BILL NUMBER: AB 1366 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 17, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 13, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 15, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Feuer, Caballero, and Audra
Strickland
(Coauthors: Assembly Members John A. Perez and Salas)
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to add Section 13148 to the Water Code, relating to water
softeners.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1366, Feuer. Residential self-regenerating water softeners.
Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to
formulate and adopt state policy for water quality control.
California regional water quality control boards are required to
establish water quality objectives in water quality control plans.
Under existing law, a local agency, by ordinance, may limit the
availability, or prohibit the installation, of residential water
softening or conditioning appliances that discharge to the community
sewer system if the local agency makes certain findings and includes
them in the ordinance.
This bill would authorize any local agency that owns or operates a
community sewer system or water recycling facility, within specified
areas of the state, to take action, by ordinance or resolution,
after a public hearing on the matter, to control salinity inputs from
residential self-regenerating water softeners to protect the quality
of the waters of the state, if the appropriate regional board makes
a finding that the control of residential salinity input will
contribute to the achievement of water quality objectives. The bill
would state related findings and declarations of the Legislature,
including findings and declarations concerning the need for special
legislation.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Recycled water provides additional water supplies that are a
cost-effective and reliable method of helping to meet California's
water needs.
(b) The Water Recycling Act of 1991 established a statewide goal
to recycle a total of 700,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2000,
and one million acre-feet of water per year by 2010.
(c) The 2005 California Water Plan indicates that the statewide
potential for recycled water use by 2030 is between 900,000 acre-feet
to 1.4 million acre-feet per year. Based on this projection, the
state will fall far short of the goal of recycling one million
acre-feet per year by 2010, unless new policies are enacted to
accelerate recycled water use.
(d) Elevated levels of salinity in community sewer systems can
hinder needed water recycling projects, and discharges from those
systems may impair groundwater resources and surface waters of the
state.
(e) The State Water Resources Control Board's Recycled Water
Policy is intended to support an increase in the use of recycled
water from municipal wastewater sources in a manner that implements
state and federal water quality laws. Some groundwater basins in the
state contain salts and nutrients that exceed or threaten to exceed
water quality objectives established in the applicable water quality
control plans. The policy requires every groundwater basin or
subbasin to have a salt and nutrient management plan that includes
adequate implementation procedures for achieving or ensuring
compliance with the water quality objectives for salt or nutrients.
It is the intent of the policy that salts and nutrients from all
sources be managed in a manner that ensures attainment of water
quality objectives and protection of beneficial uses. The policy
recognizes that local water and wastewater agencies, together with
local salt and nutrient contributing stakeholders, including, but not
limited to, the water treatment industry, will engage in a
collaborative process that is open to all stakeholders to prepare
salt management plans.
(f) Existing law allows regulation of discharges from industrial,
commercial, and agricultural sources, but severely limits local
agencies from regulating salinity discharges from residential
self-regenerating water softeners, which can discharge up to one
pound of salt per day.
(g) The California Water Recycling Task Force Report of 2003,
prepared by the Department of Water Resources and the State Water
Resources Control Board, recommends that current law be changed to
allow local agencies more control over salinity from residential
self-regenerating water softeners.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature to require local agencies
to consider local economic issues and other community input before
taking action to regulate residential self-regenerating water
softeners.
(i) It is the intent of the Legislature, by enacting this act, to
give local agencies additional authority to regulate residential
self-regenerating water softeners, especially in areas of the state
with water bodies adversely impacted by salinity and high use
groundwater basins that are hydrogeologically vulnerable to
contamination.
SEC. 2. Section 13148 is added to the Water Code, to read:
13148. (a) This section applies to the following hydrologic
regions as identified in the California Water Plan: Central Coast,
South Coast, San Joaquin River, Tulare Lake, and the Counties of
Butte, Glenn, Placer, Sacramento, Solano, Sutter, and Yolo.
(b) Notwithstanding Article 1 (commencing with Section 116775) of
Chapter 5 of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code,
any local agency that owns or operates a community sewer system or
water recycling facility and that is subject to a finding made by a
regional board pursuant to subdivision (e) may take action to control
salinity input from residential self-regenerating water softeners to
protect the quality of the waters of the state. A local agency may
take action only by adoption of an ordinance or resolution after a
public hearing. The local agency shall not consider the adoption of
an ordinance or resolution until at least 30 days following the date
of the public hearing on the proposed ordinance or resolution. An
ordinance or resolution shall become effective 30 days from the date
of adoption.
(c) Actions to control residential self-regenerating water
softener salinity inputs authorized by subdivision (b) include, but
are not limited to, any of the following:
(1) Require that residential self-regenerating water softeners
installed within the jurisdiction of the local agency be rated at the
highest efficiency commercially available and certified by NSF
International or the American National Standards Institute.
(2) Require that plumbing permits be obtained prior to the
installation of residential self-regenerating water softeners.
(3) Require that residential self-regenerating water softeners be
plumbed to hook up to hot water only.
(4) Enact a voluntary buy-back or exchange program for residential
self-regenerating water softeners, consistent with existing law. A
voluntary buy-back or exchange program may be conducted in
cooperation with local water treatment businesses.
(5) Require the removal of previously installed residential
self-regenerating water softeners.
(6) Prohibit the installation of residential self-regenerating
water softeners.
(7) Require the retrofit of clock control and demand control
systems on previously installed residential self-regenerating water
softeners.
(8) Require the replacement of previously installed residential
self-regenerating water softeners with appliances that meet or exceed
the salt efficiency rating set forth in paragraph (2) of subdivision
(b) of Section 116785 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d) If a local agency adopts an ordinance or resolution to require
the removal of previously installed residential self-regenerating
water softeners pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (c), the
local agency shall make available to owners of residential
self-regenerating water softeners within its service area a program
to compensate the owner of the residential self-regenerating water
softener for the reasonable value of the removed residential
self-regenerating water softener, as determined by the local agency.
(e) Before a local agency may take action to control salinity
input from residential self-regenerating water softeners pursuant to
subdivision (b), a regional board with jurisdiction over a region
identified in subdivision (a) shall have made a finding at a public
hearing that the control of residential salinity input will
contribute to the achievement of water quality objectives. The
finding may be made in any of the following water quality actions
adopted by a regional board:
(1) A total maximum daily load that addresses salinity-related
pollutants in a water segment.
(2) A salt and nutrient management plan for a groundwater basin or
subbasin.
(3) Waste discharge requirements for a local agency discharger.
(4) Master reclamation permit for a supplier or distributor of
recycled water.
(5) Water recycling requirements for a supplier or distributor of
recycled water.
(6) Cease and desist order directed to a local agency.
(f) The regional board making a finding pursuant to subdivision
(e) shall base its finding on the evidence in the record, such as a
source determination study or other appropriate studies. The standard
of judicial review required for a finding made pursuant to
subdivision (e) shall be the same as the standard of review required
for the water quality action in which the finding is made.
(g) This section does not limit the use of portable exchange water
softening appliances or limit the authority of a local agency to
regulate the discharge from a centralized portable exchange tank
servicing facility into the community sewer system.
(h) For purposes of this section, "residential self-regenerating
water softener" means residential water softening equipment or
conditioning appliances that discharge brine into a community sewer
system.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that it is necessary to
address elevated levels of salinity in community sewer systems in
specified hydrologic regions of the state. It is therefore hereby
declared that a general law within the meaning of Section 16 of
Article IV of the California Constitution cannot be made applicable
to those specified hydrologic regions and the enactment of this
special law is necessary for the public good.