AB 746: Public health: potable water systems: lead testing: schoolsites.

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, including, but not limited to, conducting research, studies, and demonstration programs relating to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, adopting implementing regulations, and conducting studies and investigations to assess the quality of water in private domestic water supplies. The act requires the state board to establish a grant program, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to award grants to local educational agencies for the purposes of improving access to, and the quality of, drinking water in public schools serving kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and preschools and child day care facilities located on public school property.

This bill would require a community water system that serves a schoolsite of a local educational agency with a building constructed before January 1, 2010, to test for lead in the potable water system of the schoolsite before January 1, 2019. The bill would require the community water system to report its findings to the schoolsite, as specified, and, if the schoolsites lead level exceeds a certain level, to test a water sample from the point at which the schoolsite connects to the community water systems supply network. The bill would require the local educational agency, if the lead level exceeds the specified level at a schoolsite, to notify the parents and guardians of the pupils who attend the schoolsite or preschool. The bill would require the local educational agency to take immediate steps to make inoperable and shut down from use all fountains and faucets where the excess lead levels may exist and would require the local educational agency to work with the school site to ensure that a potable source of drinking water is provided for students. The bill would require a community water system to prepare a sampling plan for each schoolsite where lead sampling is required under these provisions. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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.