AB 134

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) 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. The act authorizes the board to order consolidation with a receiving water system where a public water system or a state small water system, serving a disadvantaged community, consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. The act, if consolidation is either not appropriate or not technically and economically feasible, authorizes the board to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to designated public water systems and to order the designated public water system to accept administrative and managerial services, as specified. 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. Assembly Bill 217 of the 2019–20 Regular Session of the Legislature, if enacted, would require the board to adopt an assessment of funding need that identifies systems and populations potentially in need of assistance and an analysis of anticipated funding needed based on the amount available in the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. This bill would require the board, upon adoption of an assessment of funding need, to convey to each regional engineer a list of at-risk water systems in that region and additional information. The bill would require the board by December 31 of each year to review the assessment of funding need and to prioritize the public water systems, community water systems, state small water systems, and domestic wells with the most urgent need for state financial assistance. The bill would require each regional engineer to arrange for a prescribed comprehensive analysis of each at-risk water system in the region of the drinking water regional office to be completed within 2 years of the board identifying the at-risk water system in the assessment of funding need. The bill would require a regional engineer to review a comprehensive analysis and develop and submit a recommendation to the board as to the preferred options or plan presented by the comprehensive analysis within 60 days of the submission of the comprehensive analysis. The bill would require the board to consider the comprehensive analysis and recommendation at a public hearing within 90 days of receiving a recommendation from a regional engineer, to request recommendations from all divisions of the board to ensure coordination with other related water quality and water resource programs, and to review a recommendation of a regional engineer in light of the recommendation's likelihood of success in creating a stable and sustainable supply of safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. The bill would require the board to adopt and provide for a sustainable plan for restoring safe drinking water based on the recommendation of the regional engineer. This bill would require the board to report to the Legislature by July 1, 2025, on its progress in restoring safe drinking water to all California communities and to create an internet website that provides data transparency for all of the board's activities described in this measure. The bill would require the board to develop metrics to measure the efficacy of the fund in ensuring safe and affordable drinking water for all Californians. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office, at least every 5 years, to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of expenditures from the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund proposed by AB 217 of the 2019–20 Regular Session. This bill would require, by January 1, 2021, the board, in consultation with local health officers and other relevant stakeholders, to make available a map of aquifers that are used or likely to be used as a source of drinking water that are at high risk of containing contaminants. The bill would require the board to make available to each regional engineer a map of high-risk areas in that region. For purposes of the map, the bill would require local health officers and other relevant local agencies to provide all results of, and data associated with, water quality testing performed by certified laboratories to the board, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local health officers and local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (3) This bill would make its operation contingent on the enactment of AB 217 of the 2019–20 Regular Session of the Legislature.