CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill No. 134

Introduced by Assembly Member Bloom

December 05, 2018

An act relating to water.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 134, as introduced, Bloom. Safe, clean, affordable, and accessible drinking water.
Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. Existing law declares it to be 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.
This bill would state findings and declarations relating to the intent of the Legislature to adopt policies to ensure that every Californian has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible drinking water.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Pursuant to Section 106.3 of the Water Code, every human being in the State of California has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption.
(b) Unfortunately, over one million Californians are exposed to unsafe drinking water each year. Children are particularly at risk because as many as one in four schools in the Central Valley have been impacted by unsafe drinking water.
(c) In fact, a significant number of California communities, especially disadvantaged communities, rely on a contaminated groundwater source for their drinking water supply. Contaminants include nitrate, arsenic, and disinfectant byproducts.
(d) The State Water Resources Control Board has identified a total of 331 water systems that are in violation of water quality standards. These water systems serve an estimated 500,000 people throughout the state. Additionally, the number of water systems with 14 or fewer connections that are currently in violation of water quality standards is estimated to be in the thousands.
(e) Of the 331 systems identified by the State Water Resources Control Board, 68 have violations associated with nitrates and in some cases, additional contaminants. In some of these water systems, unsafe contamination levels persist over time because the local agency cannot generate sufficient revenue from its customer base to implement, operate, or maintain the improvements necessary to address the problem.
(f) The challenge in these systems is often a product of a combination of factors, including the high costs of the investments required, low income of the customers, and the small number of customers across whom the costs would need to be spread.
(g) Water treatment systems are the key to providing safe drinking water to these communities, but the installation, operation, and maintenance of such systems are often very costly and there is no source of funding dedicated to this ongoing need.
(h) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to adopt policies that will end this injustice and ensure that pursuant to California law, every Californian has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible drinking water.