West Basin MWD’s advanced water treatment facility in El Segundo (CWEA).
WateReuse California Announces Early View on Draft DPR Regulations
Water Board Releases Draft Direct Potable Reuse Regulations
This post was provided by WateReuse California…
This week the California State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) released an advanced copy of the highly anticipated Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) regulations. The 45-day comment period and Administrative Procedures Act will formally begin on July 21. The Water Board is planning to conduct a workshop on the regulations on Thursday, September 7, with final approval planned for the second week in December.
The WateReuse California (WRCA) Direct Potable Reuse Working Group has been guiding the development of these regulations for the past two years and has made significant progress. WRCA is currently analyzing the regulations and comparing them to the June 2022 version and will hold an informational briefing for members soon. Below are some preliminary observations:
- The draft regulations provide new flexibility in specific sections. Of note, they now define pathogen control credits for DPR projects using reservoirs, groundwater aquifers, and blending. WRCA requested these modifications to help differentiate the public health benefits provided by raw water augmentation and treated water augmentation projects that use these features.
- WRCA requested a broadening of the “alternatives clause” to cover more than the chemical control criteria. The Water Board did not include a broad-reaching clause.
- Regulations continue to require each DPR project to conduct a quantitative risk assessment on chemical contaminants despite WRCA’s request to assign a single entity responsible for uniform guidance on chemical monitoring for DPR.
- The draft regulations allow greater flexibility in Biological Activated Carbon design. Projects can either use a default 15-minute empty bed contact time, or propose an alternative based on the results of pilot testing.
- Modifications to the monitoring requirements include a reduction in the frequency of Total Organic Carbon measurements from once every 5 minutes to once every 15 minutes.
- The initial review suggests that sewershed surveillance within the collection system may now not be a requirement. It appears that DPR projects can monitor for chemical peaks at the treatment facilities instead. This is still under review.
For more information, please contact WaterReuse California.
A Brief History of the Journey to DPR
WateReuse California and our member agencies have been working on the development of direct potable reuse regulations for 13 years, and we’re looking forward to continuing to advance direct potable reuse going forward. The image below outlines some of the key legislative and regulatory steps that we have supported since 2010.
WRCA story ends.
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State Water Board Draft DPR Regs
A post from the State Water Board’s DPR page…
Advance copy of draft regulation text
The State Water Board has received several requests from stakeholders to provide an early copy of the draft criteria ahead of publication of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the California Notice Register, which starts the formal 45-day public comment period under the Administrative Procedure Act. The State Water Board is posting an advance copy of the draft that has been submitted to the Office of Administrative Law.
PLEASE NOTE:
- Do not submit comments to the State Water Board on the advance copy – all comments submitted before the start of the formal 45-day public comment period will not be considered by the State Water Board.
- Revisions could be made to the advance copy, and therefore, the proposed DPR regulations that will be posted for the 45-day public comment period under the Administrative Procedure Act may be different than the advance copy. Stakeholders are cautioned to obtain the official version of the proposed regulations once the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is published.
- The State Water Board expects that the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will be published in the California Notice Register on July 21, 2023. The State Water Board will email the notices to subscribers of the “Recycled Surface Water Augmentation & Direct Potable Reuse” email list. Please click on the “Subscribe to Mailing List” (top of page, right side) to subscribe to the mailing list, so you can receive the email notice from the State Water Board.
Advance copy of draft initial statement of reasons: Coming Soon
SWRCB post ends.
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DPR News Coverage
Compiled by CWEA staff.
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