Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the federal Clean Water Act. Existing law authorizes a regional board to order the provision of sewer service by a receiving sewer system, as defined, to a disadvantaged community served by an inadequate onsite sewage treatment system, as defined.

This bill would authorize the state board, until January 1, 2029, and after it makes a specified finding or findings by resolution, to require a designated sewer system to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the state board for administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to assist a designated sewer system with the delivery of adequate sewer service, as defined. The bill would also authorize the state board to order a designated sewer system to accept those services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated sewer system, from an administrator. The bill would define designated sewer system for these purposes as a sewer service provider that serves a disadvantaged community that is either an inadequate sewer service or a sewer system that has a demonstrated failure to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

The bill would require the state board to take specified actions before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, including providing the sewer service provider an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to be an adequate sewer system or to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, conducting a public meeting, and providing an opportunity for public comment. The bill would authorize the state board to grant specified authority over the designated sewer system to the administrator, including the authority to expend money for various purposes and to set and collect sewer rates and fees. The bill would require the state board to work with the administrator and the communities served by the designated sewer system to develop, within the shortest practicable time, adequate technical, managerial, and financial capacity to deliver adequate sewer service so that the services of the administrator are no longer necessary.

Existing law creates the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account in the State Water Quality Control Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the account to the state board for specified purposes, including providing grants for cleaning up a waste, abating the effects of a waste on waters of the state, or addressing an urgent drinking water need, as provided.

This bill would authorize the state board to also use moneys in the account to provide grants to administrators for specified purposes, including, among others, to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a sewer service provider, until December 31, 2029, as provided. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated account may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the federal Clean Water Act. Existing law authorizes a regional board to order the provision of sewer service by a receiving sewer system, as defined, to a disadvantaged community served by an inadequate onsite sewage treatment system, as defined.

This bill would authorize the state board, until January 1, 2029, and after it makes a specified finding or findings by resolution, to require a designated sewer system to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the state board for administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to assist a designated sewer system with the delivery of adequate sewer service, as defined. The bill would also authorize the state board to order a designated sewer system to accept those services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated sewer system, from an administrator. The bill would define designated sewer system for these purposes as a sewer service provider that serves a disadvantaged community that is either an inadequate sewer service or a sewer system that has a demonstrated failure to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

The bill would require the state board to take specified actions before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, including providing the sewer service provider an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to be an adequate sewer system or to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, conducting a public meeting, and providing an opportunity for public comment. The bill would authorize the state board to grant specified authority over the designated sewer system to the administrator, including the authority to expend money for various purposes and to set and collect sewer rates and fees. The bill would require the state board to work with the administrator and the communities served by the designated sewer system to develop, within the shortest practicable time, adequate technical, managerial, and financial capacity to deliver adequate sewer service so that the services of the administrator are no longer necessary.

Existing law creates the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account in the State Water Quality Control Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the account to the state board for specified purposes, including providing grants for cleaning up a waste, abating the effects of a waste on waters of the state, or addressing an urgent drinking water need, as provided.

This bill would authorize the state board to also use moneys in the account to provide grants to administrators for specified purposes, including, among others, to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a sewer service provider, until December 31, 2029, as provided. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated account may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the federal Clean Water Act. Existing law authorizes a regional board to order the provision of sewer service by a receiving sewer system, as defined, to a disadvantaged community served by an inadequate onsite sewage treatment system, as defined.

This bill would authorize the state board, until January 1, 2029, and after it makes a specified finding or findings by resolution or a prescribed process, resolution, to require a sewer service provider designated sewer system to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the state board for administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to assist a designated sewer system with the provision delivery of adequate sewer service, as defined. The bill would also authorize the state board to order a designated sewer system to accept those services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated sewer system, from an administrator. The bill would define designated sewer system for these purposes as a sewer system service provider that serves a disadvantaged community that is either an inadequate sewer system service or a sewer system that has a demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

The bill would require the state board to take specified actions before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, including providing the sewer service provider an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to be an adequate sewer system or to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, conducting a public meeting, and providing an opportunity for public comment. The bill would authorize the state board to grant specified authority over the designated sewer system to the administrator, including the authority to expend money for various purposes and to set and collect sewer rates and fees. The bill would require the state board to work with the administrator and the communities served by the designated sewer system to develop, within the shortest practicable time, adequate technical, managerial, and financial capacity to deliver adequate sewer service so that the services of the administrator are no longer necessary.

Existing law creates the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account in the State Water Quality Control Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the account to the state board for specified purposes, including providing grants for cleaning up a waste, abating the effects of a waste on waters of the state, or addressing an urgent drinking water need, as provided.

This bill would authorize the state board to also use moneys in the account to provide grants to administrators for specified purposes, including, among others, to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a sewer service provider. provider, until December 31, 2029, as provided. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated account may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the federal Clean Water Act. Existing law authorizes a regional board to order the provision of sewer service by a receiving sewer system, as defined, to a disadvantaged community served by an inadequate onsite sewage treatment system, as defined.

This bill would authorize the state board board, until January 1, 2029, and after it makes specified findings by resolution or a prescribed process, to require a sewer service provider to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the state board for administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to assist a designated sewer system with the provision of adequate sewer service, as defined. The bill would also authorize the state board to order a designated sewer system to accept those services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated sewer system, from an administrator. The bill would define designated sewer system for these purposes as a sewer system that serves a disadvantaged community and that the state board finds to be that is either an inadequate sewage treatment inadequate sewer system or a sewer system that has demonstrated difficulty in maintaining a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent fraud and mismanagement, or a sewer system that voluntarily accepts financial assistance for the provision of adequate sewer service. waste, fraud, and abuse.

The bill would require the state board to take specified actions before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, including providing the sewer service provider an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to provide be an adequate sewer service, system or to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, conducting a public meeting, and providing an opportunity for public comment. The bill would authorize the state board to grant specified authority over the designated sewer system to the administrator, including the authority to expend money for various purposes and to set and collect sewer rates and fees, subject to approval by the state board. fees. The bill would require the state board to work with the administrator and the communities served by the designated sewer system to develop, within the shortest practicable time, adequate technical, managerial, and financial capacity to deliver adequate sewer service so that the services of the administrator are no longer necessary.

Existing law creates the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account in the State Water Quality Control Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the account to the state board for specified purposes, including providing grants for cleaning up a waste, abating the effects of a waste on waters of the state, or addressing an urgent drinking water need, as provided.

This bill would authorize the state board to also use moneys in the account to provide grants to administrators for specified purposes, including, among others, to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a sewer service provider. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated account may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties. The act authorizes the state board to order consolidation with, or extension of service from, a receiving water system in either of the following circumstances: (1) a public water system or state small water system, serving a disadvantaged community, consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water, or is an at-risk water system, or 2) (2) a disadvantaged community, in whole or in part, is substantially reliant on domestic wells that consistently fail to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water, or are at-risk domestic wells.

Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties. The act authorizes the state board to order consolidation with, or extension of service from, a receiving water system in either of the following circumstances: (1) a public water system or state small water system, serving a disadvantaged community, consistently fails to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water, or is an at-risk water system, or 2) a disadvantaged community, in whole or in part, is substantially reliant on domestic wells that consistently fail to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water, or are at-risk domestic wells.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to authorize the board to order consolidation of wastewater.

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 805

Author:(Arambula)

As Amended Ver:June 6, 2024

2/3 vote: Urgency

SUMMARY

Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), until January 1, 2029, to require a sewer service provider—for a sewer system serving a disadvantaged community that has failed to meet regulatory standards, or to maintain the technical, managerial, and financial capacity needed to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board.

Senate Amendments

1. Add that it is the intent of the Legislature to, among other things, provide a limited and temporary authority to the State Water Board to appoint administrators to manage the responsibilities of sewer service providers that are obviously and egregiously failing to provide adequate sewer service, while the wastewater needs assessment commissioned by the State Water Board is being conducted.
2. Change the following definitions:
3. "Adequate sewer service" to mean sanitary sewer service provided by a sewer service provider that is not inadequate sewer service;
4. "Designated sewer system" to mean a sewer service provider that is either an inadequate sewer service or a sewer system that has a demonstrated failure to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse;
5. "Disadvantaged community" to additionally mean a low-income community, as defined under state law governing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund;
6. "Inadequate sewer service" to mean a sewer service provider that serves a disadvantaged community; has a demonstrated history of failures to meet regulatory standards for proper wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal; and may exhibit deficiencies such as infrastructure failure, insufficient capacity, or ineffective treatment of wastewater. Provides that a demonstrated history of failures to meet regulatory standards may include, but is not limited to, multiple violations, multiple instances of noncompliance with enforcement actions, or refusal to accept compliance assistance; and,
7. "Sewer service provider" to mean any local agency that provides sanitary sewer service, which may include wastewater collection, treatment, disposal, or any combination thereof.
8. Delete the definition of "voluntary participant" as the owner of an onsite sewage treatment system or sewer service provider who has agreed to accept financial assistance for the provision of adequate sewer service.
9. Specify that an administrator may be any qualified individual, firm, or another sewer service provider.
10. Require, before implementing the actions authorized under this bill, the State Water Board to make one or both of the following findings by resolution:
11. A sewer service provider is an inadequate sewer service, and that it is in the best interest of customers of the sewer service provider and the state of California that an administrator be appointed to assist the sewer service provider with making improvements necessary to develop an adequate sewer system; or,
12. A sewer service provider has demonstrated a history of continued failures to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, or abuse.
13. Require, if any of the above findings are made, the sewer service provider to be referred to as a designated sewer system.
14. Authorize the State Water Board to take specified actions following the adoption of a resolution based on the above findings.
15. Authorize a designated sewer system, in complying with a requirement from the State Water Board to contract with an administrator, to contract with no more than one administrator at a time, except where administrator services are limited in scope, in which case a sewer service provider may contract with more than one limited-scope provider at a time, provided that the scopes do not overlap.
16. Require, if a designated sewer system is also a water system that has been ordered to consolidate or accept assistance from an administrator, the State Water Board to consider designating the same administrator for the designated sewer system that was designated for the water system, and requiring the administrator to consult with the management of both the designated water system and designated sewer system.
17. Require the State Water Board, before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, to, among other things:
18. Provide the sewer service provider with an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity; and,
19. Consider whether designating a sewer system and ordering a designated sewer system to contract with an administrator is feasible, and not in conflict with any federal or state laws, regulations, or permit requirements.
20. Prohibit, on or after January 1, 2029, the State Water Board from identifying a designated sewer system, making findings that a sewer service provider has an inadequate sewer service, or requiring a sewer service provider to contract with an administrator pursuant to this bill; specify that all other authorizations and requirements pursuant to this bill shall remain in effect until December 31, 2029.
21. Make the following changes to the list of authorized actions for an administrator:
22. Delete the authority for an administrator to set and collect user sewer rates and fees;
23. Specify that the authorization to expend available money for operation and maintenance costs of the designated sewer system includes conducting feasibility or planning studies, or addressing outstanding technical or legal issues; and,
24. Delete the authorization for an administrator to expend available money necessary for an annexation or extension of service.
25. Delete a requirement for a designated sewer system to be responsible for funding the activities of the administrator to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services, or any combination of these services, to the designated sewer system; delete a provision specifying that the State Water Board shall not be responsible for funding these activities.
26. Require the State Water Board to incorporate, into its adopted "Administrator Policy Handbook," the standards, terms, and procedures for the following:
27. The process and criteria that the State Water Board uses to designate a sewer service provider as a designated sewer system, and the evidence required to support findings in a resolution by the State Water Board; and,
28. The process for the State Water Board to determine an administrator is no longer needed and to terminate the administrator's responsibilities.
29. Prohibit, under specified circumstances, an administrator appointed pursuant to this bill from being liable for, among other things, enforcement actions taken by the State Water Board; add, to the list of specified circumstances, that an administrator is not liable for injury, violations, or damages after the administrator has assumed control of the designated system, until the necessary upgrades to the infrastructure or managerial responsibilities have been completed to make the designated system an adequate sewer system.
30. Delete an authorization for an administrator to act on behalf of an affected residence to the same extent, and in the same manner, as a designated sewer system, with the consent of the affected residence.
31. Authorize the State Water Board to expend funds for the purposes described in this bill; provide that the State Water Board is not authorized to use funds for these purposes for costs incurred after December 31, 2029.
32. Make technical and clarifying changes.

COMMENTS

Threats to public health from sewer spills: On December 6, 2022, the State Water Board adopted an updated "General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems" (General Order), which regulates sanitary sewer systems designed to convey sewage. Sewage is "untreated or partially treated domestic, municipal, commercial, and/or industrial waste, and any mixture of these wastes with inflow or infiltration of stormwater or groundwater, conveyed in a sanitary sewer system." According to the State Water Board, sanitary sewer system spills—or a discharge of sewage from any portion of a sewer system due to an overflow, operational failure, and/or infrastructure failure—can threaten public health, beneficial uses of state waters, and the environment.

The Wastewater Needs Assessment: Adopted in June 2022, the State Water Board's Resolution No. 2022-0019 allocates up to $4 million to support a statewide effort to conduct a wastewater needs assessment, to improve statewide sanitation access and help achieve the goals set forth in California's Human Right to Water law. The Wastewater Needs Assessment, launched in July 2023, will provide information on California's wastewater sanitation system needs upon its completion in 2027.

Administrators for drinking water systems: As part of a broader toolkit for addressing drinking water system issues, the State Water Board can appoint an administrator, a person or entity that the State Water Board has determined is qualified to operate and manage a drinking water system. Specifically, SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) authorizes the State Water Board to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a public water system (also called a "designated water system") that serves a disadvantaged community and consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. Currently, state law does not grant the State Water Board similar authority to appoint administrators for sewer systems that are facing technical, managerial, or financial difficulties.

This bill: AB 805 authorizes the State Water Board to require a sewer service provider—for a sewer system that serves a disadvantaged community and has failed to meet regulatory standards, or to maintain the technical, managerial, and financial capacity needed to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board. Granting this authority could provide relief to communities facing severe and immediate sanitary sewer service issues, while the state examines additional options for a comprehensive, longer-term set of strategies under the Wastewater Needs Assessment.

According to the Author

"Failing sanitation systems often leak contaminants into the local underground aquifers that residents rely on to replenish their wells. As overdrafted underground aquifers dry up, the concentration of contaminants in drinking water wells increases…Unfortunately, this same situation occurs in hundreds of small and disadvantaged communities across the state. Because failing sewer systems are most likely to be in disadvantaged communities, these populations experience negative health impacts at much greater rates than well-resourced communities with modern, well-managed infrastructure."

Arguments in Support

A coalition of supporting organizations comprised of the Community Water Center, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, California Environmental Voters, Clean Water Action, California Coastkeeper Alliance, and Union of Concerned Scientists writes:

"In 2018, the rural community of East Orosi was identified as a candidate for drinking water consolidation with the neighboring town of Orosi due to decades-long groundwater contamination issues and a lack of capacity by the system's operator. Until this process is expected to be completed in 2024, the [State Water Board] took action to appoint Tulare County as administrator of the drinking water system. However, the ongoing drinking water consolidation project has been delayed by legal challenges, and residents of East Orosi are still facing numerous issues due to the East Orosi Community Services District (CSD) retaining billing and management of the community's sewer service. These include unserviced septic tanks, raw sewage leaks, backed up plumbing, a lack of paper billing, and intimidation/threats from the sewer system operator.

AB 805 (Arambula) builds on past legislation by granting the [State Water Board] permissive authority to appoint an administrator…For East Orosi, AB 805 would have allowed for relief for residents whose human rights are being violated daily."

Arguments in Opposition

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, should this bill be enacted, the State Water Board estimates ongoing annual implementation costs of $1.8 million, and that the cost to appoint an administrator for a two-year period would be $1.2 million.

VOTES:

ASM ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS: 9-0-0

YES: Lee, Hoover, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Connolly, McKinnor, Pacheco, Ta, Zbur

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-0-4

YES: Holden, Arambula, Wood, Calderon, Connolly, Mike Fong, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Lowenthal, Pellerin, Villapudua

ABS, ABST OR NV: Sanchez, Megan Dahle, Dixon, Ta

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0-4

YES: Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

ABS, ABST OR NV: Addis, Megan Dahle, Essayli, Vince Fong

SENATE FLOOR: 40-0-0

YES: Allen, Alvarado-Gil, Archuleta, Ashby, Atkins, Becker, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Dodd, Durazo, Eggman, Glazer, Gonzalez, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, Limón, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

UPDATED

VERSION: June 6, 2024

CONSULTANT: Naomi Ondrasek / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN: 0004695

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 805

Author:(Arambula)

As Amended Ver:June 6, 2024

2/3 vote: Urgency

SUMMARY

Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), until January 1, 2029, to require a sewer service provider—for a sewer system serving a disadvantaged community that has failed to meet regulatory standards, or to maintain the technical, managerial, and financial capacity needed to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board.

Senate Amendments

1. Add that it is the intent of the Legislature to, among other things, provide a limited and temporary authority to the State Water Board to appoint administrators to manage the responsibilities of sewer service providers that are obviously and egregiously failing to provide adequate sewer service, while the wastewater needs assessment commissioned by the State Water Board is being conducted.
2. Change the following definitions:
3. "Adequate sewer service" to mean sanitary sewer service provided by a sewer service provider that is not inadequate sewer service;
4. "Designated sewer system" to mean a sewer service provider that is either an inadequate sewer service or a sewer system that has a demonstrated failure to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse;
5. "Disadvantaged community" to additionally mean a low-income community, as defined under state law governing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund;
6. "Inadequate sewer service" to mean a sewer service provider that serves a disadvantaged community; has a demonstrated history of failures to meet regulatory standards for proper wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal; and may exhibit deficiencies such as infrastructure failure, insufficient capacity, or ineffective treatment of wastewater. Provides that a demonstrated history of failures to meet regulatory standards may include, but is not limited to, multiple violations, multiple instances of noncompliance with enforcement actions, or refusal to accept compliance assistance; and,
7. "Sewer service provider" to mean any local agency that provides sanitary sewer service, which may include wastewater collection, treatment, disposal, or any combination thereof.
8. Delete the definition of "voluntary participant" as the owner of an onsite sewage treatment system or sewer service provider who has agreed to accept financial assistance for the provision of adequate sewer service.
9. Specify that an administrator may be any qualified individual, firm, or another sewer service provider.
10. Require, before implementing the actions authorized under this bill, the State Water Board to make one or both of the following findings by resolution:
11. A sewer service provider is an inadequate sewer service, and that it is in the best interest of customers of the sewer service provider and the state of California that an administrator be appointed to assist the sewer service provider with making improvements necessary to develop an adequate sewer system; or,
12. A sewer service provider has demonstrated a history of continued failures to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, or abuse.
13. Require, if any of the above findings are made, the sewer service provider to be referred to as a designated sewer system.
14. Authorize the State Water Board to take specified actions following the adoption of a resolution based on the above findings.
15. Authorize a designated sewer system, in complying with a requirement from the State Water Board to contract with an administrator, to contract with no more than one administrator at a time, except where administrator services are limited in scope, in which case a sewer service provider may contract with more than one limited-scope provider at a time, provided that the scopes do not overlap.
16. Require, if a designated sewer system is also a water system that has been ordered to consolidate or accept assistance from an administrator, the State Water Board to consider designating the same administrator for the designated sewer system that was designated for the water system, and requiring the administrator to consult with the management of both the designated water system and designated sewer system.
17. Require the State Water Board, before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, to, among other things:
18. Provide the sewer service provider with an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity; and,
19. Consider whether designating a sewer system and ordering a designated sewer system to contract with an administrator is feasible, and not in conflict with any federal or state laws, regulations, or permit requirements.
20. Prohibit, on or after January 1, 2029, the State Water Board from identifying a designated sewer system, making findings that a sewer service provider has an inadequate sewer service, or requiring a sewer service provider to contract with an administrator pursuant to this bill; specify that all other authorizations and requirements pursuant to this bill shall remain in effect until December 31, 2029.
21. Make the following changes to the list of authorized actions for an administrator:
22. Delete the authority for an administrator to set and collect user sewer rates and fees;
23. Specify that the authorization to expend available money for operation and maintenance costs of the designated sewer system includes conducting feasibility or planning studies, or addressing outstanding technical or legal issues; and,
24. Delete the authorization for an administrator to expend available money necessary for an annexation or extension of service.
25. Delete a requirement for a designated sewer system to be responsible for funding the activities of the administrator to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services, or any combination of these services, to the designated sewer system; delete a provision specifying that the State Water Board shall not be responsible for funding these activities.
26. Require the State Water Board to incorporate, into its adopted "Administrator Policy Handbook," the standards, terms, and procedures for the following:
27. The process and criteria that the State Water Board uses to designate a sewer service provider as a designated sewer system, and the evidence required to support findings in a resolution by the State Water Board; and,
28. The process for the State Water Board to determine an administrator is no longer needed and to terminate the administrator's responsibilities.
29. Prohibit, under specified circumstances, an administrator appointed pursuant to this bill from being liable for, among other things, enforcement actions taken by the State Water Board; add, to the list of specified circumstances, that an administrator is not liable for injury, violations, or damages after the administrator has assumed control of the designated system, until the necessary upgrades to the infrastructure or managerial responsibilities have been completed to make the designated system an adequate sewer system.
30. Delete an authorization for an administrator to act on behalf of an affected residence to the same extent, and in the same manner, as a designated sewer system, with the consent of the affected residence.
31. Authorize the State Water Board to expend funds for the purposes described in this bill; provide that the State Water Board is not authorized to use funds for these purposes for costs incurred after December 31, 2029.
32. Make technical and clarifying changes.

COMMENTS

Threats to public health from sewer spills: On December 6, 2022, the State Water Board adopted an updated "General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems" (General Order), which regulates sanitary sewer systems designed to convey sewage. Sewage is "untreated or partially treated domestic, municipal, commercial, and/or industrial waste, and any mixture of these wastes with inflow or infiltration of stormwater or groundwater, conveyed in a sanitary sewer system." According to the State Water Board, sanitary sewer system spills—or a discharge of sewage from any portion of a sewer system due to an overflow, operational failure, and/or infrastructure failure—can threaten public health, beneficial uses of state waters, and the environment.

The Wastewater Needs Assessment: Adopted in June 2022, the State Water Board's Resolution No. 2022-0019 allocates up to $4 million to support a statewide effort to conduct a wastewater needs assessment, to improve statewide sanitation access and help achieve the goals set forth in California's Human Right to Water law. The Wastewater Needs Assessment, launched in July 2023, will provide information on California's wastewater sanitation system needs upon its completion in 2027.

Administrators for drinking water systems: As part of a broader toolkit for addressing drinking water system issues, the State Water Board can appoint an administrator, a person or entity that the State Water Board has determined is qualified to operate and manage a drinking water system. Specifically, SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) authorizes the State Water Board to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a public water system (also called a "designated water system") that serves a disadvantaged community and consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. Currently, state law does not grant the State Water Board similar authority to appoint administrators for sewer systems that are facing technical, managerial, or financial difficulties.

This bill: AB 805 authorizes the State Water Board to require a sewer service provider—for a sewer system that serves a disadvantaged community and has failed to meet regulatory standards, or to maintain the technical, managerial, and financial capacity needed to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board. Granting this authority could provide relief to communities facing severe and immediate sanitary sewer service issues, while the state examines additional options for a comprehensive, longer-term set of strategies under the Wastewater Needs Assessment.

According to the Author

"Failing sanitation systems often leak contaminants into the local underground aquifers that residents rely on to replenish their wells. As overdrafted underground aquifers dry up, the concentration of contaminants in drinking water wells increases…Unfortunately, this same situation occurs in hundreds of small and disadvantaged communities across the state. Because failing sewer systems are most likely to be in disadvantaged communities, these populations experience negative health impacts at much greater rates than well-resourced communities with modern, well-managed infrastructure."

Arguments in Support

A coalition of supporting organizations comprised of the Community Water Center, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, California Environmental Voters, Clean Water Action, California Coastkeeper Alliance, and Union of Concerned Scientists writes:

"In 2018, the rural community of East Orosi was identified as a candidate for drinking water consolidation with the neighboring town of Orosi due to decades-long groundwater contamination issues and a lack of capacity by the system's operator. Until this process is expected to be completed in 2024, the [State Water Board] took action to appoint Tulare County as administrator of the drinking water system. However, the ongoing drinking water consolidation project has been delayed by legal challenges, and residents of East Orosi are still facing numerous issues due to the East Orosi Community Services District (CSD) retaining billing and management of the community's sewer service. These include unserviced septic tanks, raw sewage leaks, backed up plumbing, a lack of paper billing, and intimidation/threats from the sewer system operator.

AB 805 (Arambula) builds on past legislation by granting the [State Water Board] permissive authority to appoint an administrator…For East Orosi, AB 805 would have allowed for relief for residents whose human rights are being violated daily."

Arguments in Opposition

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, should this bill be enacted, the State Water Board estimates ongoing annual implementation costs of $1.8 million, and that the cost to appoint an administrator for a two-year period would be $1.2 million.

VOTES:

ASM ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS: 9-0-0

YES: Lee, Hoover, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Connolly, McKinnor, Pacheco, Ta, Zbur

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-0-4

YES: Holden, Arambula, Wood, Calderon, Connolly, Mike Fong, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Lowenthal, Pellerin, Villapudua

ABS, ABST OR NV: Sanchez, Megan Dahle, Dixon, Ta

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0-4

YES: Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

ABS, ABST OR NV: Addis, Megan Dahle, Essayli, Vince Fong

UPDATED

VERSION: June 6, 2024

CONSULTANT: Naomi Ondrasek / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN: 0004695

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 805

Author: Arambula (D), et al.

Amended: 6/6/24 in Senate

Vote: 27 - Urgency

SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/5/24

AYES: Gonzalez, Dahle, Hurtado, Laird, Menjivar, Nguyen, Skinner

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/15/24

AYES: Caballero, Jones, Ashby, Becker, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 1/30/24 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Sewer service: disadvantaged communities

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST: This bill authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), until January 1, 2029, to require a designated sewer system—for a sewer system serving a disadvantaged community that has demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to set standards for drinking water quality and to oversee the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards. (42 United States Code (USC) § 300(f) et seq.)
2. Requires, pursuant to the California SDWA, the State Water Board to regulate drinking water and to enforce the federal SDWA and other regulations. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) § 116275 et seq.)
3. Authorizes the State Water Board to order consolidation with a receiving drinking water system in the following circumstances (HSC § 116682(a)):
   1. 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, or is an at-risk water system; or,
   2. A disadvantaged community, in whole or in part, is substantially reliant on domestic wells that consistently fail to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water, or are at-risk domestic wells.

This bill:

1. Authorizes the State Water Board, until January 1, 2029, and after it makes specified findings by resolution or a prescribed process, to require a sewer service provider to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the Board for administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to assist a designated sewer system with the provision of adequate sewer service, as defined.
2. Authorizes the State Water Board to order a designated sewer system to accept those services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated sewer system, from an administrator.
3. Defines “designated sewer system” as a sewer system that serves a disadvantaged community that is either an inadequate sewer system or a sewer system that has demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.
4. Requires the State Water Board to take specified actions before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, including providing the sewer service provider an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to be an adequate sewer system or to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, conducting a public meeting, and providing an opportunity for public comment.
5. Authorizes the State Water Board to grant specified authority over the designated sewer system to the administrator, including the authority to expend money for various purposes and to set and collect sewer rates and fees. 
6. Requires the State Water Board to work with the administrator and the communities served by the designated sewer system to develop, within the shortest practicable time, adequate technical, managerial, and financial capacity to deliver adequate sewer service so that the services of the administrator are no longer necessary.
7. Authorizes the State Water Board to also use moneys in the account to provide grants to administrators for specified purposes, including, among others, to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a sewer service provider. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated account may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.

Background

1. Threats to public health from sewer spills. On December 6, 2022, the State Water Board adopted an updated "General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems" (General Order), which regulates sanitary sewer systems designed to convey sewage. Sewage is defined as "untreated or partially treated domestic, municipal, commercial, and/or industrial waste, and any mixture of these wastes with inflow or infiltration of stormwater or groundwater, conveyed in a sanitary sewer system." According to the State Water Board, sanitary sewer system spills-or a discharge of sewage from any portion of a sewer system due to an overflow, operational failure, and/or infrastructure failure-can threaten public health, beneficial uses of state waters, and the environment. Sewage contains high levels of suspended solids, pathogenic organisms, toxic pollutants, nutrients, oxygen-demanding organic compounds, oil, grease, and other pollutants. Sewage spills may cause a public nuisance, particularly when sewage is discharged to areas with high public exposure such as streets and surface waters used for drinking, irrigation, fishing, recreation, or other public consumption or contact uses.
2. Drinking water system consolidation. State law under the California SDWA allows the State Water Board to order drinking water system consolidation or extension of service when water systems fail or are at risk of failing to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. Consolidation is the physical or managerial joining of two or more water systems, which often consists of a smaller water system that is failing or at risk of failing (referred to as the "subsumed water system") being absorbed into a larger, compliant water system (referred to as the "receiving water system"). Physical consolidation involves the merging or sharing of physical infrastructure, such as distribution pipelines or water treatment facilities. Managerial or operational consolidation involves sharing financial, managerial, or technical capacity.

According to the US EPA, water system partnerships, forged through strategies such as consolidation, can be an effective means of helping small water systems achieve and maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, and reducing the oversight and resources that states need to devote to these systems. The State Water Board maintains that consolidation and extension of service to disadvantaged communities that currently rely on underperforming or failing small water systems or domestic wells can reduce costs and improve reliability.

State law requires the State Water Board to perform a series of actions before ordering drinking water consolidation or extension of service. These include encouraging voluntary consolidation or extension of service; considering other enforcement remedies; considering the affordability of anticipated monthly rates for drinking water service to residential customers of the potentially subsumed water system; providing technical assistance and working with the potentially receiving and subsumed water systems to develop a financing package that benefits them both; and, providing the opportunity for public comment, with advance notice for public meetings provided to multiple stakeholders. The State Water Board must also make several findings, including that the potentially subsumed water system has consistently failed to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water or is at risk of doing so; that reasonable efforts to negotiate consolidation or extension of service were made; and, that consolidation or extension of service is appropriate and technically and economically feasible.

Upon ordering consolidation or extension of service, the State Water Board must also complete specified tasks, such as providing financial assistance to pay for the water infrastructure needed for consolidation or extension of service to take place and compensating the owners of a privately owned subsumed water system for the fair market value of the system.

In its 2022 Drinking Water Needs Assessment, the State Water Board reported that in 2021, 27 water systems, serving 13,641 people, were consolidated, and that there were about 170 active consolidations that were either in the early stages of development or in process for funding.

1. Appointed water system administrators. SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) gave the State Water Board an additional restructuring tool. The bill authorizes the State Water Board, in order "to provide affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse," to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a public water system (referred to as the "designated water system") that serves a disadvantaged community and consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. SB 552 also authorizes the State Water Board to order the failing water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board. The State Water Board describes an administrator as a person or entity that the State Water Board has determined is qualified to operate and manage a water system. Potential administrators include individual people; businesses, such as engineering firms; non-profits; local agencies; and, other entities.
2. Federal and state regulation of sewer systems. While the federal and state SDWAs govern drinking water systems in California, waste discharges and sewer systems are governed by the federal Clean Water Act and the state's Porter-Cologne Act. The objective of the Clean Water Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the United States. The Porter-Cologne Act authorizes the State Water Board to implement the Clean Water Act and to protect the quality of all waters of the State.

According to its 2022 General Order, the State Water Board regulates over 1,100 publicly owned sanitary sewer systems. California also has a large unknown number of unregulated privately owned sanitary sewer systems. Under authority granted pursuant to the Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Act, the State Water Board's General Order regulates sewer service providers, which can include state agencies, federal agencies, municipalities, special districts, private companies, or other non-governmental entities that own and/or operate a sewer system. The General Order regulates multiple aspects of sewer systems, including the discharge of sewage and monitoring and reporting requirements. The General Order also requires entities that own or operate a sewer system to develop and implement a "Sewer System Management Plan," which must reflect the size, scale, and complexity of the sewer system and include procedures for the management, operation, and maintenance of the sewer system. The procedures must address the prioritization of system repairs and maintenance to proactively prevent spills, and the implementation of current standard industry practices through available equipment, technologies, and strategies. State law provides the State and Regional Water Boards the authority to pursue formal enforcement actions, including imposing administrative liability and civil monetary penalties, for non-compliance with the requirements of the General Order and violations of the Clean Water Act.

1. Wastewater Needs Assessment. The Water Boards Wastewater Needs Assessment (WWNA) is a four-year project, that began July 2023, to provide information on California’s wastewater sanitation system needs. The WWNA an outcome from State Water Board Resolution No. 2022-0019 and Resolution No. 2016-0010, recognizing Californians’ equal and human right to sanitation and that safe wastewater management is critical to human and environmental health.

The Water Boards awarded the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) and its partners $4 million from now until 2027, to assess the needs of California’s wastewater systems. The research agenda has two phases: Phase I, understanding baseline conditions of California’s wastewater infrastructure; and Phase II, identifying wastewater systems of concern and potential solutions.

The WWNA does not impose any permitting requirements, consolidation projects, or fees for regulatory or governing agencies, businesses, or peoples of the public. The WWNA intends to provide a statewide list of wastewater infrastructure priority projects for potential funding sources, and the first statewide gap analysis of wastewater infrastructure to inform Water Board and state decisions on regulatory and resource investment priorities.

Comments

1. Purpose of the Bill. According to the author, “The small town of East Orosi is like many small and disadvantaged communities across California. The residents rely on residential wells for drinking water and have septic systems or failing municipal sanitation infrastructure.
   

“Failing sanitation systems often leak contaminates into the local underground aquifers that residents rely on to replenish their wells. As overdrafted underground aquifers dry up, the concentration of contaminants in drinking water wells increases. If drinking water pulled from contaminated wells contains unsafe levels of contaminants, it can cause health effects such as gastrointestinal illnesses, nervous system or reproductive effects, and chronic diseases such as cancer.

“In 2018, East Orosi was identified by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as a candidate for drinking water consolidation because of longstanding groundwater contamination issues. While their drinking water consolidation process is expected to be completed by 2024, wastewater system intervention was not ordered because SWRCB currently lacks the authority. Residents of East Orosi will be left with failing sanitation systems that are partly responsible for the polluted groundwater beneath their homes.

“Unfortunately, this same situation occurs in hundreds of small and disadvantaged communities across the state. Because failing sanitation systems are most likely to be in disadvantaged communities, these populations experience negative health impacts at much greater rates than well-resourced communities with modern, well-managed infrastructure.”

Related/Prior Legislation

SB 403 (Gonzalez, Chapter 242, Statutes of 2021) authorized the State Water Board to order the consolidation of at-risk domestic wells and at-risk water systems.

SB 200 (Monning, Chapter 120, Statutes of 2019) established the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (Fund) to help water systems provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water in both the near and the long terms. Transfers to the Fund annually, until June 30, 2030, five percent of the proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, up to $130 million.

SB 1215 (Hertzberg, Chapter 982, Statutes of 2018) authorized Regional Water Boards to order the provision of sewer service to a disadvantaged community that has inadequate onsite sewage treatment systems.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee,

The State Water Board estimates that the cost to appoint an administrator for a two-year period would be $1.2 million with costs initially incurred from the Clean Up and Abatement Account to provide financial assistance in short-term, case-by-case basis to systems. In addition, in order to implement the bill as written, the State Water Board estimates annual ongoing costs of approximately $1.8 million (General Fund) to coordinate efforts across the Regional Boards, drinking water and wastewater administrator programs, provide technical assistance, develop standards, and support coordination across waste discharge requirements, federal regulations, and recycled water permitting.

SUPPORT: (Verified 8/15/24)

California Coastkeeper Alliance
California Environmental Voters
Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
Junior Philanthropists Foundation
Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability
Union of Concerned Scientists

OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/15/24)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 1/30/24

AYES: Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Flora, Mike Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Addis, Megan Dahle, Essayli, Vince Fong

Prepared by: Gabrielle Meindl / E.Q. / (916) 651-4108

8/16/24 12:47:24

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

AB 805 (Arambula) - Sewer service: disadvantaged communities

Bill Summary:

This bill would authorize the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), until January 1, 2029, to require a designated sewer system—for a sewer system serving a disadvantaged community that has demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board.

Fiscal Impact:

• The State Water Board estimates that the cost to appoint an administrator for a two-year period would be $1.2 million with costs initially incurred from the Clean Up and Abatement Account to provide financial assistance in short-term, case-by-case basis to systems. In addition, in order to implement the bill as written, the State Water Board estimates annual ongoing costs of approximately $1.8 million (General Fund) to coordinate efforts across the Regional Boards, drinking water and wastewater administrator programs, provide technical assistance, develop standards, and support coordination across waste discharge requirements, federal regulations, and recycled water permitting.

Background:

Threats to public health from sewer spills. On December 6, 2022, the State Water Board adopted an updated "General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems" (General Order), which regulates sanitary sewer systems designed to convey sewage. Sewage is defined as "untreated or partially treated domestic, municipal, commercial, and/or industrial waste, and any mixture of these wastes with inflow or infiltration of stormwater or groundwater, conveyed in a sanitary sewer system." According to the State Water Board, sanitary sewer system spills-or a discharge of sewage from any portion of a sewer system due to an overflow, operational failure, and/or infrastructure failure-can threaten public health, beneficial uses of state waters, and the environment. Sewage contains high levels of suspended solids, pathogenic organisms, toxic pollutants, nutrients, oxygen-demanding organic compounds, oil, grease, and other pollutants. Sewage spills may cause a public nuisance, particularly when sewage is discharged to areas with high public exposure such as streets and surface waters used for drinking, irrigation, fishing, recreation, or other public consumption or contact uses.

Drinking water system consolidation. State law under the California SDWA allows the State Water Board to order drinking water system consolidation or extension of service when water systems fail or are at risk of failing to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. Consolidation is the physical or managerial joining of two or more water systems, which often consists of a smaller water system that is failing or at risk of failing (referred to as the "subsumed water system") being absorbed into a larger, compliant water system (referred to as the "receiving water system"). Physical consolidation involves the merging or sharing of physical infrastructure, such as distribution pipelines or water treatment facilities. Managerial or operational consolidation involves sharing financial, managerial, or technical capacity.

According to the US EPA, water system partnerships, forged through strategies such as consolidation, can be an effective means of helping small water systems achieve and maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, and reducing the oversight and resources that states need to devote to these systems. The State Water Board maintains that consolidation and extension of service to disadvantaged communities that currently rely on underperforming or failing small water systems or domestic wells can reduce costs and improve reliability.

State law requires the State Water Board to perform a series of actions before ordering drinking water consolidation or extension of service. These include encouraging voluntary consolidation or extension of service; considering other enforcement remedies; considering the affordability of anticipated monthly rates for drinking water service to residential customers of the potentially subsumed water system; providing technical assistance and working with the potentially receiving and subsumed water systems to develop a financing package that benefits them both; and, providing the opportunity for public comment, with advance notice for public meetings provided to multiple stakeholders. The State Water Board must also make several findings, including that the potentially subsumed water system has consistently failed to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water or is at risk of doing so; that reasonable efforts to negotiate consolidation or extension of service were made; and, that consolidation or extension of service is appropriate and technically and economically feasible.

Upon ordering consolidation or extension of service, the State Water Board must also complete specified tasks, such as providing financial assistance to pay for the water infrastructure needed for consolidation or extension of service to take place and compensating the owners of a privately owned subsumed water system for the fair market value of the system.

In its 2022 Drinking Water Needs Assessment, the State Water Board reported that in 2021, 27 water systems, serving 13,641 people, were consolidated, and that there were about 170 active consolidations that were either in the early stages of development or in process for funding.

Appointed water system administrators. SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) gave the State Water Board an additional restructuring tool. The bill authorizes the State Water Board, in order "to provide affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse," to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a public water system (referred to as the "designated water system") that serves a disadvantaged community and consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. SB 552 also authorizes the State Water Board to order the failing water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board. The State Water Board describes an administrator as a person or entity that the State Water Board has determined is qualified to operate and manage a water system. Potential administrators include individual people; businesses, such as engineering firms; non-profits; local agencies; and, other entities.

Federal and state regulation of sewer systems. While the federal and state SDWAs govern drinking water systems in California, waste discharges and sewer systems are governed by the federal Clean Water Act and the state's Porter-Cologne Act. The objective of the Clean Water Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the United States. The Porter-Cologne Act authorizes the State Water Board to implement the Clean Water Act and to protect the quality of all waters of the State.

According to its 2022 General Order, the State Water Board regulates over 1,100 publicly owned sanitary sewer systems. California also has a large unknown number of unregulated privately owned sanitary sewer systems. Under authority granted pursuant to the Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Act, the State Water Board's General Order regulates sewer service providers, which can include state agencies, federal agencies, municipalities, special districts, private companies, or other non-governmental entities that own and/or operate a sewer system. The General Order regulates multiple aspects of sewer systems, including the discharge of sewage and monitoring and reporting requirements. The General Order also requires entities that own or operate a sewer system to develop and implement a "Sewer System Management Plan," which must reflect the size, scale, and complexity of the sewer system and include procedures for the management, operation, and maintenance of the sewer system. The procedures must address the prioritization of system repairs and maintenance to proactively prevent spills, and the implementation of current standard industry practices through available equipment, technologies, and strategies. State law provides the State and Regional Water Boards the authority to pursue formal enforcement actions, including imposing administrative liability and civil monetary penalties, for non-compliance with the requirements of the General Order and violations of the Clean Water Act.

Wastewater Needs Assessment. The Water Boards Wastewater Needs Assessment (WWNA) is a four-year project, that began July 2023, to provide information on California’s wastewater sanitation system needs. The WWNA an outcome from State Water Board Resolution No. 2022-0019 and Resolution No. 2016-0010, recognizing Californians’ equal and human right to sanitation and that safe wastewater management is critical to human and environmental health.

The Water Boards awarded the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) and its partners $4 million from now until 2027, to assess the needs of California’s wastewater systems. The research agenda has two phases: Phase I, understanding baseline conditions of California’s wastewater infrastructure; and Phase II, identifying wastewater systems of concern and potential solutions.

The WWNA does not impose any permitting requirements, consolidation projects, or fees for regulatory or governing agencies, businesses, or peoples of the public. The WWNA intends to provide a statewide list of wastewater infrastructure priority projects for potential funding sources, and the first statewide gap analysis of wastewater infrastructure to inform Water Board and state decisions on regulatory and resource investment priorities.

Proposed Law:

This bill would authorize the State Water Board, until January 1, 2029, to require a designated sewer system—for a sewer system serving a disadvantaged community that has demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board. Specifically this bill would:

1. Authorize the State Water Board, until January 1, 2029, and after it makes specified findings by resolution, to require a designated sewer system to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the Board for administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to assist a designated sewer system with the delivery of adequate sewer service, as defined.
2. Authorize the State Water Board to order a designated sewer system to accept those services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated sewer system, from an administrator.
3. Define “designated sewer system” as a sewer service provider that serves a disadvantaged community that is either an inadequate service or a sewer system that has demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent  waste, fraud, and abuse.
4. Require the State Water Board to take specified actions before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, including providing the sewer service provider an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to be an adequate sewer system or to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, conducting a public meeting, and providing an opportunity for public comment.
5. Authorize the State Water Board to grant specified authority over the designated sewer system to the administrator, including the authority to expend money for various purposes and to set and collect sewer rates and fees. 
6. Require the State Water Board to work with the administrator and the communities served by the designated sewer system to develop, within the shortest practicable time, adequate technical, managerial, and financial capacity to deliver adequate sewer service so that the services of the administrator are no longer necessary.
7. Authorize the State Water Board to also use moneys in the account to provide grants to administrators for specified purposes, including, among others, to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a sewer service provider, until December 31, 2029, as provided. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated account may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.

Related Legislation:

SB 403 (Gonzalez, Chapter 242, Statutes of 2021) authorizes the State Water Board to order the consolidation of at-risk domestic wells and at-risk water systems.

SB 200 (Monning, Chapter 120, Statutes of 2019) establishes the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (Fund) to help water systems provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water in both the near and the long terms. Transfers to the Fund annually, until June 30, 2030, five percent of the proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, up to $130 million.

SB 1215 (Hertzberg, Chapter 982, Statutes of 2018) authorizes Regional Water Boards to order the provision of sewer service to a disadvantaged community that has inadequate onsite sewage treatment systems.

SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) authorizes the State Water Board to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a designated public water system to assist with the provision of an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. Authorizes the State Water Board to order the failing water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board.

SB 88 (Budget Committee, Chapter 27, Statutes of 2015). Authorizes the State Water Board to require water systems that are serving disadvantaged communities with unreliable and unsafe drinking water to consolidate with, or receive service from, public water systems with safe, reliable, and adequate drinking water.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

Senator Allen, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

SUBJECT: Sewer service: disadvantaged communities

DIGEST: Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), until January 1, 2029, to require a sewer service provider—for a sewer system serving a disadvantaged community that has demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to set standards for drinking water quality and to oversee the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards. (42 United States Code (USC) § 300(f) et seq.)
2. Requires, pursuant to the California SDWA, the State Water Board to regulate drinking water and to enforce the federal SDWA and other regulations. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) § 116275 et seq.)
3. Authorizes the State Water Board to order consolidation with a receiving drinking water system in the following circumstances (HSC § 116682(a)):
   1. 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, or is an at-risk water system; or,
   2. A disadvantaged community, in whole or in part, is substantially reliant on domestic wells that consistently fail to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water, or are at-risk domestic wells.
4. Requires the State Water Board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to perform a series of activities, including encouraging voluntary consolidation or extension of service; considering other enforcement remedies; considering the affordability of anticipated monthly rates for drinking water service to residential customers of the potentially subsumed water system; providing technical assistance and working with the potentially receiving and subsumed water systems to develop a financing package that benefits them both; and, providing the opportunity for public comment, with advance notice for public meetings provided to multiple stakeholders. (HSC § 116682(b))
5. Requires the State Water Board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to make seven findings, including that the potentially subsumed water system has consistently failed to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water or is at risk of doing so; that reasonable efforts to negotiate consolidation or extension of service were made; and, that consolidation or extension of service is appropriate and technically and economically feasible. (HSC § 116682(d))
   
6. Authorizes the State Water Board, in order to provide an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities, voluntary participants, and public water systems that have demonstrated difficulty in maintaining technical, managerial, and financial capacity and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse, to (HSC § 116686(a)):
   1. Contract with, or provide a grant to, an administrator to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services, or any combination of those services, to a designated public water system to assist the designated public water system with the provision of an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water; and,
   2. Order the designated water system to accept administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated water system, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board.
7. Authorizes a Regional Water Board to order the provision of sewer service by a receiving sewer system to a disadvantaged community, when a disadvantaged community or residents of a disadvantaged community are served by one or more inadequate onsite sewage treatment systems; establishes a process for the ordered provision of sewer service, including activities relating to community outreach, paying for the costs of providing sewer service pursuant to WC § 13289, and allowable charges for existing and new sewer service customers. (WC § 13289)
8. Specifies-for the purpose of providing sewer service to a disadvantaged community that is served by an inadequate onsite sewage treatment system-that "onsite sewage treatment system" includes, but is not limited to, a septic tank, cesspool, leach field, and seepage pit; defines "provision of sewer service" to mean the provision of sanitary sewer service, including the collection and treatment of sewage, to a disadvantaged community by any one of several specified processes; and defines "inadequate onsite sewage treatment system" to mean an onsite sewage treatment system that has the reasonable potential to cause a violation of water quality objectives, to impair present or future beneficial uses of water, or to cause pollution, nuisance, or contamination of waters of the state. (WC § 13288)

This bill:

1. Authorizes the State Water Board, until January 1, 2029, and after it makes specified findings by resolution or a prescribed process, to require a sewer service provider to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the Board for administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to assist a designated sewer system with the provision of adequate sewer service, as defined.
2. Authorizes the State Water Board to order a designated sewer system to accept those services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated sewer system, from an administrator.
3. Defines “designated sewer system” as a sewer system that serves a disadvantaged community that is either an inadequate sewer system or a sewer system that has demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent  waste, fraud, and abuse.
4. Requires the State Water Board to take specified actions before determining that a sewer service provider is a designated sewer system, including providing the sewer service provider an opportunity to show that it has taken steps to timely address its failure to be an adequate sewer system or to timely address its failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, conducting a public meeting, and providing an opportunity for public comment.
5. Authorizes the State Water Board to grant specified authority over the designated sewer system to the administrator, including the authority to expend money for various purposes and to set and collect sewer rates and fees. 
6. Requires the State Water Board to work with the administrator and the communities served by the designated sewer system to develop, within the shortest practicable time, adequate technical, managerial, and financial capacity to deliver adequate sewer service so that the services of the administrator are no longer necessary.
7. Authorizes the State Water Board to also use moneys in the account to provide grants to administrators for specified purposes, including, among others, to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a sewer service provider. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated account may be spent, the bill would make an appropriation.

Background

1. Threats to public health from sewer spills. On December 6, 2022, the State Water Board adopted an updated "General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems" (General Order), which regulates sanitary sewer systems designed to convey sewage. Sewage is defined as "untreated or partially treated domestic, municipal, commercial, and/or industrial waste, and any mixture of these wastes with inflow or infiltration of stormwater or groundwater, conveyed in a sanitary sewer system." According to the State Water Board, sanitary sewer system spills-or a discharge of sewage from any portion of a sewer system due to an overflow, operational failure, and/or infrastructure failure-can threaten public health, beneficial uses of state waters, and the environment. Sewage contains high levels of suspended solids, pathogenic organisms, toxic pollutants, nutrients, oxygen-demanding organic compounds, oil, grease, and other pollutants. Sewage spills may cause a public nuisance, particularly when sewage is discharged to areas with high public exposure such as streets and surface waters used for drinking, irrigation, fishing, recreation, or other public consumption or contact uses.
2. Drinking water system consolidation. State law under the California SDWA allows the State Water Board to order drinking water system consolidation or extension of service when water systems fail or are at risk of failing to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. Consolidation is the physical or managerial joining of two or more water systems, which often consists of a smaller water system that is failing or at risk of failing (referred to as the "subsumed water system") being absorbed into a larger, compliant water system (referred to as the "receiving water system"). Physical consolidation involves the merging or sharing of physical infrastructure, such as distribution pipelines or water treatment facilities. Managerial or operational consolidation involves sharing financial, managerial, or technical capacity.

According to the US EPA, water system partnerships, forged through strategies such as consolidation, can be an effective means of helping small water systems achieve and maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, and reducing the oversight and resources that states need to devote to these systems. The State Water Board maintains that consolidation and extension of service to disadvantaged communities that currently rely on underperforming or failing small water systems or domestic wells can reduce costs and improve reliability.

State law requires the State Water Board to perform a series of actions before ordering drinking water consolidation or extension of service. These include encouraging voluntary consolidation or extension of service; considering other enforcement remedies; considering the affordability of anticipated monthly rates for drinking water service to residential customers of the potentially subsumed water system; providing technical assistance and working with the potentially receiving and subsumed water systems to develop a financing package that benefits them both; and, providing the opportunity for public comment, with advance notice for public meetings provided to multiple stakeholders. The State Water Board must also make several findings, including that the potentially subsumed water system has consistently failed to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water or is at risk of doing so; that reasonable efforts to negotiate consolidation or extension of service were made; and, that consolidation or extension of service is appropriate and technically and economically feasible.

Upon ordering consolidation or extension of service, the State Water Board must also complete specified tasks, such as providing financial assistance to pay for the water infrastructure needed for consolidation or extension of service to take place and compensating the owners of a privately owned subsumed water system for the fair market value of the system.

In its 2022 Drinking Water Needs Assessment, the State Water Board reported that in 2021, 27 water systems, serving 13,641 people, were consolidated, and that there were about 170 active consolidations that were either in the early stages of development or in process for funding.

1. Appointed water system administrators. SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) gave the State Water Board an additional restructuring tool. The bill authorizes the State Water Board, in order "to provide affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse," to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a public water system (referred to as the "designated water system") that serves a disadvantaged community and consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. SB 552 also authorizes the State Water Board to order the failing water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board. The State Water Board describes an administrator as a person or entity that the State Water Board has determined is qualified to operate and manage a water system. Potential administrators include individual people; businesses, such as engineering firms; non-profits; local agencies; and, other entities.
   
2. Federal and state regulation of sewer systems. While the federal and state SDWAs govern drinking water systems in California, waste discharges and sewer systems are governed by the federal Clean Water Act and the state's Porter-Cologne Act. The objective of the Clean Water Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the United States. The Porter-Cologne Act authorizes the State Water Board to implement the Clean Water Act and to protect the quality of all waters of the State.

According to its 2022 General Order, the State Water Board regulates over 1,100 publicly owned sanitary sewer systems. California also has a large unknown number of unregulated privately owned sanitary sewer systems. Under authority granted pursuant to the Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Act, the State Water Board's General Order regulates sewer service providers, which can include state agencies, federal agencies, municipalities, special districts, private companies, or other non-governmental entities that own and/or operate a sewer system. The General Order regulates multiple aspects of sewer systems, including the discharge of sewage and monitoring and reporting requirements. The General Order also requires entities that own or operate a sewer system to develop and implement a "Sewer System Management Plan," which must reflect the size, scale, and complexity of the sewer system and include procedures for the management, operation, and maintenance of the sewer system. The procedures must address the prioritization of system repairs and maintenance to proactively prevent spills, and the implementation of current standard industry practices through available equipment, technologies, and strategies. State law provides the State and Regional Water Boards the authority to pursue formal enforcement actions, including imposing administrative liability and civil monetary penalties, for non-compliance with the requirements of the General Order and violations of the Clean Water Act.

1. Wastewater Needs Assessment. The Water Boards Wastewater Needs Assessment (WWNA) is a four-year project, that began July 2023, to provide information on California’s wastewater sanitation system needs. The WWNA an outcome from State Water Board Resolution No. 2022-0019 and Resolution No. 2016-0010, recognizing Californians’ equal and human right to sanitation and that safe wastewater management is critical to human and environmental health.

The Water Boards awarded the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI) and its partners $4 million from now until 2027, to assess the needs of California’s wastewater systems. The research agenda has two phases: Phase I, understanding baseline conditions of California’s wastewater infrastructure; and Phase II, identifying wastewater systems of concern and potential solutions.

The WWNA does not impose any permitting requirements, consolidation projects, or fees for regulatory or governing agencies, businesses, or peoples of the public. The WWNA intends to provide a statewide list of wastewater infrastructure priority projects for potential funding sources, and the first statewide gap analysis of wastewater infrastructure to inform Water Board and state decisions on regulatory and resource investment priorities.

Comments

1. Purpose of Bill. According to the author, “The small town of East Orosi is like many small and disadvantaged communities across California. The residents rely on residential wells for drinking water and have septic systems or failing municipal sanitation infrastructure.
   

“Failing sanitation systems often leak contaminates into the local underground aquifers that residents rely on to replenish their wells. As overdrafted underground aquifers dry up, the concentration of contaminants in drinking water wells increases. If drinking water pulled from contaminated wells contains unsafe levels of contaminants, it can cause health effects such as gastrointestinal illnesses, nervous system or reproductive effects, and chronic diseases such as cancer.

“In 2018, East Orosi was identified by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as a candidate for drinking water consolidation because of longstanding groundwater contamination issues. While their drinking water consolidation process is expected to be completed by 2024, wastewater system intervention was not ordered because SWRCB currently lacks the authority. Residents of East Orosi will be left with failing sanitation systems that are partly responsible for the polluted groundwater beneath their homes.

“Unfortunately, this same situation occurs in hundreds of small and disadvantaged communities across the state. Because failing sanitation systems are most likely to be in disadvantaged communities, these populations experience negative health impacts at much greater rates than well-resourced communities with modern, well-managed infrastructure.”

1. Temporary appointment of administrators to bridge the gap until WWNA is completed. As discussed above, a comprehensive needs assessment of California’s wastewater systems is currently underway. This study will provide an extensive scope of the wastewater infrastructure needs across the state. In the meantime, the author argues, “there are a number of wastewater systems that are obviously mismanaged where the residents would benefit from an interim administrator who can step in to better manage systems and access existing funding sources for needed upgrades and improvements.”
   

AB 805 would add to the State Water Board's authority regarding the administrator program, by authorizing the State Water Board, until January 1, 2029, to require a sewer service provider—for a sewer system serving a disadvantaged community that has either demonstrated a failure to maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse or is an inadequate sewer system—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board. 

AB 805 does not specify a process for sewer system consolidation, although the bill does take some initial steps in this direction and may be useful for advancing further conversations relating to the need for and structure of sewer system consolidations.

1. Technical, clarifying, and narrowing amendments. Staff has worked with the author, State Water Board, and water agency stakeholders on a number of technical, clarifying, and narrowing amendments, including:
   1. Adding intent language to clarify this measure is intended to provide a limited and temporary authority to the State Water Board to appoint administrators to take over managerial responsibilities of sewer service providers that are obviously and egregiously failing to provide adequate sewer service in the next five years while the WWNA is being conducted. Further specifies the intent to allow the Board to finalize the WWNA to inform a future permanent program based on the findings from the Needs Assessment.
   2. Clarifying the definition of a “designated sewer system” to mean a sewer service provider that serves a disadvantaged community that is either an inadequate sewer system or a sewer system that has a demonstrated failure to maintain technical, managerial, or financial capacity to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.
   3. Clarifying the definition of an “inadequate sewer service” to mean a sewer service provider that serves a disadvantaged community that has a demonstrated history of failures to meet regulatory standards for proper wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal, and may exhibit deficiencies, such as infrastructure failure, insufficient capacity, or ineffective treatment of wastewater. Specifies a demonstrated history of failures may include but is not limited to multiple violations, multiple instances of noncompliance with enforcement actions or refusal to accept compliance assistance.
   4. Narrowing the State Water Board process to designate a sewer system to make findings by resolution rather than by also allowing through a funding guideline process.
   5. Directing the State Water Board to establish a process by which an administrator’s responsibilities are absolved and the Board determines an administrator is no longer needed.
   6. Clarifying that an appointed administrator shall additionally not be held liable for enforcement actions taken by the State Water Board due to past or existing water quality violations.
2. Committee amendments. Staff recommends the committee adopt the bolded amendments contained in comments 3 above.

Related/Prior Legislation

SB 403 (Gonzalez, Chapter 242, Statutes of 2021) authorizes the State Water Board to order the consolidation of at-risk domestic wells and at-risk water systems.

SB 200 (Monning, Chapter 120, Statutes of 2019) establishes the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (Fund) to help water systems provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water in both the near and the long terms. Transfers to the Fund annually, until June 30, 2030, five percent of the proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, up to $130 million.

SB 1215 (Hertzberg, Chapter 982, Statutes of 2018) authorizes Regional Water Boards to order the provision of sewer service to a disadvantaged community that has inadequate onsite sewage treatment systems.

SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) authorizes the State Water Board to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a designated public water system to assist with the provision of an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. Authorizes the State Water Board to order the failing water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board.

SB 88 (Budget Committee, Chapter 27, Statutes of 2015). Authorizes the State Water Board to require water systems that are serving disadvantaged communities with unreliable and unsafe drinking water to consolidate with, or receive service from, public water systems with safe, reliable, and adequate drinking water.

SOURCE:

Community Water Center

SUPPORT:

California Coastkeeper Alliance
California Environmental Voters
Clean Water Action
Community Water Center
Junior Philanthropists Foundation
Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability
Union of Concerned Scientists

OPPOSITION:

None received

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:

According to a coalition of environmental groups, “In 2018, the rural community of East Orosi was identified as a candidate for drinking water consolidation with the neighboring town of Orosi due to decades-long groundwater contamination issues and a lack of capacity by the system’s operator. Until this process is expected to be completed in 2024, the SWRCB took action to appoint Tulare County as administrator of the drinking water system. However, the ongoing drinking water consolidation project has been delayed by legal challenges, and residents of East Orosi are still facing numerous issues due to the East Orosi Community Services District (CSD) retaining billing and management of the community’s sewer service. These include unserviced septic tanks, raw sewage leaks, backed-up plumbing, a lack of paper billing, and intimidation/threats from the sewer system operator.

“AB 805 (Arambula) builds on past legislation by granting the SWRCB permissive authority to appoint an administrator and order a wastewater consolidation if a mandatory consolidation order has already been issued by the SWRCB for a community’s drinking water system. For East Orosi, AB 805 would have allowed for relief for residents whose human rights are being violated daily. To fully realize the promise of the Human Right to Water, California must ensure that its most

vulnerable populations—including residents living in disadvantaged communities—have access to safe drinking water and sanitation services. It is unconscionable to leave residents with such a mismanaged sewer system after recognizing that a district cannot manage the drinking water system effectively. It is imperative that the Legislature take action to address these issues, and we

are proud to sponsor this legislation.”

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION:

None received

Positions reflect letters received by noon one week prior to the hearing.

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 805

Author:(Arambula)

As Amended Ver:January 22, 2024

2/3 vote. Urgency

SUMMARY

Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) to require a sewer service provider—for a sewer system that has the reasonable potential to cause a violation of water quality objectives; impair present or future beneficial uses of water; or cause pollution, nuisance, or contamination of waters of the state—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board.

Major Provisions

1. Defines "administrator" as a person whom the State Water Board has determined is competent to perform administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services for the purposes of providing sewer service.
2. Defines "inadequate sewage treatment system" as a sewer system that has the reasonable potential to cause a violation of water quality objectives; impair present or future beneficial uses of water; or cause pollution, nuisance, or contamination of waters of the state.
3. Defines "designated sewer system" as a sewer system that serves a disadvantaged community and that the State Water Board finds to be either an inadequate sewage treatment system or a sewer system that has demonstrated difficulty in maintaining technical, managerial, and financial capacity to prevent fraud and mismanagement.
4. Authorizes the State Water Board to require a sewer service provider, for a designated sewer system, to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board.
5. Requires a designated sewer system to bear responsibility for funding the activities of an administrator to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a designated sewer system—up to a level of cost necessary to maintain the designated sewer system and provide adequate sewer service—and specifies that the State Water Board shall not be responsible for funding these activities.
6. Authorizes the allocation of funds from the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, for costs associated with the activities of an administrator, to provide services to a designated sewer system.

COMMENTS

Human right to water: In 2012, the Legislature enacted AB 685 (Eng, Chapter 524, Statutes of 2012), making California the first state in the country with a Human Right to Water law. AB 685 established a state policy that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitation. Multiple challenges, including water supply issues, contaminants, climate change, and the costs of treatment and maintenance of water system infrastructure, especially in disadvantaged communities, continue to challenge implementation of the Human Right to Water.

Sanitary sewer systems and risks associated with sewage spills: According to the State Water Board, sanitary sewer systems are designed to convey sewage and include, but are not limited to, pipes, valves, pump stations, manholes, siphons, wet wells, and diversion structures or other pertinent infrastructure upstream of a wastewater treatment plant. Sewage is untreated or partially treated domestic, municipal, commercial and/or industrial waste (including sewage sludge), and any mixture of these wastes with inflow or infiltration of stormwater or groundwater, conveyed in a sanitary sewer system. A sewage spill occurs when there is a discharge of sewage from any portion of a sanitary sewer system, resulting from a sanitary sewer system overflow, operational failure, and/or infrastructure failure.

In 2021, the American Society of Civil Engineers issued its "Infrastructure Report Card," which examines national infrastructure conditions and needs. According to the report, the majority of the nation's wastewater treatment plants are reaching the end of their service lives, as are many collection systems. As collection systems age, groundwater and stormwater may enter networks through cracks, joints, or illicit connections, which can overtax sewer systems and lead to sanitary sewer system overflows. Conveyance systems can also be susceptible to other types of failures, including blockages caused by consumer products such as wipes and paper towels. When overflows or blockages occur, entire communities may risk exposure to sewage that, according to the State Water Board, can contain high levels of suspended solids, non-digested organic waste, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, toxic pollutants, nutrients, oxygen-demanding organic compounds, oils, grease, pharmaceuticals, and other harmful pollutants. As a result, sewage and its associated wastewater spilled from a sanitary sewer system may threaten public health, beneficial uses of waters of the State, and the environment.

Sewage spills have occurred in California communities. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, in a 2023 article entitled "'Don't jump in puddles': Sewage is overflowing in San Francisco Bay and city streets during storms," that a series of recent heavy rainfall events had inundated the sanitary sewer systems of San Francisco and Oakland, leading to millions of gallons of spilled sewage. In San Francisco, residents were advised to avoid contact with puddles and swimming in the San Francisco Bay.

Regulation of sanitary sewer systems: Waste discharges and sewer systems are regulated under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and California's Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Porter-Cologne Act). The objective of the CWA is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the United States. The Porter-Cologne Act authorizes the State Water Board to implement the CWA and protect the quality of all waters of the State.

According to the State Water Board, there are an estimated 3,000 domestic/municipal wastewater collection or treatment systems permitted by the State Water Board and nine Regional Water Boards, through individual or general waste discharge requirements, or National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits (authorized under the CWA to regulate point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States). The State Water Board regulates over 1,100 publicly owned sanitary sewer systems under its 2023 General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems (General Order). The General Order regulates multiple aspects of sewer systems, including the management of sewer systems, discharge of sewage, monitoring and reporting requirements, and prioritization of system repairs and maintenance to prevent spills.

Spills from a sanitary sewer system, prior to reaching an ultimate downstream treatment facility, are unauthorized and enforceable by the State Water Board and Regional Water Boards. State law provides the State Water Board and Regional Water Boards with the authority to pursue enforcement actions, including imposing administrative liability and civil monetary penalties, for non-compliance with the requirements of the General Order and violations of the CWA.

The Wastewater Needs Assessment: Over the last several years, California has taken steps towards advancing the goals specified in the Human Right to Water law, as it relates to drinking water. In 2019, the Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 200 (Monning, Chapter 120, Statutes of 2019), which enabled the State Water Board to create the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) Drinking Water Program. SB 200 established a set of tools, funding sources, and regulatory authorities that the State Water Board uses to help struggling drinking water systems provide safe drinking water. An annual Drinking Water Needs Assessment provides foundational information and recommendations to guide this work, in part by providing a formalized process for identifying failing and at-risk water systems.

Currently, a similarly comprehensive toolkit for addressing wastewater issues does not exist in California, in part because the state lacks information about the status of California's wastewater systems. In Resolution No. 2022-0019, the State Water Board highlighted these issues, stating:

"The Water Boards lack a statewide comprehensive set of data for California's wastewater sanitation systems…The State Water Board recognizes that without collecting a comprehensive set of data for California's wastewater sanitation systems, determining comprehensive solutions and identifying costs associated with addressing systems at risk of threatening public health goals will remain unresolved...Collecting information and developing criteria to create a statewide risk framework to prioritize funding for California's wastewater sanitation systems is essential to effectively utilize infrastructure investments. This is particularly important for California’s most vulnerable populations, including disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged communities with inadequate or failing sanitation systems and threatened access to healthy drinking water supplies."

Adopted in June 2022, the above resolution allocates up to $4,000,000 to support a statewide effort to conduct a wastewater needs assessment, to improve statewide sanitation access and help achieve the goals set forth in the Human Right to Water law. The Wastewater Needs Assessment, launched in July 2023, will provide information on California’s wastewater sanitation system needs upon its completion in 2027.

Administrators for drinking water systems: As part of a broader toolkit for addressing drinking water system issues, the State Water Board can appoint an administrator, a person or entity that the State Water Board has determined is qualified to operate and manage a water system. Specifically, SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) authorized the State Water Board to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a public water system (also called a "designated water system") that serves a disadvantaged community and consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. Currently, state law does not grant the State Water Board similar authority to appoint administrators for sewer systems that are facing technical, managerial, or financial difficulties.

This bill: AB 805 authorizes the State Water Board to require a sewer service provider—for a sewer system that has the reasonable potential to cause a violation of water quality objectives; impair present or future beneficial uses of water; or cause pollution, nuisance, or contamination of waters of the state—to contract with an administrator designated or approved by the State Water Board. Granting this authority to the State Water Board could provide relief to communities facing severe and immediate sewer service issues, while the state examines additional options for a comprehensive, longer-term set of strategies under the Wastewater Needs Assessment.

According to the Author

"Failing sanitation systems often leak contaminants into the local underground aquifers that residents rely on to replenish their wells. As overdrafted underground aquifers dry up, the concentration of contaminants in drinking water wells increases…Unfortunately, this same situation occurs in hundreds of small and disadvantaged communities across the state. Because failing sewer systems are most likely to be in disadvantaged communities, these populations experience negative health impacts at much greater rates than well-resourced communities with modern, well-managed infrastructure."

Arguments in Support

A coalition of supporting organizations comprised of the Community Water Center, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, California Environmental Voters, Clean Water Action, California Coastkeeper Alliance, and Union of Concerned Scientists writes:

"In 2018, the rural community of East Orosi was identified as a candidate for drinking water consolidation with the neighboring town of Orosi due to decades-long groundwater contamination issues and a lack of capacity by the system's operator. Until this process is expected to be completed in 2024, the [State Water Board] took action to appoint Tulare County as administrator of the drinking water system. However, the ongoing drinking water consolidation project has been delayed by legal challenges, and residents of East Orosi are still facing numerous issues due to the East Orosi Community Services District (CSD) retaining billing and management of the community's sewer service. These include unserviced septic tanks, raw sewage leaks, backed up plumbing, a lack of paper billing, and intimidation/threats from the sewer system operator.

AB 805 (Arambula) builds on past legislation by granting the [State Water Board] permissive authority to appoint an administrator…For East Orosi, AB 805 would have allowed for relief for residents whose human rights are being violated daily."

Arguments in Opposition

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:

• The State Water Board estimates annual costs of an unknown amount, potentially in the low- to mid-hundreds of thousands of dollars, for the State and Regional Water Boards to evaluate and identify wastewater systems for administrator appointments, and to further select, appoint, and provide administrators per the processes proposed in this bill (General Fund or special fund). The State Water Board anticipates that its future wastewater needs assessment will provide additional data needed to more completely evaluate administrative costs in the long-term.
• The State Water Board preliminarily estimates that it could cost approximately $1.2 million per administrator appointment to a wastewater system for a two-year period. However, the committee notes that this bill provides that a designated sewer system shall be responsible for funding the activities of an administrator to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services, or any combination of those services, to the designated sewer system. The State Water Board shall not be responsible for providing funding for those activities.
• Cost pressure of an unknown but potentially significant amount on the State Water Board's State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account to the extent the State Water Board allocates funds from the account to provide grants to administrators to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services to a sewer service provider.

VOTES

ASM ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS: 9-0-0

YES: Lee, Hoover, Arambula, Bauer-Kahan, Connolly, McKinnor, Pacheco, Ta, Zbur

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 12-0-4

YES: Holden, Arambula, Wood, Calderon, Connolly, Mike Fong, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Lowenthal, Pellerin, Villapudua

ABS, ABST OR NV: Sanchez, Megan Dahle, Dixon, Ta

UPDATED

VERSION: January 22, 2024

CONSULTANT: Naomi Ondrasek / E.S. & T.M. / (916) 319-3965 FN: 0002606

Date of Hearing: April 19, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 805

Author:(Arambula) – As Amended Ver:March 9, 2023

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) to order consolidation of sewer service along with an order of consolidation of drinking water, when both systems provide sewer service.

Specifically, this bill:

1. Authorizes the State Water Board, if sufficient funding is available, to order consolidation of sewer service along with an order of consolidation of drinking water, when both the subsumed and receiving drinking water systems provide sewer service, after doing all of the following:
2. Consulting with, and fully considering input from, the relevant Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) and the receiving water system.
3. Conducting outreach to ratepayers and residents served by the receiving and subsumed water systems, including identifiable local community groups, to gauge community support for consolidation of the subsumed water system, and considering the results of community outreach when deciding whether to order consolidation of the subsumed water system's sewer services.
4. Clarifies that the State Water Board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service for drinking water systems, must find reasonable efforts were made to negotiate voluntary consolidation or extension of service.
5. Authorizes the State Water Board, when contracting with, or ordering a designated water system to accept, an administrator, to require the administrator to provide administrative, technical, legal, or managerial services for any sewer service provided by the designated water system.
6. Provides that a designated water system is not responsible for any costs associated with an administrator that are higher than the costs necessary to maintain the designated water system and provide sewer service, in addition to providing an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Should the State Water Board utilize the authority granted by this bill, the State Water Board estimates ongoing annual costs of approximately $2.9 million to review sewer service funding applications, provide technical assistance, assist in planning and construction activities, oversee mandatory consolidation efforts, coordinate with Regional Water Boards, and support the Regional Water Boards in implementing an expanded drinking water system and sewer system consolidation program. Absent a general fund appropriation, this funding would come from the Waste Discharge Permit Fund, which is funded by annual fees collected from wastewater dischargers.

COMMENTS:

1) Purpose. According to the author:

In 2018, East Orosi was identified by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as a candidate for drinking water consolidation because of longstanding groundwater contamination issues. While their drinking water consolidation process is expected to be completed by 2024, sewer service consolidation was not ordered because SWRCB currently lacks the authority. Residents of East Orosi will be left with failing sanitation systems that are partly responsible for the polluted groundwater beneath their homes. Unfortunately, this same situation occurs in hundreds of small and disadvantaged communities across the state. Because failing sewer systems are most likely to be in disadvantaged communities, these populations experience negative health impacts at much greater rates than well-resourced communities with modern, well-managed infrastructure.

2) Regulation of Sanitary Sewer Systems. According to its 2022 General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems (General Order), the State Water Board regulates over 1,100 publicly owned sanitary sewer systems. California also has a large unknown number of unregulated privately owned sanitary sewer systems. Sewer service providers include state agencies, federal agencies, municipalities, special districts, private companies, or other non-governmental entities that own or operate, or own and operate, a sewer system. The General Order regulates multiple aspects of sewer systems, including the management of sewer systems, discharge of sewage, monitoring and reporting requirements, and prioritization of system repairs and maintenance to proactively prevent spills. State law provides both the State and Regional Water Boards the authority to pursue formal enforcement actions, including imposing administrative liability and civil monetary penalties, for non-compliance with the requirements of the General Order and violations of the Clean Water Act.

3) Drinking Water System Consolidation. The State Water Board may order drinking water system consolidation or extension of service to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water when water systems fail or are at risk of failing. Consolidation is the physical or managerial joining of two or more water systems, which often consists of a smaller water system that is failing or at risk of failing (referred to as the "subsumed water system") being absorbed into a larger, compliant water system (referred to as the "receiving water system"). For a detailed description of the consolidation process, please see the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials (ESTM) Committee analysis of this bill. According to the State Water Board, since 2019, the State Water Board has completed 94 drinking water system consolidations (of which two are mandatory and the remainder are voluntary), which have provided 56,451 people with clean and accessible drinking water; additionally, there are approximately 210 drinking water consolidations in process. 

4) Water System Administrators. SB 552 (Wolk), Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016, authorized the State Water Board to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a public water system (also called a “designated water system”) that serves a disadvantaged community and consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. SB 552 also authorized the State Water Board to order the failing water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator – a person or entity the State Water Board has determined is qualified to operate and manage a water system – selected by the State Water Board. Potential administrators include individual people, businesses such as engineering firms, non-profits, and local agencies.

5) Paying for Consolidation of Service. The State Water Board is required, upon ordering consolidation of service, and as necessary and appropriate, to compensate the receiving water system for any capacity lost as a result of the consolidation, as specified. The State Water Board is also required to “provide appropriate financial assistance for the water infrastructure needed for the consolidation or extension of service;” ensure payment of standard local agency formation commission fees caused by State Water Board-ordered consolidation; adequately compensate the owners of a privately owned subsumed water system for the fair market value of the system; and make financial assistance available to an administrator of a designated water system, as appropriate and to the extent that funding is available. The Division of Financial Assistance at the State Water Board provides consolidation-related funding from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience Program (SAFER), federal infrastructure funds, and other sources such as a previously authorized emergency drought relief budget package.

While this bill does not specifically outline what is required of the State Water Board with respect to paying for consolidation of sewer systems, it is reasonable to assume, based on existing drinking water system consolidation requirements, that costs to the State Water Board will be significant. It is not known how many systems qualify as both failing drinking water systems and as failing systems that provide sewer service.

As outlined in the ESTM Committee analysis of this bill, state laws governing drinking water consolidation are complex and contain provisions that, among other things, define the types of water systems that can be consolidated and establish parameters for defining failing or at-risk water systems. Consolidation statute for drinking water systems also contains numerous requirements relating to transparency, community outreach, implementation timelines, the use of an administrator, allowable uses for funding, and customer water rates and fees after consolidation. California does not currently have a similar statutory process for consolidating sewer systems, aside from laws established by SB 1215 (Hertzberg), Chapter 982, Statutes of 2018, which more narrowly authorized Regional Water Boards to order the provision of sewer service to a disadvantaged community with an inadequate onsite sewage treatment system. The ESTM committee raises a number of policy questions and considerations for the author regarding the specifics of this bill.

6) Support. Writing in support, a coalition of environmental justice and environmental organizations state:

In 2018, the rural community of East Orosi was identified as a candidate for drinking water consolidation with the neighboring town of Orosi due to decades-long groundwater contamination issues and a lack of capacity by the system’s operator. Until this process is expected to be completed in 2024, the SWRCB took action to appoint Tulare County as administrator of the drinking water system. However, the ongoing drinking water consolidation project has been delayed by legal challenges, and residents of East Orosi are still facing numerous issues due to the East Orosi Community Services District (CSD) retaining billing and management of the community’s sewer service. These include unserviced septic tanks, raw sewage leaks, backed up plumbing, a lack of paper billing, and intimidation/threats from the sewer system operator. AB 805 (Arambula) builds on past legislation by granting the SWRCB permissive authority to appoint an administrator and order a wastewater consolidation if a mandatory consolidation order has already been issued by the SWRCB for a community’s drinking water system. For East Orosi, AB 805 would have allowed for relief for residents whose human rights are being violated daily.

Analysis Prepared by: Nikita Koraddi / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: March 28, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS

Alex Lee, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 805 (

Author:Arambula) – As Amended Ver:March 9, 2023

SUBJECT: Drinking water consolidation: sewer service

SUMMARY: Authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) to order consolidation of sewer service along with an order for the consolidation of drinking water systems. Specifically, this bill:

1. Authorizes the State Water Board, if sufficient funding is available, to order consolidation of sewer service along with an order for drinking water consolidation, when the subsumed and receiving drinking water systems both provide sewer service, after doing all of the following:
2. Consulting with, and fully considering input from, the relevant Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board);
3. Consulting with, and fully considering input from, the receiving water system; and,
4. Conducting outreach to ratepayers and residents served by the receiving and subsumed water systems, including identifiable local community groups. Requires outreach efforts to gauge community support for consolidation of the subsumed water system, and requires the State Water Board to consider the results of community outreach when deciding whether to order consolidation of the subsumed water system's sewer services.
5. Clarifies that, before ordering consolidation or extension of service for drinking water systems, the State Water Board must find reasonable efforts were made to negotiate voluntary (instead of mandated) consolidation or extension of service.
6. Authorizes the State Water Board, when contracting with, or ordering a designated water system to accept, an administrator pursuant to Health and Safety Code (HSC) § 116686(a)(1), to require the administrator to provide administrative, technical, legal, or managerial services for any sewer service provided by the designated water system.
7. Adds sewer service to an existing provision, to prohibit a designated water system from being responsible for administrator costs that exceed the costs necessary to provide sewer service, in addition to maintaining the designated water system and providing an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Declares that it is 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. (Water Code (WC) § 106.3)
2. Pursuant to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to set standards for drinking water quality and to oversee the states, localities, and water suppliers who implement those standards. (42 United States Code (USC) § 300(f) et seq.)
3. Requires, pursuant to the California SDWA, the State Water Board to regulate drinking water and to enforce the federal SDWA and other regulations. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) § 116275 et seq.)
4. Authorizes the State Water Board to order consolidation with a receiving drinking water system in the following circumstances (HSC § 116682(a)):
5. 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, or is an at-risk water system; or,
6. A disadvantaged community, in whole or in part, is substantially reliant on domestic wells that consistently fail to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water, or are at-risk domestic wells.
7. Requires the State Water Board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to perform a series of activities, including encouraging voluntary consolidation or extension of service; considering other enforcement remedies; considering the affordability of anticipated monthly rates for drinking water service to residential customers of the potentially subsumed water system; providing technical assistance and working with the potentially receiving and subsumed water systems to develop a financing package that benefits them both; and, providing the opportunity for public comment, with advance notice for public meetings provided to multiple stakeholders. (HSC § 116682(b))
8. Requires the State Water Board, before ordering consolidation or extension of service, to make seven findings, including that the potentially subsumed water system has consistently failed to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water or is at risk of doing so; that reasonable efforts to negotiate consolidation or extension of service were made; and, that consolidation or extension of service is appropriate and technically and economically feasible. (HSC § 116682(d))
9. Authorizes the State Water Board, in order to provide an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities, voluntary participants, and public water systems that have demonstrated difficulty in maintaining technical, managerial, and financial capacity and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse, to (HSC § 116686(a)):
   1. Contract with, or provide a grant to, an administrator to provide administrative, technical, operational, legal or managerial services, or any combination of those services, to a designated public water system to assist the designated public water system with the provision of an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water; and,
   2. Order the designated water system to accept administrative, technical, operational, legal, or managerial services, including full management and control of all aspects of the designated water system, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board.
10. Establishes, under the federal Clean Water Act, the structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. (33 USC § 1251 et seq.)
11. Declares, under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Porter-Cologne Act), that the health, safety, and welfare of people require there to be a statewide program for water quality control and that the statewide program for water quality control can be most effectively administered regionally, within a framework of statewide coordination and policy. (WC § 13000)
    
12. Requires each Regional Water Board to formulate and adopt water quality control plans for all areas within the region, with specified plan elements, including (WC § 13240 et seq.):
    1. A requirement for water quality control plans to include water quality objectives, to ensure the reasonable protection of beneficial uses and the prevention of nuisance; and,
    2. An authorization for water quality control plans to specify certain conditions or areas where the discharge of waste, or certain types of waste, will not be permitted.
       
13. Authorizes a Regional Water Board, in establishing or reviewing any water quality control plan or waste discharge requirements, or in connection with any action relating to any plan or requirement authorized by law, to investigate the quality of any waters of the state within its region. (WC § 13267)
14. Authorizes a Regional Water Board to order the provision of sewer service by a receiving sewer system to a disadvantaged community, when a disadvantaged community or residents of a disadvantaged community are served by one or more inadequate onsite sewage treatment systems; establishes a process for the ordered provision of sewer service, including activities relating to community outreach, paying for the costs of providing sewer service pursuant to WC § 13289, and allowable charges for existing and new sewer service customers. (WC § 13289)
15. Specifies—for the purpose of providing sewer service to a disadvantaged community that is served by an inadequate onsite sewage treatment system—that "onsite sewage treatment system" includes, but is not limited to, a septic tank, cesspool, leach field, and seepage pit; defines "provision of sewer service" to mean the provision of sanitary sewer service, including the collection and treatment of sewage, to a disadvantaged community by any one of several specified processes; and defines "inadequate onsite sewage treatment system" to mean an onsite sewage treatment system that has the reasonable potential to cause a violation of water quality objectives, to impair present or future beneficial uses of water, or to cause pollution, nuisance, or contamination of waters of the state. (WC § 13288)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

Need for the bill: According to the author:

"The small town of East Orosi is like many small and disadvantaged communities across California. The residents rely on residential wells for drinking water and have septic systems or failing municipal sanitation infrastructure.

Failing sanitation systems often leak contaminants into the local underground aquifers that residents rely on to replenish their wells. As overdrafted underground aquifers dry up, the concentration of contaminants in drinking water wells increases. If drinking water pulled from contaminated wells contains unsafe levels of contaminants, it can cause health effects such as gastrointestinal illnesses, nervous system or reproductive effects, and chronic diseases such as cancer.

In 2018, East Orosi was identified by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) as a candidate for drinking water consolidation because of longstanding groundwater contamination issues. While their drinking water consolidation process is expected to be completed by 2024, sewer service consolidation was not ordered because SWRCB currently lacks the authority. Residents of East Orosi will be left with failing sanitation systems that are partly responsible for the polluted groundwater beneath their homes.

Unfortunately, this same situation occurs in hundreds of small and disadvantaged communities across the state. Because failing sewer systems are most likely to be in disadvantaged communities, these populations experience negative health impacts at much greater rates than well-resourced communities with modern, well-managed infrastructure."

Human right to water: In 2012, by enacting AB 685 (Eng, Chapter 524, Statutes of 2012), California became the first state with a Human Right to Water law. AB 685 established a state policy that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitation. Water supply issues; contaminants; costs of treatment and distribution systems; climate change; the number and nature of small public water systems, especially in disadvantaged communities; and, many other factors continue to challenge progress in implementing the Human Right to Water.

Drinking water contamination: While most drinking water in California meets requirements for health and safety, surface waters and aquifers used for drinking water can be contaminated by various chemicals, microbes, and radionuclides. According to the US EPA, drinking water contaminants can originate from multiple sources, including human waste from sewage and septic systems, which can carry harmful microbes into drinking water sources. Major contaminants resulting from waste include Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and E. coli.

The US EPA reports that there is a broad range of health effects associated with exposure to drinking water contaminants. Ingestion or exposure to pathogens at sufficient doses can result in gastrointestinal illness with symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, stomach cramps, and vomiting. Exposure to higher doses of chemicals, metals, or radionuclides through drinking water can produce biological responses, toxicological effects, and more severe health impacts including cancer, developmental or reproductive effects, neurological changes, and organ damage.

Threats to public health from sewer spills: On December 6, 2022, the State Water Board adopted an updated "General Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems" (General Order), which regulates sanitary sewer systems designed to convey sewage. Sewage is defined as "untreated or partially treated domestic, municipal, commercial, and/or industrial waste, and any mixture of these wastes with inflow or infiltration of stormwater or groundwater, conveyed in a sanitary sewer system." According to the State Water Board, sanitary sewer system spills—or a discharge of sewage from any portion of a sewer system due to an overflow, operational failure, and/or infrastructure failure—can threaten public health, beneficial uses of state waters, and the environment. Sewage contains high levels of suspended solids, pathogenic organisms, toxic pollutants, nutrients, oxygen-demanding organic compounds, oil, grease, and other pollutants. Sewage spills may cause a public nuisance, particularly when sewage is discharged to areas with high public exposure such as streets and surface waters used for drinking, irrigation, fishing, recreation, or other public consumption or contact uses.

Drinking water system consolidation: State law under the California SDWA allows the State Water Board to order drinking water system consolidation or extension of service when water systems fail or are at risk of failing to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water. Consolidation is the physical or managerial joining of two or more water systems, which often consists of a smaller water system that is failing or at risk of failing (referred to as the "subsumed water system") being absorbed into a larger, compliant water system (referred to as the "receiving water system"). Physical consolidation involves the merging or sharing of physical infrastructure, such as distribution pipelines or water treatment facilities. Managerial or operational consolidation involves sharing financial, managerial, or technical capacity.

According to the US EPA, water system partnerships, forged through strategies such as consolidation, can be an effective means of helping small water systems achieve and maintain technical, managerial, and financial capacity, and reducing the oversight and resources that states need to devote to these systems. The State Water Board maintains that consolidation and extension of service to disadvantaged communities that currently rely on under-performing or failing small water systems or domestic wells can reduce costs and improve reliability.

State law requires the State Water Board to perform a series of actions before ordering drinking water consolidation or extension of service. These include encouraging voluntary consolidation or extension of service; considering other enforcement remedies; considering the affordability of anticipated monthly rates for drinking water service to residential customers of the potentially subsumed water system; providing technical assistance and working with the potentially receiving and subsumed water systems to develop a financing package that benefits them both; and, providing the opportunity for public comment, with advance notice for public meetings provided to multiple stakeholders. The State Water Board must also make several findings, including that the potentially subsumed water system has consistently failed to provide an adequate supply of safe drinking water or is at risk of doing so; that reasonable efforts to negotiate consolidation or extension of service were made; and, that consolidation or extension of service is appropriate, and technically and economically feasible.

Upon ordering consolidation or extension of service, the State Water Board must also complete specified tasks, such as providing financial assistance to pay for the water infrastructure needed for consolidation or extension of service to take place, and compensating the owners of a privately owned subsumed water system for the fair market value of the system.

In its 2022 Drinking Water Needs Assessment, the State Water Board reported that in 2021, 27 water systems, serving 13,641 people, were consolidated, and that there were about 170 active consolidations that were either in the early stages of development or in process for funding.

Appointed water system administrators: SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016) gave the State Water Board an additional restructuring tool. The bill authorizes the State Water Board, in order "to provide affordable, safe drinking water to disadvantaged communities and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse," to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a public water system (referred to as the "designated water system") that serves a disadvantaged community and consistently fails to provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. SB 552 also authorizes the State Water Board to order the failing water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board. The State Water Board describes an administrator as a person or entity that the State Water Board has determined is qualified to operate and manage a water system. Potential administrators include individual people; businesses, such as engineering firms; non-profits; local agencies; and, other entities. AB 805 adds to the State Water Board's authority regarding the administrator program, by authorizing the State Water Board to require an administrator to provide administrative, technical, legal, or managerial services for sewer service provided by a drinking water system.

Federal and state regulation of sewer systems: While the federal and state SDWAs govern drinking water systems in California, waste discharges and sewer systems are governed by the federal Clean Water Act and the state's Porter-Cologne Act. The objective of the Clean Water Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the United States. The Porter-Cologne Act authorizes the State Water Board to implement the Clean Water Act and to protect the quality of all waters of the State.

According to its 2022 General Order, the State Water Board regulates over 1,100 publicly owned sanitary sewer systems. California also has a large unknown number of unregulated privately owned sanitary sewer systems. Under authority granted pursuant to the Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Act, the State Water Board's General Order regulates sewer service providers, which can include state agencies, federal agencies, municipalities, special districts, private companies, or other non-governmental entities that own and/or operate a sewer system. The General Order regulates multiple aspects of sewer systems, including the discharge of sewage and monitoring and reporting requirements. The General Order also requires entities that own or operate a sewer system to develop and implement a "Sewer System Management Plan," which must reflect the size, scale, and complexity of the sewer system and include procedures for the management, operation, and maintenance of the sewer system. The procedures must address the prioritization of system repairs and maintenance to proactively prevent spills, and the implementation of current standard industry practices through available equipment, technologies, and strategies. State law provides the State and Regional Water Boards the authority to pursue formal enforcement actions, including imposing administrative liability and civil monetary penalties, for non-compliance with the requirements of the General Order and violations of the Clean Water Act.

Prior legislative action relating to sewer service: In 2019, SB 1215 (Hertzberg, Chapter 982, Statutes of 2018) authorized Regional Water Boards to order the provision of sewer service to disadvantaged communities that have inadequate onsite sewage treatment systems, which are defined as septic tanks, cesspools, leach fields, or seepage pits. The bill established a process for ordering this "septic-to-sewer" conversion using the model set forth in SB 88 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 27, Statutes of 2015), which authorized the State Water Board to order consolidation of water systems in disadvantaged communities that lack access to adequate, safe, and reliable drinking water. Similar to drinking water consolidation, SB 1215 requires:

• The Regional Water Board to, before ordering the provision of sewer service, encourage the voluntary provision of sewer service; engage in specified community outreach activities; and, make six findings, including that the provision of sewer service is an effective and cost-effective means of addressing inadequate onsite sewage treatment systems.
• The State Water Board to, as necessary and appropriate, make funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to a receiving sewer system for the costs of completing the provision of sewer service.

This bill: AB 805 authorizes the State Water Board, under the California SDWA, to order the consolidation of sewer service along with an order for drinking water consolidation, if both the subsumed and receiving water systems also provide sewer service. This approach may be useful for addressing the specific situation in which the same entity operates both a failing drinking water system and an inadequate sewer system. AB 805 does not specify a process for sewer system consolidation, although the bill does take some initial steps in this direction and may be useful for advancing further conversations relating to the need for and structure of sewer system consolidations.

Policy considerations: State laws governing drinking water consolidation are complex and contain provisions that, among other things, define the types of water systems that can be consolidated and establish parameters for defining failing or at-risk water systems. Consolidation statute for drinking water systems also contains numerous requirements relating to transparency, community outreach, implementation timelines, the use of an administrator, allowable uses for funding, and customer water rates after consolidation. California does not currently have a similar statutory process for consolidating sewer systems, aside from laws established by SB 1215 (Hertzberg, Chapter 982, Statutes of 2018), which more narrowly authorized Regional Water Boards to order the provision of sewer service to a disadvantaged community with an inadequate onsite sewage treatment system.

AB 805 highlights an important issue for this Committee to consider: the potential exposure of disadvantaged communities to the dual challenges of unsafe drinking water and inadequate sewer services. In combination, these issues can lead to further degradation of drinking water sources and compound negative human health impacts in disadvantaged communities. AB 805 proposes to address this issue by authorizing the State Water Board to order sewer service consolidation, but does not establish a process for this consolidation, aside from some provisions relating to community outreach and the role of an administrator. This leaves several questions that the author may wish to consider as this bill moves forward:

• Should California establish broader authority for consolidating sewer systems? AB 805 authorizes the State Water Board to order sewer service consolidation only when receiving and subsumed drinking water systems both also provide sewer service; in other words, AB 805 authorizes sewer service consolidation only in conjunction with drinking water consolidation. As written, the bill does not otherwise define conditions—such as the provision of inadequate sewer service, or chronic infrastructure, capacity, or managerial issues—that would make a sewer system eligible for consolidation. The bill also does not authorize the State Water Board to order consolidation of sewer service providers outside of a drinking water consolidation, even when the provision of sewer service is inadequate, threatens human health, or impairs water quality.
• Under which body of law should sewer service consolidation be placed? Drinking water is regulated under the federal and state SDWAs; in contrast, sewer systems are regulated under the federal Clean Water Act and state Porter-Cologne Act. These different bodies of law establish separate regulatory frameworks, objectives, and authorities for drinking water and sewer systems. If broader authority for sewer system consolidation were to be placed under the Porter-Cologne Act, statute authorizing sewer system consolidation along with drinking water consolidation would likely need to include language connecting the two bodies of law.
• How would requirements in AB 805 interact with existing drinking water consolidation requirements? It is unclear how this bill's requirements would interact with existing statute for drinking water consolidation, and whether "sewer service" needs to be explicitly added elsewhere in the drinking water consolidation statute to ensure that the State Water Board has the authority to execute sewer and drinking water system consolidations at the same time. For example, it is not clear whether AB 805's requirements for community outreach would be integrated into community outreach that is already mandated as part of drinking water consolidation. It is also unclear how or if existing funding streams for drinking water consolidation could be used to support sewer system consolidation, since the California SDWA contains a provision that prohibits the State Water Board from funding public works or upgrades that are unrelated to the delivery of an adequate supply of affordable, safe drinking water (HSC § 116682(h)). Finally, it is unclear how the use of an administrator for providing sewer service would work, since the bill authorizes the State Water Board to require an administrator to provide administrative, technical, legal, or managerial services for sewer service, but does not grant the State Water Board the authority to appoint an administrator for this purpose.

Arguments in support: A coalition of supporting organizations comprised of the Community Water Center, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, California Environmental Voters, Clean Water Action, California Coastkeeper Alliance, and Union of Concerned Scientists writes:

"In 2018, the rural community of East Orosi was identified as a candidate for drinking water consolidation with the neighboring town of Orosi due to decades-long groundwater contamination issues and a lack of capacity by the system’s operator. Until this process is expected to be completed in 2024, the [State Water Board] took action to appoint Tulare County as administrator of the drinking water system. However, the ongoing drinking water consolidation project has been delayed by legal challenges, and residents of East Orosi are still facing numerous issues due to the East Orosi Community Services District (CSD) retaining billing and management of the community’s sewer service. These include unserviced septic tanks, raw sewage leaks, backed up plumbing, a lack of paper billing, and intimidation/threats from the sewer system operator.

AB 805 (Arambula) builds on past legislation by granting the [State Water Board] permissive authority to appoint an administrator and order a wastewater consolidation if a mandatory consolidation order has already been issued by the [State Water Board] for a community’s drinking water system. For East Orosi, AB 805 would have allowed for relief for residents whose human rights are being violated daily.

To fully realize the promise of the Human Right to Water, California must ensure that its most vulnerable populations—including residents living in disadvantaged communities—have access to safe drinking water and sanitation services. It is unconscionable to leave residents with such a mismanaged sewer system after recognizing that a district cannot manage the drinking water system effectively. It is imperative that the Legislature take action to address these issues, and we are proud to sponsor this legislation."

Arguments in opposition: None on file.

Related legislation:

1. SB 403 (Gonzalez, Chapter 242, Statutes of 2021). Authorizes the State Water Board to order the consolidation of at-risk domestic wells and at-risk water systems.
2. SB 200 (Monning, Chapter 120, Statutes of 2019). Establishes the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund (Fund) to help water systems provide an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water in both the near and the long terms. Transfers to the Fund annually, until June 30, 2030, five percent of the proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, up to $130 million.
3. SB 1215 (Hertzberg, Chapter 982, Statutes of 2018). Authorizes Regional Water Boards to order the provision of sewer service to a disadvantaged community that has inadequate onsite sewage treatment systems.
4. SB 966 (Wiener, Chapter 890, Statutes of 2018). Requires the State Water Board to develop standards for onsite nonpotable water treatment and reuse and authorizes local jurisdictions to adopt programs to permit onsite nonpotable water treatment and reuse using those standards.
5. SB 552 (Wolk, Chapter 773, Statutes of 2016). Authorizes the State Water Board to contract with an administrator to provide administrative and managerial services to a designated public water system to assist with the provision of an adequate and affordable supply of safe drinking water. Authorizes the State Water Board to order the failing water system to accept administrative and managerial services, including full management and control, from an administrator selected by the State Water Board.
6. SB 88 (Budget Committee, Chapter 27, Statutes of 2015). Authorizes the State Water Board to require water systems that are serving disadvantaged communities with unreliable and unsafe drinking water to consolidate with, or receive service from, public water systems with safe, reliable, and adequate drinking water.
7. AB 685 (Eng, Chapter 524, Statutes of 2012). Declares that it is the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes and requires that relevant state agencies, including the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Board, and the State Department of Public Health consider this policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria pertinent to the human uses of water.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Community Water Center (Sponsor)
California Coastkeeper Alliance
California Environmental Voters (formerly CLCV)
Clean Water Action
Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability
Union of Concerned Scientists

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Naomi Ondrasek / E.S. & T.M. /