Sewage sludge: Kern County.

Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board or a California regional water quality control board, upon receipt of an application for waste discharge requirements for discharge of dewatered, treated, or chemically fixed sewage or other biological solids, to prescribe general waste discharge requirements for that sludge or those other solids. The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 establishes an integrated waste management program that includes the regulation of solid waste disposal and solid waste facilities, and defines solid waste to include dewatered, treated, and chemically fixed sewage sludge that is not a hazardous waste. This bill would require the state board from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2016, inclusive, to require, for specified pathogens and endotoxins, additional testing 2 times per year on properties in Kern County where sewage sludge or other biological solids are applied. The bill would authorize the state board to identify additional pathogens, endotoxins, and other hazards for testing based on the potential for groundwater contamination and potential to adversely affect human health originating in sewage sludge or other biological solids, and would require the state board to submit a report after each test containing the results of the test to prescribed committees of the Legislature and the Kern County Board of Supervisors. The bill would require the state board from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2016, inclusive, to require, on property located in Kern County where sewage sludge or other biological solids are applied, monitoring of shallow groundwater beneath or downgradient, or both, of a biological solids application site for the specified pathogens and endotoxins, at least once in the spring and once in the fall. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Kern County.