BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1130
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1130
AUTHOR: Roth
AMENDED: March 26, 2014
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: April 2, 2014
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Rachel Machi
Wagoner
SUBJECT : DRINKING WATER: COUNTY WATER COMPANY OF RIVERSIDE
WATER SYSTEM: LIABILITY
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1) Under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA),
a) Authorizes the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (US EPA) to set standards for drinking water
quality and to oversee the states, localities and water
suppliers who implement those standards.
b) Establishes the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
(DWSRF) program, which authorizes the US EPA to award
capitalization grants to states and authorizes the
states to, in turn, provide low-cost loans and other
types of assistance to public water systems to finance
the costs of infrastructure projects needed to achieve
or maintain compliance with federal SDWA requirements.
2) Under the California SDWA,
a) Requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to
regulate drinking water and to enforce the federal SDWA
and other related regulations.
b) Authorizes DPH to delegate regulatory authority for
small water systems (fewer than 200 service connections)
to local primacy agencies (counties).
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c) Establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving
Fund (SDWSRF) and continuously appropriates the SDWSRF
to DPH to provide grants or revolving fund loans for the
design and construction of projects for public water
systems that will enable suppliers to meet safe drinking
water standards.
3) Declares the established policy of the state that every
human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and
accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking,
and sanitary purposes. All relevant state agencies, shall
consider this state policy when revising, adopting, or
establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria when
those policies, regulations, and criteria are pertinent to
the uses of water, as specified.
4) Under the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, provides
for the formation of municipal water districts, grants to
those districts specified powers and permits a district to
acquire, control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat,
purify, recycle, recapture, and salvage any water for the
beneficial use of the district, its inhabitants, or the
owners of rights to water in the district.
This bill :
1) Exempts the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District
(EVMWD), the Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), the
Western Municipal Water District, and the Metropolitan
Water District of Southern California from liability, as
prescribed, for claims by past or existing County Water
Company of Riverside customers or those who consumed water
provided through the County Water Company of Riverside
water system prior to and during the interim operation
period, as specified.
2) Prohibits the immunity from liability from being construed
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either to relieve any water district, water wholesaler, or
any other entity from compliance with drinking water
standards, impair any cause of action or proceeding brought
by specified public entities, or to extend to claims
alleging the taking of property without compensation.
3) Requires the interim operation period to last until
permanent replacement facilities are accepted by the EVMWD
and the EMWD with the concurrence of DPH, or December 31,
2015, whichever occurs first.
4) Requires DPH to extend the interim operation period for up
to 3 successive one-year periods at the request of the
Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and the Eastern
Municipal Water District, as prescribed.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, this bill would
allow the public agencies of EMWD and EVMWD to extend water
service and provide the necessary assistance to the 140
service connections currently being served by the County
Water Company of Riverside, without being held liable for
past administrative or operational deficiencies of the
existing water system, including litigation costs.
2) Background . The County Water Company of Riverside, a small
privately owned, non-mutual water company, currently owns a
well which is the sole water supply serving 140 homes in
western Riverside County.
This well is operationally unreliable and fails to meet
state drinking water standards. It is also functionally
unable to provide emergency life-saving fire flows if
needed. On several occasions this well has been totally
unable to pump water, leaving residents without a supply of
piped water for extended periods of time. Residents within
the County Water Company system have been placed in the
situation wherein the water they drink, cook, and bathe in
comes from a roadside tanker or bottles purchased from the
store.
Neighboring public water providers have stepped up to
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provide customers of the County Water Company with
emergency water service until a long-term solution can be
established. However, interim assistance and the
development of temporary solutions can open the existing
public agencies up to liabilities stemming from past
actions of the County Water Company.
Riverside County health officials have asked two adjacent
local water agencies for assistance in providing both
short-term and long-term solutions to the health and safety
risks the residents face as a result of this failing water
system. Such assistance comes with the risk of liability
and potential costs to the existing ratepayers of the
agencies offering assistance.
In an effort to protect existing public water agency
customers, while working to secure the health and safety of
the County Water Company of Riverside residents, EMWD and
EVMWD are seeking to establish a narrowly crafted bill that
would provide legal protections that would allow the public
agencies to move forward with assisting those families in
crisis.
3) While this bill is narrowly drafted to address immediate
and urgent needs of a small community in Riverside County,
the case of the County Water Company of Riverside raises
several questions:
a) How many small, private or mutual water companies are
there in California that are not in compliance with the
Safe Drinking Water Act and are delivering unsafe
drinking water?
b) How long have these residents or residents in other
small water systems been receiving unsafe water?
c) Why has the state DPH or County of Riverside DPH
allowed this system to continue delivering water and
collecting fees for delivering undrinkable water for as
long as they have?
The Senate Environmental Quality Committee has had
informational and legislative hearings to discuss some of
the deficiencies that exist in the delivery of clean, safe
drinking water in California. This case is an illustration
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of where the state and local public health officials have
failed.
4) Double Referral to Senate Judiciary Committee . This bill
primarily relates to issues of liability relief for the two
water districts, which will be considered by the Senate
Judiciary Committee. If this measure is approved by the
Senate Environmental Quality Committee, the do pass motion
must include the action to re-refer the bill to the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
SOURCE : Eastern Municipal Water District
Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District
SUPPORT : California Special Districts Association
County of Riverside
OPPOSITION : None on file