ACWA e-News for May 30, 2012

A bill that would make sweeping changes to state regulation of recycled water was approved on the Assembly floor on May 29.

AB 2398 by Assembly Member Ben Hueso (D-Chula Vista) would enact the Water Recycling Act of 2012 and consolidate water recycling statutes in current law into a new division of the Water Code called “Water Recycling.” The measure, supported by ACWA and a number of member agencies, would also establish a statewide goal of recycling 1.5 million acre-feet of water by 2020 and 2.5 million acre-feet by 2030.

Keynote presentations from ACWA’s 2012 Spring Conference & Exhibition are now available on the association’s video channel, www.vimeo.com.

The Delta Independent Science Board will discuss its review of the final staff draft of the Delta Plan, the organization of science in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and its review of the BDCP Draft ERI/EIS at its teleconference meeting on June 8.

The public may listen in on the call in the main conference room at 980 9^th Street, Ste. 1500 in Sacramento. Click here for a meeting notice.

When the Little Hoover Commission blessed a government reorganization plan last week that would move several commissions and boards into other agencies, it did so with one caveat: that legislation be developed allowing the Delta Stewardship Council to retain its independence.

Two ACWA-opposed bills related to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan were held by the Assembly Appropriations Committee May 25 as the deadline passed for bills to move from the fiscal committee to the Assembly floor.

AB 2421 and AB 2422, both by Assembly Member Bill Berryhill (R-Stockton), failed to come off the committee’s suspense file and will not advance. The bills are opposed by ACWA and a coalition of water agencies and other organizations.

Citing concern that the Bay Delta Conservation Plan could be delayed, 18 members of the Legislature called on state and federal officials this week to move the process forward.

The Bureau of Reclamation will hold a public workshop on the Mid-Pacific Region’s Municipal and Industrial Water Shortage Policy on June 4 in Sacramento.