ALJ/CFT/tcg Date of Issuance 11/23/2010
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Order Instituting Rulemaking on the Commission's own Motion to Consider a Comprehensive Policy Framework for Recycled Water. |
FILED PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION NOVEMBER 19, 2010 SAN FRANCISCO OFFICE RULEMAKING 10-11-014 |
ORDER INSTITUTING RULEMAKING
TO CONSIDER A COMPREHENSIVE POLICY FRAMEWORK
FOR RECYCLED WATER
1. Summary
This Order Instituting Rulemaking (OIR) initiates a rulemaking to develop a comprehensive policy framework for recycled water for regulated Class A and B water utilities and comparably-sized sewer utilities. The Commission recognizes that recycled water1 is an important source of water that may augment or replace local water supplies for approved non-potable and indirect potable reuse.2 While a number of regulated water utilities have provided recycled water to their commercial, industrial and/or residential customers for over two decades,3 no comprehensive policy framework has guided the Commission's regulation of recycled water development, production and sales. While this OIR anticipates that the Commission's regulation of recycled water will remain for regulatory consideration in distinct General Rate Cases, the principles and guidelines to be addressed in this rulemaking are meant to guide considerations of recycled water in all General Rate Cases.
In particular recognition of the State's long-term need for augmenting local water supplies, the Commission opens this rulemaking to establish a comprehensive policy framework for recycled water which will address water use efficiency, local water supply development and prioritization, water supply reliability, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. The goals for this proceeding also include the enumeration of guiding principles of rate design and the setting of parameters for determining recycled water rates; the reduction and/or elimination of barriers to collaboration between wholesale and retail recycled water purveyors; and the facilitation and/or incentivizing of the use of cost-effective recycled water where it is or can be made available. Finally, this proceeding will address recent, State policy and legislation governing the State's goals for the production, delivery, and use of recycled water, as well as interagency coordination and collaboration to implement recycled water production, sales, and delivery guidelines pursuant to existing state and federal statutes.
1 Recycled water is defined by California Water Code Section 13050(n) as "water which, as a result of treatment of waste, is suitable for a direct beneficial use or a controlled use that would not otherwise occur and is therefore considered a valuable resource."
2 "Regulatory Aspects of Direct Potable Reuse in California," J. Crook, The National Water Research Institute, April, 2010, describes that indirect potable reuse is "generally defined as the augmentation of a drinking water source (surface or groundwater) with recycled water, followed by an environmental buffer that precedes normal drinking water treatment."
3 The table in Attachment A provides a summary of current and potential water recycling by Class A water utilities as reported in party comments in Investigation 07-01-022 on January 27, 2009.
