BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1063
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1063 (Ted Gaines)
As Amended April 23, 2012
2/3 vote. Urgency
SENATE VOTE :37-0
ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 9-0
APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Wieckowski, Miller, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Campos, Chesbro, Davis, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Donnelly, Feuer, Bonnie | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Lowenthal, Morrell | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Exempts Bear Lake Reservoir from bodily contact in a
reservoir prohibition. Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows recreational activities that include body contact at
the Bear Lake Reservoir in Alpine County provided that the
drinking water system operator meets the following conditions:
a) Completes water treatment including coagulation,
flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection in
compliance with California Department of Public Health
(CDPH) regulations before being used for domestic purposes.
Requires the disinfection to include ozonation or
ultraviolet disinfection capable of inactivating organisms
such as giardia and cryptosporidium;
b) Monitors for total coliform bacteria, which includes E
coli and fecal coliform at the reservoir intake;
c) Complies with CDPH regulation and additional conditions
and restrictions adopted by the operating agency or CDPH.
2)Requires Lake Alpine Water Company to submit a report by
January 1, 2015, to the Legislature and CDPH on the
recreational uses at Bear Lake Reservoir and on the treatment
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at the reservoir.
3)Sunsets allowable body contact recreation at the Bear Valley
Reservoir on January 1, 2016.
4)Provides that this is an urgency measure. Two-thirds vote
required.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes as state policy that all public waters are to be
used for multiple purposes, to the extent that the uses are
consistent with public health and safety. (Health and Safety
Code Section 115825)
2)Prohibits body contact recreation in a reservoir where water
is stored for domestic use, but makes exceptions for all
reservoirs in San Diego County, the Nacimiento Reservoir in
San Luis Obispo County, the Modesto Reservoir in Stanislaus
County, and Sly Park Reservoir in El Dorado County and Canyon
Lake Reservoir in Riverside County. (Health and Safety Code
Section 115825 et seq)
3)Allows body contact recreation in reservoirs constructed and
operated as part of the State Water Project by providing that
body contact recreation shall be permitted on all such
reservoirs to the extent that it is compatible with public
health and safety requirements. (Water Code Section 12944(a))
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill will result in minor absorbable costs to
CDPH to review and monitor reservoir water quality management
activities and data and take enforcement action, if necessary.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill . According to the author, the problem this
bill solves is that the bodily contact exemption for Bear Lake
Reservoir sunseted in 2007 and was not discovered by CDPH or the
new administration at the county or Lake Alpine Water Company
until years later. This bill will rectify that error and bring
the county back into compliance with state law.
Bear Lake Reservoir is a 13 acre private lake that has minimal
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recreational use. Only members and guests of the Bear Valley
Residents Incorporated are allowed to use the lake. The number
of visitors averages 10 per day with a maximum of 50 per day
during the summer. The lake is located at an elevation of about
7,100 feet and the water is very cold, which also minimizes body
contact recreation. No motorized watercrafts are allowed in the
lake and no pets are allowed along the shoreline or in the
water.
The Lake Alpine Water Company treats the lake water with a
membrane microfiltration plant. In addition, the treatment
plant includes chlorination disinfection treatment.
Cryptosporidium and giardia . According to the CDPH Guidelines
for Evaluating Applications for Recreational Use Permits at
Domestic Water Supply Reservoirs in the 1980s and 1990s two
pathogenic organisms were identified as important causative
agents in waterborne disease - giardia and cryptosporidium.
These pathogens are very difficult to detect using standard
analytical techniques. As a result, recognition has grown among
water suppliers and regulatory agencies that indicator organisms
are of limited usefulness in predicting the safety of water
sources.
Cryptosporidium oocytes are common and widespread in ambient
water and can persist for months in this environment. The dose
that can infect humans is low, and a number of waterborne
disease outbreaks caused by this protozoan have occurred in the
United States. Otherwise healthy people recover within several
weeks after becoming ill, but illness may persist and contribute
to death in those whose immune systems have been seriously
weakened (e.g., AIDS patients). Drugs effective in preventing
or controlling this disease are not yet available. The public
health concern is worsened by the resistance of cryptosporidium
to commonly used water disinfection practices such as
chlorination. However, a well-operated water filtration system
is capable of removing at least 99% of cryptosporidium oocytes
in the water. Monitoring for this organism in water is
currently difficult and expensive. EPA believes that there is
sufficient information to conclude that cryptosporidium may
cause a health problem and occurs in public water supplies at
levels that may pose a risk to human health.
Prior exemption from bodily contact prohibitions at Bear Lake
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Reservoir . AB 1934 (Leslie) Chapter 374, Statutes of 2004,
exempted Bear Lake Reservoir from the bodily contact
prohibition, allowing bodily contact under specified conditions.
The exemption granted by AB 1934 to the Bear Lake Reservoir
sunseted on January 1, 2007. The provisions and requirements of
this bill generally mirror those adopted by the Legislature in
the provisions of AB 1934.
In reviewing the previous exemption granted, it was found that
the Lake Alpine Water Company had not complied with AB 1934 by
failing to compile and submit the required report to the
Legislature or CDPH and by continuing to allow bodily contact in
the reservoir through 2010 without statutory authorization.
In June 2011, CDPH issued a letter to the Lake Alpine Water
Company notifying them that they were in violation of Section
115825 (b), Article 1, Chapter 5 of the Health and Safety Code,
prohibiting bodily contact. The Lake Alpine Water Company
responded to the letter by prohibiting bodily contact in 2011,
and submitting the requisite report to the Legislature.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965
FN: 0004672