Drinking water: County Water Company of Riverside water system: liability.

(1) The Municipal Water District Law of 1911 provides for the formation of municipal water districts and grants to those districts specified powers. Existing law permits a district to acquire, control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recycle, recapture, and salvage any water for the beneficial use of the district, its inhabitants, or the owners of rights to water in the district. Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, provides for the operation of public water systems, and imposes on the State Department of Public Health various responsibilities and duties. Existing law requires the department to conduct research, studies, and demonstration projects relating to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, to adopt regulations to implement the California Safe Drinking Water Act, and to enforce provisions of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. This bill would exempt the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, the Eastern Municipal Water District, the Western Municipal Water District, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from liability, as prescribed, for claims by past or existing County Water Company of Riverside customers or those who consumed water provided through the County Water Company of Riverside water system prior to and during the interim operation period, as specified. The bill would prohibit the immunity from liability from being construed to relieve any water district, water wholesaler, or any other entity from compliance with drinking water standards, impair any cause of action or proceeding brought by specified public entities, or impair claims alleging the taking of property without compensation. The bill would require the interim operation period to last until permanent replacement facilities are accepted by the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and the Eastern Municipal Water District with the concurrence of the department or December 31, 2015, whichever occurs first. The bill would require the department to extend the interim operation period for up to 3 successive one-year periods at the request of the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and the Eastern Municipal Water District, as prescribed. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute with regard to the customers of the County Water Company of Riverside. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.