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AB-1738 Building standards: dark graywater.(2015-2016)

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AB1738:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 28, 2016

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2015–2016 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1738

Introduced by Assembly Member McCarty

February 01, 2016

An act to amend Section 17922.12 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to building standards.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1738, as amended, McCarty. Building Standards: Dark Graywater. standards: dark graywater.
The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission for approval and adoption.
Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of building standards to the commission relating to hotels, motels, lodging houses, apartment houses, and dwellings, and the buildings and structures accessory thereto, except as specified.
Existing law requires the department, at the next triennial building standards rulemaking, rulemaking cycle, to adopt and submit to the commission for approval building standards for the construction, installation, and alteration of graywater systems for indoor and outdoor uses. Existing law excludes wastewater from kitchen sinks and dishwashers from the definition of “graywater.”
This bill would define “dark graywater” as a specified wastewater that comes from kitchen sinks and dishwashers. This bill would require the department, at the next triennial building standards rulemaking cycle, to adopt develop and submit for approval building standards for the construction, installation, and alteration of dark graywater systems for indoor and outdoor uses.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 17922.12 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

17922.12.
 (a) For the purposes of this section, “graywater” means untreated wastewater that has not been contaminated by any toilet discharge, has not been affected by infectious, contaminated, or unhealthy bodily wastes, and does not present a threat from contamination by unhealthful processing, manufacturing, or operating wastes. “Graywater” includes wastewater from bathtubs, showers, bathroom washbasins, clothes washing machines, and laundry tubs, but does not include wastewater from kitchen sinks or dishwashers. For purposes of this section, “dark graywater” includes untreated wastewater from kitchen sinks or dishwashers that has not been contaminated by any toilet discharge, has not been affected by infectious, contaminated, or unhealthy bodily wastes, and does not present a threat from contamination by unhealthful processing, manufacturing, or operating wastes.
(b) Notwithstanding Chapter 22 (commencing with Section 14875) of Division 7 of the Water Code, at the next triennial building standards rulemaking cycle that commences on or after January 1, 2009, the department shall adopt develop and submit for approval pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 18935) of Part 2.5 building standards for the construction, installation, and alteration of graywater systems and dark graywater systems for indoor and outdoor uses.
(c) In adopting developing building standards under this section, the department shall do all of the following:
(1) Convene and consult a stakeholder’s group that includes members with expertise in public health, water quality, geology or soils, residential plumbing, home building, and environmental stewardship.
(2) Ensure protection of water quality in accordance with applicable provisions of state and federal water quality law. law, including consulting with the State Water Resources Control Board when developing building standards for dark graywater.
(3) Consider existing research available on the environmental consequences to soil and groundwater of short-term and long-term graywater and dark graywater use for irrigation purposes, including, but not limited to, research sponsored by the Water Environment Research Foundation.
(4) Consider graywater and dark graywater use impacts on human health.
(5) Consider the circumstances under which the use of in-home graywater and dark graywater treatment systems are is recommended.
(6) Consider the use and regulation of graywater and dark graywater in other jurisdictions within the United States and in other nations.
(d) The department may revise and update the standards adopted under this section at any time, and the department shall reconsider these standards at the next triennial rulemaking that commences after their adoption.
(e) The approval by the California Building Standards Commission of the standards for graywater systems adopted under this section shall terminate the authority of the Department of Water Resources to adopt and update standards for the installation, construction, and alteration of graywater systems in residential buildings pursuant to Chapter 22 (commencing with Section 14875) of Division 7 of the Water Code.