BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 371 (Salas) - Sewage sludge: Kern County.
Amended: June 23, 2014 Policy Vote: EQ 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014 Consultant:
Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 371 would require the State Water Resources
Control Board (board) to require additional testing for
specified substances in sewage sludge applied on properties in
Kern County.
Fiscal Impact:
Annual costs of at least $70,000 from the Waste Discharge
Permit Fund (special) in 2015 and 2016 to the board to
require testing of permitees and review results
One-time costs of $60,000 from the General Fund in 2015 to
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR) to drill groundwater testing wells.
Annual costs of at least $36,000 from the General Fund in
2015 and 2016 to CDCR for required groundwater testing.
Background: Sewage sludge refers to the solids separated during
the treatment of municipal wastewater. "Biosolids" refer to
treated sewage sludge, which may be used for other purposes,
depending on its quality, including as a fertilizer through land
application, as alternative daily cover at landfills, and as a
fuel. Existing federal regulations (40 CFR Part 503) governs the
land application of biosolids and generally classifies biosolids
into two classes- "Class A" and "Class B." Both these two
classes must meet the same minimum standards on metal
concentrations, though they differ on pathogen levels.
Federal regulations also specify testing procedures, including
frequencies, based on the amount of biosolids applied annually.
Existing state law, requires the board or regional board to
prescribe general waste discharge requirements for dewatered,
treated, or chemically fixed sewage sludge and other biological
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solids including minimum standards for agronomic application of
sewage sludge (Water Code �13274). The requirements are required
to mitigate significant environmental impacts, potential soil
erosion, odors, degradation of surface water quality or fish or
wildlife habitat, the accidental release of hazardous
substances, and any potential hazard to the public health or
safety. The board is authorized to charge a reasonable fee to
cover the cost related to administering the general waste
discharge requirements.
Proposed Law: This bill would require the board to require
additional testing of sewage sludge land applied in Kern County
for pathogens, endotoxins, and other chemicals of concern for an
additional two times a year from January 1, 2015 to December 31,
2016. This bill specifies the additional "pathogens and
endotoxins" to be tested, such as chlorphyrifos, E. coli, DDT,
iron, manganese, PCBs, and tin, although the board may identify
additional hazards for testing based on the potential for
groundwater contamination or adverse effects on human health.
The board would be required to review the test results and to
submit a report to the Legislature after each test conducted
regarding the results.
The board would also be required to monitor shallow groundwater
that is beneath or downgradient from a biological solids
application site in Kern County that have applied sewage sludge.
The monitoring would be required to occur at least once in the
spring and once in the fall.
Staff Comments: This bill would require additional testing of
biosolids, presumably at the site of land application (see
comment below regarding technical and clarifying amendments),
and groundwater for a number of listed constituents. The testing
costs would be borne by the entity which is land applying the
substances, however, the board would incur costs to communicate
this requirement to that entity, likely through a modification
to the entity's waste discharge permit. The board could incur
cost should it identify additional constituents that should be
tested. The board would be required to submit the testing
results to the Legislature and the Kern County Board of
Supervisors. While the board is not explicitly required to
analyze the results, it is reasonable to assume that the board
would at least have to do a rough analysis of the testing
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results to give context to the numbers for the Legislature and
the county. The annual costs for this responsibility would be
$70,000 per year for 2015 and 2016.
The board notes that are four constituents that will be
difficult or impossible to test for reliably. They are: estrogen
(no US lab performs this test on biosolids), Chlorphyrifos
(difficult sampling method), C. perfringens (no standardized
method for biosolids), and ethanol (difficult sampling method).
Should this bill be enacted with any of these four constituents,
there will likely be significant additional costs to the board
to determine how to comply with the testing requirement.
There are two CDCR facilities in Kern County which store
biosolids (Tehachapi and Kern Valley). As this bill applies to
biosolids that "occur" on lands in Kern County, it is unclear
whether biosolids stored on land in Kern County are affected. If
so, CDCR would incur approximately $35,000 in testing costs
annually in 2015 and 2016. Additionally, CDCR would need to
drill groundwater testing wells as none currently exist at a
one-time cost of $60,000.
Staff notes that there are a number of technical and clarifying
amendments that the author may wish to consider:
This bill should clarify that this bill is requiring the
testing of specific substances, not "the effects of sewage
sludge."
This bill refers to biosolids that "occurs" on properties. The
bill should be clarified as to whether it only applies to
biosolids that are land applied.
This bill should also clarify if the additional testing is to
occur at the site of land application or at the source.
Different tests are currently required at both points of the
process.
The list of constituents that are required to be tested are
identified in the bill as "pathogens and endotoxins." However,
most of the constituents listed are neither pathogens nor
endotoxins.