Bill Text: CA AB2639 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Water quality: Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - Died at Desk. [AB2639 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB2639-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2639 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Section 13050 of the Water Code, relating to water
quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2639, as introduced, Eduardo Garcia. Water quality:
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and
the California regional water quality control boards prescribe waste
discharge requirements in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act
and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (state act). The
state act defines various terms for its purposes.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these definitions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 13050 of the Water Code is amended to read:
13050. As used in this division:
(a) "State board" means the State Water Resources Control Board.
(b) "Regional board" means any California regional water quality
control board for a region as specified in Section 13200.
(c) "Person" includes any city, county, district, the state, and
the United States, to the extent authorized by federal law.
(d) "Waste" includes sewage and any and all other waste
substances, liquid, solid, gaseous, or radioactive, associated with
human habitation, or of human or animal origin, or from any
producing, manufacturing, or processing operation, including waste
placed within containers of whatever nature prior to, and for
purposes of, disposal.
(e) "Waters of the state" means any surface water or groundwater,
including saline waters, within the boundaries of the state.
(f) "Beneficial uses" of the waters of the state that may be
protected against quality degradation include, but are not limited
to, domestic, municipal, agricultural and industrial supply; power
generation; recreation; aesthetic enjoyment; navigation; and
preservation and enhancement of fish, wildlife, and other aquatic
resources or preserves.
(g) "Quality of the water" refers to chemical, physical,
biological, bacteriological, radiological, and other properties and
characteristics of water which that
affect its use.
(h) "Water quality objectives" means the limits or levels of water
quality constituents or characteristics which
that are established for the reasonable protection of
beneficial uses of water or the prevention of nuisance within a
specific area.
(i) "Water quality control" means the regulation of any activity
or factor which that may affect the
quality of the waters of the state and includes the prevention and
correction of water pollution and nuisance.
(j) "Water quality control plan" consists of a designation or
establishment for the waters within a specified area of all of the
following:
(1) Beneficial uses to be protected.
(2) Water quality objectives.
(3) A program of implementation needed for achieving water quality
objectives.
(k) "Contamination" means an impairment of the quality of the
waters of the state by waste to a degree which creates a hazard to
the public health through poisoning or through the spread of disease.
"Contamination" includes any equivalent effect resulting from the
disposal of waste, whether or not waters of the state are affected.
(l) (1) "Pollution" means an alteration of the quality of the
waters of the state by waste to a degree which unreasonably affects
either of the following:
(A) The waters for beneficial uses.
(B) Facilities which that serve
these beneficial uses.
(2) "Pollution" may include "contamination."
(m) "Nuisance" means anything which that
meets all of the following requirements:
(1) Is injurious to health, or is indecent or offensive to the
senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to
interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.
(2) Affects at the same time an entire community or neighborhood,
or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the
annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals may be unequal.
(3) Occurs during, or as a result of, the treatment or disposal of
wastes.
(n) "Recycled water" means water which
, that, as a result of treatment of waste, is
suitable for a direct beneficial use or a controlled use that would
not otherwise occur and is therefor considered a valuable resource.
(o) "Citizen or domiciliary" of the state includes a foreign
corporation having substantial business contacts in the state or
which that is subject to service of
process in this state.
(p) (1) "Hazardous substance" means either of the following:
(A) For discharge to surface waters, any substance determined to
be a hazardous substance pursuant to Section 311(b)(2) of the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Sec. 1251 et seq.).
(B) For discharge to groundwater, any substance listed as a
hazardous waste or hazardous material pursuant to Section 25140 of
the Health and Safety Code, without regard to whether the substance
is intended to be used, reused, or discarded, except that "hazardous
substance" does not include any substance excluded from Section 311
(b)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act because it is
within the scope of Section 311(a)(1) of that act.
(2) "Hazardous substance" does not include any of the following:
(A) Nontoxic, nonflammable, and noncorrosive stormwater runoff
drained from underground vaults, chambers, or manholes into gutters
or storm sewers.
(B) Any pesticide which that is
applied for agricultural purposes or is applied in accordance with a
cooperative agreement authorized by Section 116180 of the Health and
Safety Code, and is not discharged accidentally or for purposes of
disposal, the application of which is in compliance with all
applicable state and federal laws and regulations.
(C) Any discharge to surface water of a quantity less than a
reportable quantity as determined by regulations issued pursuant to
Section 311(b)(4) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
(D) Any discharge to land which that
results, or probably will result, in a discharge to groundwater if
the amount of the discharge to land is less than a reportable
quantity, as determined by regulations adopted pursuant to Section
13271, for substances listed as hazardous pursuant to Section 25140
of the Health and Safety Code. No discharge shall be deemed a
discharge of a reportable quantity until regulations set a reportable
quantity for the substance discharged.
(q) (1) "Mining waste" means all solid, semisolid, and liquid
waste materials from the extraction, beneficiation, and processing of
ores and minerals. Mining waste includes, but is not limited to,
soil, waste rock, and overburden, as defined in Section 2732 of the
Public Resources Code, and tailings, slag, and other processed waste
materials, including cementitious materials that are managed at the
cement manufacturing facility where the materials were generated.
(2) For the purposes of this subdivision, "cementitious material"
means cement, cement kiln dust, clinker, and clinker dust.
(r) "Master recycling permit" means a permit issued to a supplier
or a distributor, or both, of recycled water, that includes waste
discharge requirements prescribed pursuant to Section 13263 and water
recycling requirements prescribed pursuant to Section 13523.1.
