Bill Text: CA AB2601 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Assembly Bill 2601 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Building standards: residential property: graywater.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AB2601 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB2601-Introduced.html

BILL NUMBER: AB 2601	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Eggman

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2016

   An act to amend Section 17922.12 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to building standards.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2601, as introduced, Eggman. Building standards: residential
property: graywater.
   The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of
building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies
that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit
the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission
for approval and adoption.
   Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community
Development to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of building
standards to the commission relating to hotels, motels, lodging
houses, apartment houses, and dwellings, and the buildings and
structures accessory thereto, except as specified. Existing law
requires the department to adopt and submit to the commission for
approval building standards for the construction, installation, and
alteration of graywater, as defined, systems for indoor and outdoor
uses.
   This bill would require the department, on or after January 1,
2017, to adopt and submit to the commission for approval amendments
to the building standards adopted pursuant to these provisions that
require that all new single-family and duplex residential dwelling
units include specified components to allow the separate discharge of
graywater for direct irrigation and that all new single-family
residential dwelling units include a segregated building drain for
lavatories, showers, and bathtubs to allow for future installation of
a distributed graywater system.
   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 17922.12 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
   17922.12.  (a) For the purposes of this section, "graywater" means
untreated wastewater that has not been contaminated by any toilet
discharge, has not been affected by infectious, contaminated, or
unhealthy bodily wastes, and does not present a threat from
contamination by unhealthful processing, manufacturing, or operating
wastes. "Graywater" includes wastewater from bathtubs, showers,
bathroom washbasins, clothes washing machines, and laundry tubs, but
does not include wastewater from kitchen sinks or dishwashers.
   (b) Notwithstanding Chapter 22 (commencing with Section 14875) of
Division 7 of the Water Code, at the next triennial building
standards rulemaking cycle that commences on or after January 1,
2009, the department shall adopt and submit for approval pursuant to
Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 building
standards for the construction, installation, and alteration of
graywater systems for indoor and outdoor uses.
   (c) In adopting building standards under this section, the
department shall do all of the following:
   (1) Convene and consult a stakeholder's group that includes
members with expertise in public health, water quality, geology or
soils, residential plumbing, home building, and environmental
stewardship.
   (2) Ensure protection of water quality in accordance with
applicable provisions of state and federal water quality law.
   (3) Consider existing research available on the environmental
consequences to soil and groundwater of short-term and long-term
graywater use for irrigation purposes, including, but not limited to,
research sponsored by the Water Environment Research Foundation.
   (4) Consider graywater use impacts on human health.
   (5) Consider the circumstances under which the use of in-home
graywater treatment systems is recommended.
   (6) Consider the use and regulation of graywater in other
jurisdictions within the United States and in other nations.
   (d) The department may revise and update the standards adopted
under this section at any time, and the department shall reconsider
these standards at the next triennial rulemaking that commences after
their adoption.
   (e) The approval by the California Building Standards Commission
of the standards for graywater systems adopted under this section
shall terminate the authority of the Department of Water Resources to
adopt and update standards for the installation, construction, and
alteration of graywater systems in residential buildings pursuant to
Chapter 22 (commencing with Section 14875) of Division 7 of the Water
Code. 
   (f) On or after January 1, 2017, the department shall adopt and
submit for approval pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
18935) of Part 2.5 amendments to the building standards adopted
pursuant to this section that require the following:  
   (1) That all new single-family and duplex residential dwelling
units include the following to allow the separate discharge of
graywater for direct irrigation:  
   (A) Either a separate multiple pipe outlet or a diverter valve.
 
   (B) A stub-out installation on hookups for clothes washing
machines.  
   (2) That all new single-family residential dwelling units include
a building drain for lavatories, showers, and bathtubs, segregated
from drains for all other plumbing fixtures and connected a minimum
of three feet beyond the limits of the foundations, to allow for
future installation of a distributed graywater system.