BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1630
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 25, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Luis Alejo, Chair
AB 1630 (Alejo) - As Introduced: February 10, 2014
SUBJECT : Integrated water quality plan: Salinas Valley.
SUMMARY : Appropriates $2 million from the Waste Discharge
Permit Fund (WDPF) to the State Water Resources Control Board
(State Water Board) for use by the Greater Monterey County
Regional Water Management Group to develop an integrated plan to
address the drinking water and wastewater needs of the
disadvantaged communities in the Salinas Valley. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Appropriates to the State Water Board $2 million from the
fines and penalties moneys deposited into the WDPF for use by
the Greater Monterey County Regional Water Management Group to
develop an integrated plan to address the drinking water and
wastewater needs of disadvantaged communities in the Salinas
Valley whose waters have been affected by waste discharges.
2)Requires that the appropriated funds be available for
assessment and feasibility studies necessary to develop the
plan.
3)Requires the Greater Monterey County Regional Water Management
Group to develop the plan in consultation with appropriate
stakeholders, including the State Water Board, the State
Department of Public Health (DPH), and representatives of
disadvantaged communities.
4)Requires that the plan include identification of disadvantaged
communities without safe drinking water and recommendations
for planning, infrastructure, and other water management
actions that achieve affordable, sustainable solutions for
disadvantaged communities, including communities without
public water systems.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates the WDPF, into which waste discharge permit fees are
deposited. Requires that funds generated by the imposition of
fines, penalties, and liabilities be deposited into the WDPF.
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Requires these moneys to be separately accounted for, and to
be expended by the State Water Board, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, to assist regional boards, and other public
agencies with authority to clean up waste or abate the effects
of the waste, in cleaning up or abating the effects of the
waste on waters of the state.
2)Establishes, in the Integrated Regional Water Management
Planning Act, the Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM)
program. Authorizes a regional water management group to
prepare and adopt an integrated regional water management
plan.
3)Requires DPH to allocate $2 million of Drinking Water, Water
Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal
Protection Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 84) funds to Tulare
County for the development of an integrated water quality and
wastewater treatment program plan to address the drinking
water and wastewater needs of disadvantaged communities in the
Tulare Lake Basin. Requires the Department of Water Resources
(DWR), in consultation with DPH, to submit the plan to the
Legislature.
4)Requires the State Water Board to identify potential
remediation solutions and funding sources to recover costs
expended by the state to clean up or treat groundwater, and to
ensure the provision of safe drinking water to all
communities, requires the State Water Board to develop pilot
projects in the Tulare Lake Basin and the Salinas Valley that
focus on nitrate contamination and fulfill specific statutory
requirements.
5)Requires the State Water Board to prepare and submit a report
to the Legislature that will improve understanding of the
causes of nitrate groundwater contamination, identify
potential remediation solutions and funding sources to recover
costs expended by the state to clean up or treat groundwater,
and ensure the provision of safe drinking water to all
communities.
FISCAL EFFECT : Not known.
COMMENTS :
Need for the bill : According to the author's office, "The
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Salinas Valley is one of the regions in the country with the
largest agricultural production. However, years of intensive
fertilizer and pesticide use have left a legacy of water
pollution in the region's surface and groundwater. Nitrate
groundwater contamination not only imposes serious health risks
but it also results in major costs for small rural communities
like the ones in the Salinas Valley. The purpose of this bill
is to identify affordable and efficient ways in which Salinas
Valley water quality can be improved and communities can have
access to safe drinking water."
Nitrate contamination in California : Senate Bill SB X2 1
(Perata), Chapter 1, Statutes of 2008 Second Extraordinary
Session, required the State Water Board, in consultation with
other agencies, to prepare a report to the Legislature focusing
on nitrate groundwater contamination in the state and potential
remediation solutions. In response, the State Water Board
contracted with the University of California at Davis (UCD) to
gather information for the report, which was released in January
2012. The study showed that nitrate loading to groundwater in
the four-county Tulare Lake Basin and the Monterey County
portion of the Salinas Valley is widespread and chronic, and is
overwhelmingly the result of crop and animal agricultural
activities. Due to long transit times, the impact of nitrates
on groundwater resources will likely worsen in scope and
concentration for several decades.
According to the UCD study, infants who drink water containing
nitrate in excess of the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for
drinking water may quickly become seriously ill and, if
untreated, may die because high nitrate levels can decrease the
capacity of an infant's blood to carry oxygen
(methemoglobinemia, or "blue baby syndrome"). High nitrate
levels may also affect pregnant women and susceptible adults.
In addition, nitrate and nitrite ingestion in humans has been
linked to goitrogenic (anti-thyroid) actions on the thyroid
gland, fatigue, reduced cognitive functioning, maternal
reproductive complications, including spontaneous abortion, and
a variety of carcinogenic outcomes.
The UCD study proposed a range of actions that could be taken to
address groundwater and drinking water contamination, including
policy and regulatory changes and funding options. To examine
these proposed actions and to "identify specific, creative,
viable solutions," in June 2012, Governor Brown convened a
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Drinking Water Stakeholder Group. The Drinking Water
Stakeholder Group, comprised of representatives from, among
others, California state and local agencies, the agricultural
community, the environmental justice community, academia, and
other water-related entities, proposed three "urgent legislative
concepts," which were discussed and agreed upon at the August 1,
2012, meeting of the full Stakeholder Group. The Stakeholder
Group subsequently submitted an eight-page "Report of the
Drinking Water Stakeholder Group," dated August 20, 2012, of
which one of the proposed concepts was:
"Directly target funding for IRWMs (or other entity where
appropriate) to develop an inventory of need and a plan for
local solutions (including shared solutions) for
disadvantaged communities in unincorporated areas in each
hydrologic region of the state as is being used in the
Tulare Lake Basin Disadvantaged Community Water Study (SBX2
1 (Perata, 2008)). Begin with the Salinas Valley."
AB 1630 is based on this recommendation from the Drinking Water
Stakeholder Group.
Integrated regional water management (IRWM) : The IRWM program
was created by SB 1672
(Costa), Chapter 767, Statutes of 2002, to promote integrated
regional water management to ensure sustainable water uses,
reliable water supplies, better water quality, environmental
stewardship, efficient urban development, protection of
agriculture, and a strong economy. Subsequently, voter-approved
initiatives Proposition 50 (2002), Proposition 84 (2006), and
Proposition 1E (2006) have funded IRWM projects.
Nineteen organizations, including government agencies, nonprofit
organizations, educational organizations, water service
districts, private water companies, and organizations
representing agricultural, environmental, and community
interests created a "region" for the purposes of IRWM planning
and project implementation in Monterey County. In addition,
about 250 individuals representing more than 150 agencies,
organizations, and interest groups are included on the
stakeholder list for the Greater Monterey County IRWM planning
effort. Stakeholders are invited to attend Regional Water
Management Group meetings, participate in workshops, and provide
input and comments on the IRWM Plan.
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The goal of the Regional Water Management Group for the Greater
Monterey County is to create a comprehensive IRWM plan for the
Greater Monterey County region. According to the Regional Water
Management Group, the region includes the entire Salinas River
watershed north of the San Luis Obispo County line, and includes
the entire Monterey County exclusive of the Pajaro River
Watershed IRWM region and Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Bay, and
the South Monterey Bay IRWM region established under Proposition
50.
The Regional Water Management Group for the Greater Monterey
County is designated as the recipient of the funds appropriated
in AB 1630.
Waste Discharge Permit Fund (WDPF): Current law authorizes the
State Water Board and the Regional Water Boards to impose civil
liability, and fines and penalties under a variety of Water Code
and Health and Safety Code sections for certain statutory and/or
regulatory water quality and underground storage tank
violations. Revenues from these fines and penalties are
statutorily required to be deposited into the Cleanup and
Abatement Account (CAA) or a special account in the WDPF,
depending upon which statute is being used to impose the fine or
penalty. The WDPF also is funded by regulatory fees.
Current law allows the State Water Board to allocate moneys in
the CAA and the fines and penalties portion of the WDPF to
public agencies and to the regional water boards for cleaning up
or abating waste that adversely affects water quality, for
addressing water pollution problems that pose a public health
threat, and for overseeing the cleanup or abatement of water
pollution problems. Funds in the WDPF are subject to
appropriation by the Legislature.
Fines and penalty funds in the WDPF are statutorily required to
be tracked separately from the fees collected and deposited in
the fund. According to the State Water Board, there is
currently a balance of $2.9 million in the WDPF. In addition,
the balance of the fund will increase over time as a result of
continued enforcement actions and assessment and payment of
penalties.
The Governor's 2014-15 budget proposes an expenditure of $1.8
million from the WDPF to the State Water Board for enforcement
actions related to illegal marijuana cultivation and $500,000 in
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WDPF funding for the Department of Fish and Wildlife for similar
enforcement actions. The proposed funding for AB 1630 would
conflict with the Governor's proposed budget.
Prior legislation : This bill is a reintroduction of AB 1
(Alejo, 2013). AB 1 passed out of the Assembly Environmental
Safety and Toxic Materials Committee on a 6-0 vote, but was held
in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Similar legislation
was proposed in 2012. That bill, AB 403 (Alejo), passed out of
the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on a 6 - 0 vote, but
was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of California Water Agencies
Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
Opposition
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Bob Fredenburg / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965