SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The California Water Plan Update 2005, prepared by the Department of Water Resources, states that, to provide for the future, California must rely on a diverse set of water management strategies, including improving water use and management efficiencies, developing new technologies to further water conservation and recycling, increasing water storage and conveyance, reducing and eliminating groundwater overdraft, and improving watershed management.
(b) The plan targets the development of 900,000 to 1.4 million acre-feet annually of additional water supply from recycled water by the year 2030.
(c) The 2005 plan also notes that water agencies recycle about 500,000 acre-feet of wastewater annually.
(d) California is not on a path to achieve the development of additional water supply by the 2030 target date as identified in the plan.
(e) Recycled water could free up potable water supplies to meet nearly 30 percent of the water demand associated with projected population growth in California.
(f) A statewide recycled water policy is essential to provide guidance to the nine California regional water quality control boards and the public regarding the appropriate criteria to be used by the State Water Resources Control Board and the regional boards in issuing permits for recycled water projects.
(g) The statewide policy should prescribe permitting criteria that are intended to streamline the permitting of recycled water projects.
(h) By prescribing permitting criteria that apply to recycled water projects, the State Water Resources Control Board can ensure maximum consistency in permitting of recycled water projects in California, while also reserving to the regional boards sufficient authority and flexibility to address site-specific conditions.