Bill Text: CA AB869 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 869 (Prior Session Legislation)

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

Bill Title: Sustainable water use and demand reduction: recycled water.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-08-24 - From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W. [AB869 Detail]

Download: California-2017-AB869-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly March 23, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 869

Introduced by Assembly Member Rubio

February 16, 2017

An act to amend Section ~~13552.2 of~~ 10608.12 of, and to add Section 10608.18 to, the Water Code, relating to water.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 869, as amended, Rubio. ~~Water use: landscaping: recycled water.~~ Sustainable water use and demand reduction: recycled water.

(1) Existing law imposes various water use reduction requirements that apply to urban retail water suppliers, including a requirement that the state achieve a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use by December 31, 2020.
This bill would require recycled water delivered within the service area of an urban retail water supplier or its urban wholesale water supplier for either nonpotable or potable use or that replenishes a groundwater basin and supplements the groundwater supply available to an urban retail water supplier be excluded from the calculation of any water use or water efficiency target established after 2020.
(2) Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to update every 5 years the plan for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the state, which is known as The California Water Plan. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the State Water Resources Control Board and with public input, no later than January 1, 2011, and updated as part of The California Water Plan, to propose new statewide targets, or review and update existing targets, for regional water resource management practices, including recycled water.
Existing law requires each agricultural water supplier to implement certain efficient water management practices if the measure is locally cost effective and technically feasible, including to facilitate the use of available recycled water that would otherwise not be used beneficially, that meets all health and safety criteria, and that does not harm crops or soils.
Existing law defines “recycled water,” for the above-described purposes and purposes under (1), as recycled water that is used to offset potable demand, including recycled water supplied for direct use and indirect potable reuse, that meets certain requirements.
This bill would redefine “recycled water” to also include recycled water supplied for nonpotable uses. The bill would define “potable reuse” for these purposes.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution declare the policy that the water resources of the state be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable, that the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable method of use of water be prevented, and that the conservation of these waters is to be exercised with a view to the reasonable and beneficial use of the waters in the interest of the people and for the public welfare. Existing law contains legislative findings declaring the use of potable domestic water for the irrigation of residential landscaping to be a waste or unreasonable use of water if recycled water is available.
~~This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision.~~

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NO

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

SECTION 1.

Section 10608.12 of the Water Code is amended to read:

10608.12.

Unless the context otherwise requires, the following definitions govern the construction of this part:

(a) “Agricultural water supplier” means a water supplier, either publicly or privately owned, providing water to 10,000 or more irrigated acres, excluding recycled water. “Agricultural water supplier” includes a supplier or contractor for water, regardless of the basis of right, that distributes or sells water for ultimate resale to customers. “Agricultural water supplier” does not include the department.

(b) “Base daily per capita water use” means ~~any~~ at least one of the following:

(1) The urban retail water supplier’s estimate of its average gross water use, reported in gallons per capita per day and calculated over a continuous 10-year period ending no earlier than December 31, 2004, and no later than December 31, 2010.

(2) For an urban retail water supplier that meets at least 10 percent of its 2008 measured retail water demand through recycled water that is delivered within the service area of an urban retail water supplier or its urban wholesale water supplier, the urban retail water supplier may extend the calculation described in paragraph (1) up to an additional five years to a maximum of a continuous 15-year period ending no earlier than December 31, 2004, and no later than December 31, 2010.

(3) For the purposes of Section 10608.22, the urban retail water supplier’s estimate of its average gross water use, reported in gallons per capita per day and calculated over a continuous five-year period ending no earlier than December 31, 2007, and no later than December 31, 2010.

(c) “Baseline commercial, industrial, and institutional water use” means an urban retail water supplier’s base daily per capita water use for commercial, industrial, and institutional users.

(d) “Commercial water user” means a water user that provides or distributes a product or service.

(e) “Compliance daily per capita water use” means the gross water use during the final year of the reporting period, reported in gallons per capita per day.

(f) “Disadvantaged community” means a community with an annual median household income that is less than 80 percent of the statewide annual median household income.

(g) “Gross water use” means the total volume of water, whether treated or untreated, entering the distribution system of an urban retail water supplier, excluding all of the following:

(1) Recycled water that is delivered within the service area of an urban retail water supplier or its urban wholesale water supplier.

(2) The net volume of water that the urban retail water supplier places into long-term storage.

(3) The volume of water the urban retail water supplier conveys for use by another urban water supplier.

(4) The volume of water delivered for agricultural use, except as otherwise provided in subdivision (f) of Section 10608.24.

(h) “Industrial water user” means a water user that is primarily a manufacturer or processor of materials as defined by the North American Industry Classification System code sectors 31 to 33, inclusive, or an entity that is a water user primarily engaged in research and development.

(i) “Institutional water user” means a water user dedicated to public service. This type of user includes, among other users, higher education institutions, schools, courts, churches, hospitals, government facilities, and nonprofit research institutions.

(j) “Interim urban water use target” means the midpoint between the urban retail water supplier’s base daily per capita water use and the urban retail water supplier’s urban water use target for 2020.

(k) “Locally cost effective” means that the present value of the local benefits of implementing an agricultural efficiency water management practice is greater than or equal to the present value of the local cost of implementing that measure.

(l) “Process water” means water used for producing a product or product content or water used for research and development, including, but not limited to, continuous manufacturing processes, water used for testing and maintaining equipment used in producing a product or product content, and water used in combined heat and power facilities used in producing a product or product content. Process water does not mean incidental water uses not related to the production of a product or product content, including, but not limited to, water used for restrooms, landscaping, ~~air conditioning,~~ air-conditioning, heating, kitchens, and laundry.

(m) “Recycled water” means recycled water, as defined in subdivision (n) of Section 13050, that is used to offset potable demand, including recycled water supplied for ~~direct use and indirect~~ nonpotable uses and recycled water supplied for potable ~~reuse, that meets the following requirements, where applicable:~~ reuse. “Potable reuse” means the planned use of municipal wastewater that has gone through multiple barrier treatment processes to produce or supplement a drinking water supply that has an equivalent level of public health protection as other sources of water supply permitted under the California Safe Drinking Water Act (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270) of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code).

~~(1)For groundwater recharge, including recharge through spreading basins, water supplies that are all of the following:~~
~~(A)Metered.~~
~~(B)Developed through planned investment by the urban water supplier or a wastewater treatment agency.~~
~~(C)Treated to a minimum tertiary level.~~
~~(D)Delivered within the service area of an urban retail water supplier or its urban wholesale water supplier that helps an urban retail water supplier meet its urban water use target.~~
~~(2)For reservoir augmentation, water supplies that meet the criteria of paragraph (1) and are conveyed through a distribution system constructed specifically for recycled water.~~

(n) “Regional water resources management” means sources of supply resulting from watershed-based planning for sustainable local water reliability or any of the following alternative sources of water:

(1) The capture and reuse of stormwater or rainwater.

(2) The use of recycled water.

(3) The desalination of brackish groundwater.

(4) The conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater in a manner that is consistent with the safe yield of the groundwater basin.

(o) “Reporting period” means the years for which an urban retail water supplier reports compliance with the urban water use targets.

(p) “Urban retail water supplier” means a water supplier, either publicly or privately owned, that directly provides potable municipal water to more than 3,000 end users or that supplies more than 3,000 acre-feet of potable water annually at retail for municipal purposes.

(q) “Urban water use target” means the urban retail water supplier’s targeted future daily per capita water use.

(r) “Urban wholesale water supplier,” means a water supplier, either publicly or privately owned, that provides more than 3,000 acre-feet of water annually at wholesale for potable municipal purposes.

SEC. 2.

Section 10608.18 is added to the Water Code, to read:

10608.18.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, recycled water delivered within the service area of an urban retail water supplier or its urban wholesale water supplier for either nonpotable or potable use or that replenishes a groundwater basin and supplements the groundwater supply available to an urban retail water supplier shall be excluded from the calculation of any water use or efficiency target established for 2020 or beyond.

SECTION 1.Section 13552.2 of the Water Code is amended to read:
13552.2.
(a)The Legislature finds and declares that the use of potable domestic water for the irrigation of residential landscaping is a waste or an unreasonable use of water within the meaning of Section 2 of Article X of the California Constitution if recycled water, for this use, is available to the residents and meets the requirements set forth in Section 13550, as determined by the state board after notice and a hearing.
(b)The state board may require a public agency or person subject to this section to submit information that the state board determines may be relevant in making the determination required in subdivision (a).