January 2022

WateReuse California (WRCA) is seeking $750 million in the Governor’s Drought Resilience and Response package, which is contained in the Governor’s fiscal year 2022-23 budget. The budget process goes into high gear on February 9th when the Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy will hold its first hearing on the Drought Package. WRCA will be working with Senators and Assembly members to find champions to advance the budget request. However, major support from WRCA member agencies and allied organizations will be needed as there are many other competing demands in the budget for water and conservation related funding.

On Wednesday the AB 547 Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) Expert Panel met to provide their recommendations on the draft DPR regulations released in August 2021 by the Division of Drinking Water (DDW) at the California State Water Resources Control Board.  

Below are some of the major recommendations from the Panel.

• The Panel recommends that ozone and biological activated carbon (BAC) processes operate before the reverse osmosis (RO) process to manage low molecular weight (LMW) compounds. 
• Alternative treatment trains should be approved through the Alternative Clause contained in the regulations. 
  
• While the Panel agrees with DDW’s intent to keep the criteria broad enough to cover all forms of DPR, the Panel still believes that clearly defining Raw Water Augmentation in the criteria (or Statement of Reasons) is appropriate and necessary.
• The Panel recommends all notifications to the public and public agencies need to be consistent with those currently required as part of the California potable water regulations and the Safe Drinking Water Act, and references to existing potable water notification regulations should be included in the DPR criteria.
• The Panel recommends inclusion of a criterion that requires 24/7 operation for 12 months before considering a request for reducing the number of operators and/or unstaffed operations.

In response to these new recommendations, WRCA commented that agencies support the current draft regulations which provide more flexibility for the placement of ozone/BAC within the treatment train – as long as the project proponent can demonstrate the process is protective of public health. Currently there are no other processes that can manage the LMW compounds, but agencies and the industry will be conducting research to address this issue. While we appreciate the inclusion of the Alternative Clause in the regulations, allowing flexibility within the main body of the regulations will more easily allow the regulations to reflect changing technology and science of potable reuse. WRCA will be preparing a comment letter this and other recommendations from the Panel. The next Expert Panel meeting will be held February 28th. 

The long process of developing Water Use Efficiency (WUE) regulations continues. On January 25th the Department of Water Resources (DWR) held a WUE CII Performance Measures stakeholders meeting. The status of the draft recommendations was discussed. DWR has not released a specific date when they will transfer the recommendations to the State Water Board (Water Board), but DWR estimates it will be in the spring. The Water Board will then start its formal rule making process. DWR made it clear that there will still be opportunities for changes to the recommendation once the Water Board starts its process. DWR released the draft recommendations on November 15, 2021 and will continue to accept comments through February 8, 2022. WateReuse California (WRCA) submitted comments to DWR on November 24th.

For more information, please contact:
Charles LaSalle, Regulatory and Legislative Affairs Manager
CLaSalle@watereuse.org | (916) 216-6015

The California State Water Resources Control Board is now collecting data submissions for the Volumetric Annual Report. Applicable wastewater and recycled water permittees are required to report 2021 monthly volumes of influent, wastewater produced, and effluent, including treatment level and discharge type by April 30, 2022. Read more.