Bill Text: CA AB2737 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Safe drinking water.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-05-23 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Held under submission. [AB2737 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB2737-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2737	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 21, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials
(Assembly Members Alejo (Chair), Dahle (Vice Chair), Bloom,
Donnelly, Stone, and Ting)

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2014

   An act to add Section 116327 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to safe drinking water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2737, as amended, Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic
Materials. Safe drinking water.
   Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, enacts
provisions governing drinking water quality, and requires the State
Department of Public Health ensure that all public water systems, as
defined, are operated in compliance with the act. Among other things,
the act requires the department to adopt primary drinking water
standards for contaminants in drinking water, as specified. Existing
law also authorizes the department to fund improvements and
expansions of small community water systems and to give priority to
funding projects in disadvantaged communities.
   This bill would require the department to develop and implement
 a pilot project in the Counties of Fresno, Imperial, and
Monterey   pilot projects in the geographical areas
known as Salinas Valley, Tulare Lake Basin, and Coachella Valley
 to collect data to determine the schools and communities in
each county, particularly those located in economically disadvantaged
areas, in which high levels of arsenic or nitrate contamination have
been detected in the drinking water, and any other data or
information necessary to develop regulations to implement effective
solutions to contamination of the drinking water, including
regulations governing water treatment devices. The bill would also
require the department to work cooperatively with community-based
nonprofit organizations to develop and implement effective interim
and long-term solutions designed to ensure safe drinking water in
those communities, and to provide technical assistance to those
organizations to improve drinking water. 
   The bill would require the pilot projects to be in effect for a
minimum of 3 years. The bill would require the department, upon
completion of the pilot projects, to submit a report to the
Legislature on the results of the pilot projects. The bill would
require the pilot projects to include specified elements, including
consideration of the use of point-of-use or point-of-entry water
treatment systems based on cost and system effectiveness. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 116327 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   116327.  The department shall develop and implement  a
 pilot  project in the Counties of Fresno, Imperial,
and Monterey   projects in the geographical areas known
as Salinas Valley, Tulare Lake Basin, and Coachella Valley,  to
do all of the following:
   (a) Collect data to determine the schools and communities in each
county, particularly those located in economically disadvantaged
areas, in which high levels of arsenic or nitrate contamination have
been detected in the drinking water, and any other data or
information necessary to develop regulations to implement effective
solutions to contamination of the drinking water, including
regulations governing water treatment devices.
   (b) Work cooperatively with community-based nonprofit
organizations to develop and implement effective interim and
long-term solutions designed to ensure safe drinking water in those
communities.
   (c) Provide technical assistance to community-based nonprofit
organizations to improve drinking water. 
   (d) The pilot projects shall be in effect for a minimum of three
years. Upon completion of the pilot projects, the department shall
submit a report to the Legislature on the results of the pilot
projects. The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section
9795 of the Government Code. The pilot projects shall do all of the
following:  
   (1) Include installation costs as well as operations and
maintenance costs for a minimum of three years.  
   (2) Consider the use of point-of-use or point-of-entry water
treatment systems based on cost and system effectiveness.  
   (3) Provide technical assistance to community-based nonprofit
organizations to improve drinking water.