | |Silva |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 11-6
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, | | |
| |Bradford, Campos, Davis, | | |
| |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, | | |
| |Mitchell, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Harkey, Charles Calderon, | | |
| |Donnelly, Nielsen, Norby, | | |
| |Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to
make publicly available the reports that well drillers must
submit when a well is constructed, deepened, reperforated, or
destroyed.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires any person who digs, bores, or drills a water well,
cathodic protection well, or a monitoring well, or abandons or
destroys a well, or deepens or reperforates a well, to file a
SB 263
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report of completion with DWR.
2)Prohibits those well completion reports from being made
available to the public, except under certain circumstances.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, an ongoing annual cost of between $100,000 and
$125,000 to DWR to remove, consistent with existing state law,
identifying personal information from well completion reports.
(General Fund or special fund.)
COMMENTS : 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, also known as drillers' logs
or well logs, provide a snapshot in time of the geology,
groundwater table, and conditions at the location where a well
is constructed, deepened, reperforated, or destroyed. Well
completion reports include, among other things, the location and
depth of the well, the type of soils encountered at each
drilling elevation, depth to water, etc. In 1965, the
Legislature authorized DWR to establish regulations governing
the proper construction of water wells and to require all well
completion reports be filed with DWR. The legislative record
does not give any insight as to why the reports were made
confidential but the conjecture is that it was at the request of
well drillers because information on the soils and geology of an
area provide a competitive advantage.
According to the author, much information pinpointing well
locations is currently available on the Internet but what the
completion reports contain, which is not commonly available, are
details regarding subsurface geology and water levels. This
geophysical information is critical to groundwater managers,
consulting hydrologists, academics, community interest groups
and homeowners who cannot currently access it. The author
states that well completion reports can be used to construct
detailed underground aquifer maps which, along with
hydrogeological data, are essential to developing and
implementing groundwater management plans, including determining
possible locations for efficient and effective groundwater
banking, identifying key recharge areas, and better protecting
and improve groundwater quality. Supporters point out that in
other states reviewing well logs is considered due diligence
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when buying a home with an existing well or drilling a new well
and that no other western state restricts access to well
completion reports - even after the September 11 terrorist
attacks - and that most western states even provide Internet
access to well reports. Supporters advise that this bill would
help meet the need for transparency in groundwater information.
Opponents of this bill state that allowing members of the public
to request well completion reports from DWR could provide
terrorists and saboteurs with well locations and increase safety
risks to public water supplies. Opponents maintain that, since
water systems must conduct vulnerability assessments and
implement homeland security measures to help protect water
supplies and facilities, making well information publicly
available is in direct conflict with those goals as well as
local, state and federal efforts. Opponents assert, generally,
that the drinking and wastewater sectors are vulnerable to a
variety of attacks and point out that DPH, which oversees
state-level homeland security initiatives for water systems, no
longer releases physical well location information to the
public.
The Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee analysis noted
that much general information about well locations can be
obtained from public water planning documents freely available
on the Internet and that exact locations could be easily
determined by using images from Google Earth or by driving or
walking past well structures - many of which are clearly marked
as water wells - while information important for well
evaluations or water management including soils, geology, and
depth to water is not widely available.
Analysis Prepared by : Tina Cannon Leahy / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096
FN: 0002256