Code Section Group

DIVISION 20.5. WHOLESALE REGIONAL WATER SYSTEM SECURITY AND RELIABILITY ACT [73500 - 73514]

73500.

This division shall be known as and may be cited as the Wholesale Regional Water System Security and Reliability Act.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 841, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73501.

(a) Unless the context otherwise requires, the definitions set forth in this section govern the construction of this division.

(b) “Association” means the San Francisco Bay Area Water Users Association.

(c) “Bay area regional water system” means the facilities for the storage, treatment, and transmission of water located in the Counties of Tuolumne, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Mateo, together with three terminal reservoirs in the city.

(d) “Bay area wholesale customers” means the 25 public agencies in the Counties of San Mateo, Alameda, and Santa Clara that purchase water from the city pursuant to the master water sales contract, including the Alameda County Water District, the City of Brisbane, the City of Burlingame, the Coastside County Water District, the City of Daly City, the City of East Palo Alto, the Estero Municipal Improvement District, Guadalupe Valley Municipal Improvement District, City of Hayward, the Town of Hillsborough, the City of Menlo Park, the Mid-Peninsula Water District, the City of Millbrae, the City of Milpitas, the City of Mountain View, the North Coast County Water District, the City of Palo Alto, the Purissima Hills Water District, the City of Redwood City, the City of San Bruno, the City of San Jose, the City of Santa Clara, the Skyline County Water District, the City of Sunnyvale, and the Westborough Water District, Stanford University, the California Water Service Company, and the Cordilleras Mutual Water Association.

(e) “City” means the City and County of San Francisco.

(f) “Master water sales contract” means the agreement entitled “Settlement Agreement and Master Water Sales Contract between the City and County of San Francisco and Certain Suburban Purchasers” entered into in 1984 by the city and the wholesale customers.

(g) “Regional water system” means facilities for the storage, treatment, and transmission of water owned and operated by a regional wholesale water supplier, other than the city.

(h) “Regional wholesale water supplier” means any city, county, or city and county, including the city, that operates a regional water system, and furnishes water on a wholesale basis to local government agencies and public utilities that, in turn, supply water to a combined population of 1.5 million or more residents of geographic areas outside the boundary of the regional wholesale water supplier.

(i) “Wholesale customers” means local government agencies and public utilities, including, but not limited to, the bay area wholesale customers, that purchase water from a regional wholesale water supplier and distribute that water to retail customers in their respective service areas.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 52, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2008. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73502.

(a) The city, on or before February 1, 2003, shall adopt the program of capital improvement projects designed to restore and improve the bay area regional water system that are described in the capital improvement program report prepared by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission dated February 25, 2002. A copy of the program shall be submitted, on or before March 1, 2003, to the State Water Resources Control Board. The program shall include a schedule for the completion of design and award of contract, and commencement and completion of construction of each described project. The schedule shall require that projects representing 50 percent of the total program cost be completed on or before 2010 and that projects representing 100 percent of the total program cost be completed on or before 2015. The program shall also contain a financing plan. The city shall review and update the program, as necessary, based on changes in the schedule set forth in the plan adopted pursuant to subdivision (d).

(b) The plan shall require completion of the following projects:

(c) The city shall submit a report to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission, and the State Water Resources Control Board, on or before September 1 of each year, describing the progress made on the implementation of the capital improvement program for the bay area regional water system during the previous fiscal year. The city shall identify in the report any project that is behind schedule, and, for each project so identified, shall describe the city’s plan and timeline for either making up the delay or adopting a revised schedule pursuant to subdivision (d).

(d) (1) The city may determine that completion dates for projects contained in the capital improvement program adopted pursuant to subdivision (a), including those projects described in subdivision (b), should be delayed or that different projects should be constructed.

(2) The city shall provide written notice, not less than 30 days before the date of a meeting of the city agency responsible for management of the bay area regional water system, that a change in the program is to be considered. The notice shall include information about the reason for the proposed change and the availability of materials related to the proposed change. All bay area wholesale customers shall be permitted to testify or otherwise submit comments at the meeting.

(3) If the city adopts a change in the program that deletes one or more projects from the program, or postpones the scheduled completion dates, the city shall promptly furnish a copy of that change and the reasons for that change to the State Water Resources Control Board and the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission. The State Water Resources Control Board and the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission shall each submit written comments with regard to the significance of that change with respect to public health and safety to the city and the Joint Legislative Audit Committee not later than 120 days after the date on which those entities received notice of that change.

(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 303, Sec. 563. (AB 731) Effective January 1, 2016. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73503.

(a) The city, in consultation with the association and the offices of emergency services in Alameda County, Santa Clara County, and San Mateo County, shall prepare an emergency response plan describing how water service will be restored to the area served by the bay area regional water system after an interruption caused by earthquake or other natural or manmade catastrophe, and thereafter shall be implemented.

(b) During any interruption in supply caused by earthquake, or other natural or manmade catastrophe, a regional wholesale water supplier shall distribute water to customers on an equitable basis, to the extent feasible given physical damage to the regional water system, without preference or discrimination based on a customer’s geographic location within or outside the boundary of the regional wholesale water supplier.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 618, Sec. 302. (AB 2791) Effective January 1, 2011. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73504.

(a) Commencing in 2003, a regional wholesale water supplier shall submit a report to the Legislature and the State Department of Public Health, on or before February 1 of each year, describing the progress made during the previous calendar year on securing supplemental sources of water to augment existing supplies during dry years.

(b) In order to supply adequately, dependably, and safely the requirements of all users of water, the city shall continue its practice of operating the reservoirs in the Counties of Tuolumne and Stanislaus in a manner that ensures that the generation of hydroelectric power will not cause any reasonably anticipated adverse impact on water service. The city shall assign higher priority to delivery of water to the bay area than to the generation of electric power, unless the Secretary of the Interior, in writing, notifies the city that doing so would violate the Raker Act (63 P.L. 41). The city shall make available to the public, on request, its plans of operations (rule curves) for these reservoirs.

(c) The city shall be deemed to be a local public agency for the purposes of Article 4 (commencing with Section 1810) of Chapter 11 of Part 2 of Division 2.

(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 99, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2009. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73505.

The State Department of Health Services shall conduct an audit, or arrange for an audit to be performed by contract, of the city’s program of maintenance of the bay area regional water system prior to July 1, 2004. The audit shall include both of the following:

(a) A review of the adequacy of the city’s procedures and resources for all of the following:

(1) Identifying needed maintenance.

(2) Planning, budgeting, scheduling, and completing maintenance.

(3) Recordkeeping of maintenance activities.

(b) A field investigation of the major facilities of the bay area regional water system to determine the general condition of those facilities and the adequacy of existing maintenance efforts.

(c) The State Department of Health Services shall submit a report to the city, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, and the Seismic Safety Commission on its findings and recommendations based on the audit on or before January 1, 2005.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 841, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73506.

The State Department of Health Services shall conduct an audit of the regional water systems operated by all regional wholesale water suppliers, other than the city, subject to this division and shall submit to the Legislature a report thereon on or before February 1, 2006.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 841, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73508.

If the city and the bay area wholesale customers that are public agencies form a special district with authority and responsibility to own, operate, and manage the bay area regional water system and whose governing board’s composition reflects the proportionate use of water delivered by the bay area regional water system within the city and within the aggregate geographic area served by the bay area wholesale customers, the obligations imposed on the city by this division shall be applicable to that district. The city shall be relieved of all obligations under this division at the time the ownership and control of the bay area regional water system are transferred to that district.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 841, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73510.

Notwithstanding Section 116500 of the Health and Safety Code, the State Department of Public Health shall ensure that the bay area regional water system is operated in compliance with the California Safe Drinking Water Act (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116275) of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code) and the guidelines established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency for the purposes of administering the comparable provisions of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 300f et seq.).

(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 99, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2009. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73511.

A special district composed of some or all of the bay area wholesale customers may receive state funds for the purpose of protecting the bay area regional water system against seismic risk, without regard to whether the city is a member of that district.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 841, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73512.

A regional wholesale water supplier shall reimburse the state for all costs incurred by the State Department of Public Health or the Seismic Safety Commission in carrying out the duties imposed by this division. The bay area wholesale customers shall reimburse the city for their share of those costs as provided in the master water sales contract. The wholesale customers of regional wholesale water suppliers other than the city are responsible for reimbursing the regional wholesale water supplier for their proportionate share of those costs, through the imposition of water charges.

(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 99, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2009. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73513.

Nothing in this division affects the rights and obligations of the city, the Modesto Irrigation District, or the Turlock Irrigation District, as between themselves, whether arising from statute or contract.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 841, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73513.5.

Nothing in this division changes the governance, control, or ownership of the bay area regional water system.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 841, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, pursuant to Section 73514.)

73514.

This division shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2026, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2026, deletes or extends that date.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 214, Sec. 2. (SB 699) Effective January 1, 2020. Repealed as of January 1, 2026, by its own provisions. Note: Repeal affects Division 20.5, commencing with Section 73500.)