Recycled Water Policy Amendment

Recycled Water Policy Amendment – adopted on January 22, 2013

Resolution No. 2013-0003: Adoption of Recycled Policy Amendment

Recycled Water Policy Amendment - The amendment: (1) provides a reduction of priority pollutants monitoring for recycled water used for landscape irrigation; and (2) establishes monitoring requirements for constituents of emerging concern (CECs) and surrogates in recycled use for groundwater recharge.

Recycled Water Policy Amendment with Table of Contents

Notice of Approval  – The Recycled Water Policy Amendment was approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on April 25, 2013.

Background Information

In 2009, in accordance with the Recycled Water Policy, the State Water Board convened a science advisory panel (Panel) to provide guidance on future actions related to monitoring constituents of emerging concern (CECs) in recycled water. This Panel submitted a report titled: "Monitoring Strategies for Chemicals of Emerging Concern in Recycled Water – Recommendations of a Science Advisory Panel" (Panel Report). The Panel Report provided recommendations for monitoring specific CECs in recycled water used for groundwater recharge reuse. For recycled water used for landscape irrigation, the Panel did not recommend monitoring of CECs, but recommended monitoring of some surrogates. The State Water Board incorporated the Panel’s recommendations into a proposed amendment to the Recycled Water Policy.

In May 2012, a draft proposed amendment to the Recycled Water Policy was circulated for public review and comment. The amendment proposed to add monitoring requirements for CECs in recycled water. In June 2012, staff sent the draft amendment and Panel Report to scientific peer reviewers for review. Staff considered written comments submitted by the public and scientific peer reviewers and revised the proposed amendment accordingly.

Revisions to the proposed amendment were made available for public review and comment in September 2012. After comments on the September draft were received, staff prepared change sheets. The changed sheets were presented at a State Water Board hearing held on the proposed amendment on October 16, 2012. During the hearing, the State Water Board postponed consideration of adoption of the proposed amendment to a future board meeting.

At the January 22, 2013, board meeting, staff presented a revised proposed amendment, which incorporated the changes from the change sheets presented at the October 16, 2012, board meeting and included some additional changes. The State Water Board adopted the Recycled Water Policy Amendment through Resolution No. 2013-0003, with a minor change in Table 3 footnote in Attachment A. The minor change is shown in strike-out and underline in the revised Attachment A below.

The Office of Administrative Law approved the amendment on April 25, 2013. This is the effective date of the amendment.

Revised Attachment A in strike-out and underline.

Public Hearing Information - January 22, 2013

Public Hearing Information - October 16, 2012

Scientific Peer Review

  • Peer Review Webpage - Response to peer review comments are towards the bottom of the webpage.

Previous Documents Issued in May 2012

Relevant Information

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