Water recycling.

Existing law establishes the State Water Resources Control Board (state board) and the California regional water quality control boards (regional boards) as the principal state agencies with authority over matters relating to water quality. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health (department) to adopt uniform water recycling criteria for indirect potable water reuse for groundwater recharge, as defined, by December 31, 2013. Existing law requires the department to develop and adopt uniform water recycling criteria for surface water augmentation, as defined, by December 31, 2016, if a specified expert panel convened by the department finds that the criteria would adequately protect public health. Existing law requires the department to investigate the feasibility of developing uniform water recycling criteria for direct potable reuse, as defined, and to provide a final report on that investigation to the Legislature by December 31, 2016. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the state board, to report to the Legislature from 2011 to 2016, inclusive, as part of the annual budget process, on the progress towards developing and adopting the water recycling criteria for surface water augmentation and its investigation of the feasibility of developing water recycling criteria for direct potable reuse. Existing law requires the state board to enter into an agreement with the department to assist in implementing the water recycling criteria provisions. This bill would enact the Water Recycling Act of 2012 to revise and consolidate those and other provisions relating to recycled water, and make other conforming changes to existing law. The act would establish a statewide goal to recycle a total of 1.5 million acre-feet of water per year by 2020 and 2.5 million acre-feet of water per year by 2030. The act would require the state board and regional boards, the department, the Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Water Resources, and other state agencies to exercise the authority and discretion granted to them by the Legislature to encourage the use of recycled water and meet the goals of the act. The act would require the department, on or before December 31, 2013, to adopt drinking water criteria for groundwater recharge projects utilizing recycled water. The bill would require the department, on or before December 31, 2016, to develop and adopt drinking water criteria for the use of advanced treated purified water for raw water augmentation projects not subject to the drinking water criteria for groundwater recharge projects utilizing recycled water. The act would subject those criteria to review by an expert panel convened and administered by the department to advise the department on public health issues and scientific and technical matters. The act would prescribe the types and contents of permits for recycled water to be issued by the state board or a regional board, as appropriate. Because certain reports submitted as part of the permit application process would be submitted under penalty of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. The act would establish the Water Recycling Research Fund and require that certain civil penalties be deposited into the fund, to be expended by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to conduct or fund research necessary to support the continued and safe use of recycled water in the state. The bill would also authorize the department to issue permits in accordance with prescribed procedures for raw water augmentation projects to specified entities and would prohibit the operation of a raw water augmentation project without a permit, as prescribed. The bill would subject permittees to filing and permit fees established by the department. Revenues from those fees would be required to be deposited in the Augmentation Permit Fund, which the bill would create. The money in the fund would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, solely for the purposes of the permit program. This bill would permit the department to suspend or revoke a permit after a hearing, as prescribed, would authorize the director of the department to issue certain orders when a person has violated or is violating the provisions of the permit program, and would permit specified judicial review. This bill would permit a duly authorized representative of the department, in order to carry out the purposes of the program, to do prescribed inspections, and would make it a misdemeanor for any person to prevent, interfere with, or attempt to impede in any way the representative. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.