California Softener Ban Proposed
SB 475, as introduced by Senator George Runner (Rep.). The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) On May 4, 2005, a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for chloride, established by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region, took effect for Regions 5 and 6 of the Santa Clara River, located in Los Angeles County.
(b) The Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region, found that, under the federal Clean Water Act (33 US. C. Sec. 1313 et seq.), this chloride TMDL was necessary to bring the Santa Clara River into attainment with water quality standards applicable to the Santa Clara River to protect beneficial uses, including salt-sensitive agricultural crops grown downstream in Ventura County such as avocados.
(c) The Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region, further found that the principal source of chloride into Regions 5 and 6 is discharges from the Saugus Water Reclamation Plant and the Valencia Water Reclamation Plant, which are wastewater treatment plants serving approximately 180,000 residents of the Santa Clarita Valley.
(d) The Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District, which owns and operates the Saugus and Valencia Water Reclamation Plants, has extensively studied the sources of chloride in local
wastewater and has found that about one-third of the chloride comes from the use of residential self-regenerating water softeners that discharge brine to the sewer.
(e) Effective March 27, 2003, in accordance with the requirements of Section 116786 of the Health and Safety Code, originally added by Senate Bill 1006 (Ch. 969, Stats. 1999), the
Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District adopted an ordinance prohibiting the installation of new residential self-regenerating water softeners in the Santa Clarita Valley.
(f) Senate Bill 1006 prohibited local agencies from adopting ordinances requiring the removal of residential self-regenerating water softeners that were installed prior to the effective date of the ordinance.
(g) Without the removal of the residential self-regenerating water softeners that were installed prior to the effective date of the ordinance in the Santa Clarita Valley, it is improbable that
the Saugus and Valencia Water Reclamation Plants can meet the requirements of the TMDL in a timely manner without the installation of advanced treatment for salt removal and brine
disposal at a projected cost to the community of at least $350 million,
SEC. 2. Section 116787 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
116787. (a) Notwithstanding subdivision (d) of Section 116786, a sanitation district within Los Angeles County that owns or operates a wastewater treatment facility, or a community sewer system, that discharges water to the Santa Clara River or its tributaries may by ordinance adopted concurrently with, or after an ordinance adopted pursuant to, Section 116786, require the removal of all installed residential water softening or conditioning appliances that discharge to the community sewer system, if the sanitation district makes both of the following findings, and includes those findings in the ordinance:
(1) The removal of the softening or conditioning appliances is a necessary and cost-effective means of achieving timely compliance with waste discharge requirements, water
reclamation requirements, or a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) issued by a California regional water quality control board. In determining what constitutes a necessary and
cost-effective means of achieving compliance, the sanitation district shall assess both of the following:
(A) Alternatives to the ordinance.
(B) The cost-effectiveness and timeliness of the alternatives as compared to the adoption of the ordinance.
(2) The sanitation district has adopted and is enforcing regulatory requirements that limit the volume and concentrations of saline discharges from nonresidential sources in the community sewer system, to the extent that is technologically and economically feasible.
(b) An ordinance adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall not be effective until such time that it is approved by a majority vote of the qualified votes cast in an election held in the sanitation
district’s service area, in a referendum in accordance with applicable provisions of the Elections Code.
(c) (1) Prior to the effective date of any ordinance adopted pursuant to subdivision (a), a sanitation district shall make available to residents within its service area a voluntary program
to compensate the resident for 100 percent of the reasonable value of the removed residential water softening or conditioning appliance, and the reasonable cost of the removal and disposal
of those appliances, both of which shall be determined by the sanitation district.
(2) On and after the effective date of any ordinance adopted pursuant to subdivision (a), a sanitation district shall make available to residents within its service area a program to compensate a resident for 75 percent of the reasonable value of any removed residential softening or conditioning appliance, and the reasonable cost of the removal and disposal of the appliance, both of which shall be determined by the sanitation district.
(d) Any ordinance adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) and approved in accordance with subdivision (b) shall not take effect until January 1, 2009.
SEC. 3. Due to the unique circumstances related to the Santa Clara River Chloride Total Maximum Daily Load requirements for substantially reduced chloride levels in wastewater
discharged by the Saugus and Valencia Water Reclamation Plants to the Santa Clara River; it is necessary that the affected local agencies be authorized to require removal of residential water softening or conditioning appliances, and thus the Legislature finds and declares that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution.