Bill Text: CA SB1124 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Public health goal: primary drinking water standard: manganese.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-08-11 - August 11 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. [SB1124 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SB1124-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  March 29, 2022

Amended  IN  Senate  March 14, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1124

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Introduced by Senator Archuleta

February 16, 2022

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An act to add Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 117200) to Part 12 of Division 104 of Section 116362 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to drinking water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1124, as amended, Archuleta. Central Basin Communities Water Reliability, Safe Drinking Water, and Recycled Water Expansion Act of 2022. Public health goal: primary drinking water standard: manganese.

The California Safe Drinking Water Act provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. Existing law requires the state board to adopt primary drinking water standards for contaminants in drinking water that are based upon specified criteria, as provided. Existing law requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to prepare and publish an assessment of the risks to public health posed by each contaminant for which the state board proposes a primary drinking water standard, as provided. Existing law requires the risk assessment to contain an estimate of the level of the contaminant in drinking water that is not anticipated to cause or contribute to adverse health effects, or that does not pose any significant risk to public health, also known as the public health goal for the contaminant. Existing law requires the state board to consider specified criteria when it adopts a primary drinking water standard, including the public health goal for the contaminant published by OEHHA.

This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2023, OEHHA to prepare a public health goal for manganese, as provided. The bill would require the state board, after OEHHA publishes a public health goal for manganese, to adopt a primary drinking water standard for manganese and to establish monitoring requirements for manganese, as specified. The bill would require, on or before January 31, 2024, the state board to consider establishing a notification or response level for manganese that would remain in place until the state board adopts a primary drinking water standard for manganese. The bill would authorize the state board, prior to adopting a primary drinking water standard for manganese, to continue to provide funding for treatment, source protection, and alternative water supplies, as provided, and to require community water systems to monitor manganese in their source water.

Existing law establishes the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund in the State Treasury to help water systems provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water in both the near and long terms. Existing law authorizes the board to provide for the deposit into the fund of certain moneys and continuously appropriates the moneys in the fund to the board for grants, loans, contracts, or services to assist eligible recipients. Existing law requires, by January 1, 2021, the board, in consultation with local health officers and other relevant stakeholders, to make publicly available, as specified, a map of aquifers that are used or likely to be used as a source of drinking water that are at high risk of containing contaminants that exceed safe drinking water standards.

This bill would enact the Central Basin Communities Water Reliability, Safe Drinking Water, and Recycled Water Expansion Act of 2022. The bill would establish the Central Basin Communities Water Reliability, Safe Drinking Water, and Recycled Water Expansion Fund in the State Treasury and would provide that unspecified sums of money are available upon appropriation by the Legislature from the fund to the board for specified purposes related to drinking water, including, but not limited to, protecting state, local, and regional drinking water systems located in the Central Basin from climate change, drought, catastrophic seismic damage, or failure from terrorist acts or other deliberate acts of destruction, competitive grants to eligible applicants, and improving local water security by reducing the use of potable water for nonpotable purposes.

The bill would impose requirements on recipients of fund moneys, including requiring a project receiving moneys from the fund to comply with prevailing wage requirements established in specified existing law, a violation of which is punishable by misdemeanor penalties. Because the willful violation of prevailing wage requirements when engaged in these projects would be punishable by misdemeanor penalties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the application of a crime.

The bill would require the board to annually review and update a specified drinking water assessment and, upon updating the assessment, to submit to the board’s Division of Drinking Water, among other things, a list of at-risk water systems in the Central Basin. The bill would require the board, by January 1, 2024, to use available data to make available a map of aquifers in the Central Basin that are, among other things, at high risk of containing contaminants. The bill would require, by January 1, 2024, a local health officer or other relevant local agency in the Central Basin to provide to the board all results of, and data associated with, certain water quality testing. By imposing additional requirements on local health officers and local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would impose various requirements on the Division of Drinking Water relating to assessment of and planning for the provision of safe drinking water in the Central Basin. The bill would require the board to adopt and provide for a sustainable plan for restoring safe drinking water in the Central Basin, as prescribed.

The bill would require the board, by July 1, 2026, to report to the Legislature on its progress restoring safe drinking water to Central Basin communities. The bill would require, at least once every 5 years, the Legislative Analyst’s Office to provide to the Legislature an assessment of the effectiveness of expenditures from the fund. The bill would require the board to create an internet website that provides data transparency for all of its activities pursuant to the bill.

The bill would provide that its provisions are severable.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Central Basin.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YESNO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 116362 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

116362.

 (a) On or before July 1, 2023, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment shall prepare and publish, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 116365, a public health goal for manganese.

(b) After the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment publishes a public health goal for manganese pursuant to subdivision (a), the state board shall do both of the following:

(1) Adopt, pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 116365, a primary drinking water standard for manganese.

(2) Establish appropriate monitoring requirements for manganese that shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) Routine distribution system monitoring.

(B) Distribution system monitoring after flushing activities.

(C) Monitoring when water is discolored or after a customer complains of discolored water.

(c) On or before January 31, 2024, the state board shall consider establishing, pursuant to Section 116456, a notification level or response level for manganese that would remain in place until the state board adopts a primary drinking water standard for manganese pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).

(d) Prior to the state board adopting a primary drinking water standard for manganese pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), the state board may do both of the following:

(1) Require a community water system, through general or individual orders, to monitor manganese in its source water and within its distribution system.

(2) Continue to provide funding for treatment, source protection, and alternative water supplies. To the extent authorized by the funding source, the state board may use exceedances of the secondary standard for manganese in the source water or within the distribution system of a community water system as a basis to prioritize funding.