SECTIONS 13280-13286.9 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 13280-13286.9

13280. A determination that discharge of waste from existing or new
individual disposal systems or from community collection and
disposal systems which utilize subsurface disposal should not be
permitted shall be supported by substantial evidence in the record
that discharge of waste from such disposal systems will result in
violation of water quality objectives, will impair present or future
beneficial uses of water, will cause pollution, nuisance, or
contamination, or will unreasonably degrade the quality of any waters
of the state.

13281. (a) In making a determination pursuant to Section 13280,
except as specified in subdivision (b), the regional board shall
consider all relevant evidence related to the discharge, including,
but not limited to, those factors set forth in Section 13241,
information provided pursuant to Section 117435 of the Health and
Safety Code, possible adverse impacts if the discharge is permitted,
failure rates of any existing individual disposal systems whether due
to inadequate design, construction, maintenance, or unsuitable
hydrogeologic conditions, evidence of any existing, prior, or
potential contamination, existing and planned land use, dwelling
density, historical population growth, and any other criteria as may
be established pursuant to guidelines, regulations, or policies
adopted by the state board.
(b) (1) To the extent that resources are available for that
purpose, the regional board shall prohibit the discharge of waste
from existing or new individual disposal systems on parcels of less
than one-half acre that overlie the Mission Creek Aquifer or the
Desert Hot Springs Aquifer in Riverside County, if a sewer system is
available.
(2) For parcels of one-half acre or greater that overlie the
aquifers described in paragraph (1), the maximum number of equivalent
dwelling units with individual disposal systems shall be two per
acre. For the purpose of this paragraph, the term "equivalent
dwelling unit" means a single family dwelling as defined in Section
221.0 of the 1997 edition of the Uniform Plumbing Code of the
International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials.
(3) For the purposes of this subdivision, a sewer system is
available if a sewer system, or a building connected to a sewer
system, is within 200 feet of the existing or proposed dwelling unit,
in accordance with Section 713.4 of the 1997 edition of the Uniform
Plumbing Code of the International Association of Plumbing and
Mechanical Officials.
(4) To the extent that resources are available for the purposes of
this subdivision, the regional board shall achieve compliance with
this subdivision on or before January 1, 2004.

13282. (a) If it appears that adequate protection of water quality,
protection of beneficial uses of water, and prevention of nuisance,
pollution, and contamination can be attained by appropriate design,
location, sizing, spacing, construction, and maintenance of
individual disposal systems in lieu of elimination of discharges from
systems, and if an authorized public agency provides satisfactory
assurance to the regional board that the systems will be
appropriately designed, located, sized, spaced, constructed, and
maintained, the discharges shall be permitted so long as the systems
are adequately designed, located, sized, spaced, constructed, and
maintained.
(b) An authorized public agency shall notify the regional board if
the systems are not adequately designed, located, sized, spaced,
constructed, and maintained.
(c) For purposes of this section, "authorized public agency" means
a public agency authorized by a water quality control board and
having authority to ensure that systems are adequately designed,
located, sized, spaced, constructed, and maintained.

13283. In reviewing any determination that discharge of waste from
existing or new individual disposal systems should not be permitted,
the state board shall include a preliminary review of possible
alternatives necessary to achieve protection of water quality and
present and future beneficial uses of water, and prevention of
nuisance, pollution, and contamination, including, but not limited
to, community collection and waste disposal systems which utilize
subsurface disposal, and possible combinations of individual disposal
systems, community collection and disposal systems which utilize
subsurface disposal, and conventional treatment systems.

13284. The state board may adopt guidelines, regulations, or
policies necessary to implement the provisions of this article.

13285. (a) A discharge from a storage tank, pipeline, or other
container of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), or of any pollutant
that contains MTBE, that poses a threat to drinking water, or to
groundwater or surface water that may reasonably be used for drinking
water, or to coastal waters shall be cleaned up to a level
consistent with subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 25296.10 of the
Health and Safety Code.
(b) (1) A public water system, or its customers, shall not be
responsible for remediation or treatment costs associated with MTBE,
or a product that contains MTBE. However, the public water system
may, as necessary, incur MTBE remediation and treatment costs and
include those costs in its customer rates and charges that are
necessary to comply with drinking water standards or directives of
the State Department of Public Health or other lawful authority. Any
public water system that incurs MTBE remediation or treatment costs
may seek recovery of those costs from parties responsible for the
MTBE contamination, or from other available alternative sources of
funds.
(2) If the public water system has included the costs of MTBE
treatment and remediation in its customer rates and charges, and
subsequently recovers all, or a portion of, its MTBE treatment and
remediation costs from responsible parties or other available
alternative sources of funds, it shall make an adjustment to its
schedule of rates and charges to reflect the amount of funding
received from responsible parties or other available alternative
sources of funds for MTBE treatment or remediation.
(3) Paragraph (1) does not prevent the imposition of liability on
any person for the discharge of MTBE if that liability is due to the
conduct or status of that person independently of whether the person
happens to be a customer of the public water system.

13286. (a) On and after January 1, 2012, the appropriate regional
board shall prohibit the discharge of wastewater into the ground
through the use of individual subsurface disposal systems in the Cove
area of Cathedral City in Riverside County for the purposes of
protecting the health and safety of the residents consuming the
groundwater of the Upper Coachella Valley Groundwater Basin and
achieving the applicable water quality objectives.
(b) The appropriate regional board shall revise its water quality
control plan to reflect the prohibition set forth in subdivision (a).
(c) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b), the appropriate
regional board, prior to January 1, 2012, may prohibit the discharge
of wastewater through the use of individual subsurface disposal
systems in the Cove area of Cathedral City in Riverside County, and
if so prohibited, that board shall revise its water quality control
plan to reflect the prohibition.
(d) To ensure that the purposes of this section are fulfilled, the
state board, using existing resources, shall assist Cathedral City
to identify and obtain state and federal funds to establish a
sanitary public domestic and commercial wastewater disposal system.

13286.9. On and after the date determined by the Santa Ana Regional
Water Quality Control Board, or January 1, 2013, whichever is
earlier, all wastewater discharged by the Orange County Sanitation
District into the Pacific Ocean shall be subject to at least
secondary treatment requirements pursuant to subparagraph (B) of
paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Section 301 of the Clean Water Act
(33 U.S.C. Sec. 1311(b)(1)(B)), and any more stringent requirements
determined to be appropriate by the state board or that regional
board.