Priority inland water-contact recreation sites: water quality monitoring.

Existing law authorizes recreational activities in which there is bodily contact with the water by any participant in certain reservoirs only in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health, by regulation and in consultation with the State Water Resources Control Board, local health officers, and the public, to establish, maintain, and amend, as necessary, minimum standards for the sanitation of public beaches. Existing law provides for the establishment of the California Water Quality Monitoring Council, which is administered by the state board, and requires the council to undertake various actions relating to water quality data collection and to review existing water quality monitoring, assessment, and reporting efforts and recommend specific actions and funding needs necessary to coordinate and enhance those efforts. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2022, the council to direct a new or existing working group to study water recreation hazards at priority water-contact recreation sites, as specified. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2023, the working group to submit a report to the council that the council would be required to post on its internet website that includes specified information. This bill would require, on or before December 31, 2023, the council, in consultation with the department, local health officers, and the public, to propose to the state board for consideration a definition of a priority water-contact recreation site, and recommendations and requirements for the establishment of a priority water-contact recreation site monitoring program that includes specified components. The bill would require the council, in developing a proposed definition of a priority water-contact recreation site, to consider various characteristics of a water body, including whether the body is used for organized recreational events with water contact or for commercial purposes with water contact, among others.