BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 371
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Date of Hearing: January 28, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 371 (Salas) - As Amended: January 27, 2014
SUBJECT : Sewage Sludge Testing in Kern County.
SUMMARY : Requires testing of sewage sludge being applied in
Kern County. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board)
to conduct testing on the effects of sewage sludge or other
biological solids to occur on properties in unincorporated
areas of Kern County where sewage sludge or other biological
solids are imported from another California county.
2)The testing of the Kern County sewage sludge by the State
Board shall take place on
January 1, 2015 to January 1, 2017 and includes, but is not
limited to:
a) Potential for groundwater contamination;
b) Pathogens;
c) Endotoxins; and
d) Other hazards that may adversely affect human health
originating in sewage sludge or other biological solids.
3)The testing shall take place after each application of the
sewage sludge, but no fewer than two times per year.
4)Results for the State Board Testing shall be submitted after
each test to the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety
and Toxic Materials and the Kern County Board of Supervisors.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Under the California Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989:
a. Requires each city or county source reduction
and recycling element to include an implementation
schedule that shows a city or county must divert 50%
of solid waste generated in the jurisdiction (Public
Resources Code � 40051). The Department of Resources
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Recycling and Recovery (DRRR) is responsible to ensure
that by January 1, 2020, 75% of the solid waste
generated in California is source reduced, recycled,
or composted (Public Resources Code � 41780.01).
b. Declares that it is in the public interest for
the state to authorize and require local agencies, as
subdivisions of the state, to make adequate provisions
for solid waste handling, both within their respective
jurisdictions and in response to regional needs
(Public Resource Code �40002).
c. Authorizes a city or county to assess special
fees of a reasonable amount on the importation of
waste from outside of the county to publicly-owned or
privately-owned facilities (Public Resource Code
�41903).
2) Under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act, provides
that the State Board and the nine California regional water
quality control boards (Regional Boards) are the principal
state agencies with responsibility for the coordination and
control of water quality in California (Water Code �13000
et seq.).
3) Requires the State Board or each Regional Board, upon
receipt of an application, to prescribe general waste
discharge requirements (WDRs) for dischargers of dewatered,
treated, or chemically fixed sewage sludge and other
biological solids, and specifies that their prescription
shall be considered to be ministerial (Water Code �13274).
4) Requires the general WDR to set minimum standards for
agronomic applications of sewage sludge and other
biological solids. The WDRs require that the use of sludge
and those other solids in agriculture, forestry, and
surface mining reclamation must mitigate significant
environmental impacts or potential public health hazards
(Water Code �13274).
FISCAL EFFECT : Not known.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill . According the author, "AB 371 will fill gaps
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in government testing of sewage sludge being dumped in Kern
County. This bill will fill the gaps that exist in our testing,
and let science shape our approach to finding a solution that
will hopefully lead to discontinuing the dumping of harmful
sewage sludge in Kern County. The new testing requirement will
address the dumping of sewage (sludge) and the effects it has on
the health, safety, and water quality in rural areas of Kern
County. It is our responsibility to insure that rural
communities are protected from unfairly being targeted and
dumped on - literally. Uncontrolled dumping of sewage sludge
threatens our water and the public health of our communities."
Sewage Sludge . According to the US Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA), "sewage sludge" refers to the solids separated
during the treatment of municipal wastewater. The definition
includes domestic sewage. "Biosolids" refers to treated sewage
sludge that meets the EPA pollutant and pathogen requirements
for land application and surface disposal. The most common
treatment of sewage sludge in the western region of the US is by
anaerobic digestion to "Class B" pathogen reduction levels.
About 1/3 of the biosolids receive further treatment to "Class
A" pathogen reduction levels, by means such as composting, solar
air-drying, alkali treatment, thermophilic digestion,
pasteurization, or heat drying. Many small treatment plants use
methods of treatment other than anaerobic digestion, such as air
drying, aerobic digestion, or lime treatment. Under certain
conditions, these processes meet "Class B" pathogen reduction.
Public health and sewage sludge . According to a 2002, National
Research Council report entitled, Biosolids Applied to Land:
Advancing Standards and Practices, "Toxic chemicals, infectious
organisms, and endotoxins or cellular material may all be
present in biosolids. There are anecdotal reports attributing
adverse health effects to biosolids exposures, ranging from
relatively mild irritant and allergic reactions to severe and
chronic health outcomes. Odors are a common complaint about
biosolids, and greater consideration should be given to whether
odors from biosolids could have adverse health effects.
However, a causal association between biosolids exposures and
adverse health outcomes has not been documented. To date,
epidemiological studies have not been conducted on exposed
populations, such as biosolids appliers, farmers who use
biosolids on their fields, and communities near land application
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sites".
The City of Los Angeles, Orange County Sanitation District, Los
Angeles County Sanitation District No. 2, and others send
hundreds of tons of bio-solids to Green Acres Farm, which the
City of Los Angeles owns, and the privately-owned Honey Bucket
Farms in Kern County.
Kern County action on sewage sludge . In 2006, the voters of
Kern County approved Measure E to ban the importation of sewage
sludge into Kern County. It is sometimes called "the
anti-sludge ordinance," since it bans the importation into Kern
County of sludge (sewage) from other counties. The ballot
question read, "Shall the ordinance prohibiting the land
application of biosolids in the unincorporated area of Kern
County be adopted?"
Other actions on bio-solids . Kern County is not alone in
regulating the application on bio-solids. Imperial County
adopted an ordinance (Measure X) similar to Kern County's
Measure E. Other ordinances that essentially bans on land
application of bio-solids have been adopted by San Joaquin
County, Stanislaus County, and Sutter County. In addition,
practical bans have been adopted in at least 14 other counties
across the state. Finally, San Luis Obispo County adopted a
restrictive permanent ordinance on March 12, 2013.
Arguments in opposition . According to the San Francisco Public
Utilities Commission, "AB 371 would establish unnecessary and
excessive testing of biosolids used in land applications in Kern
County. Biosolids are already tested and monitored by the
sanitation agencies which produce them? Most troubling to the
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is the
precedent this bill sets for entities that wish to land-apply
biosolids in other counties in California."
Prior related legislation :
AB 845 (Ma) - 2012. AB 845 prohibits an ordinance enacted by a
city or county, including an ordinance enacted by initiative by
the voters of a city or county, from otherwise restricting or
limiting the importation of solid waste into a privately-owned
solid waste facility in that city or county based on place of
origin. AB 845 as approved by the legislature and signed into
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law, Chapter 526, Statues of 2012.
SB 926 (Florez) - 2005. AB 926 would have allowed the Kern
County Board of Supervisors to regulate or prohibit, by
ordinance, the importation of sewage sludge from another
California county for application to land within the county's
jurisdiction. AB 926 was held in the Assembly Local Government
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
California Association of Sanitation Agencies
City of Los Angeles
County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County
Orange County Sanitation District
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965