(a) A person shall not construct, maintain, or use any waste well extending to or into a subterranean water-bearing stratum that is used or intended to be used as, or is suitable for, a source of water supply for domestic purposes.

(b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), when a regional board finds that water quality considerations do not preclude controlled recharge of the stratum by direct injection, and when the State Department of Public Health, following a public hearing, finds the proposed recharge will not degrade the quality of water in the receiving aquifer as a source of water supply for domestic purposes, recycled water may be injected by a well into the stratum. The State Department of Public Health may make and enforce any regulations pertaining to this subdivision as it deems proper.

Terms Used In California Water Code 13540

  • Person: includes any city, county, district, the state, and the United States, to the extent authorized by federal law. See California Water Code 13050
  • Recycled water: means 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 therefor considered a valuable resource. See California Water Code 13050
  • Regional board: means any California regional water quality control board for a region as specified in Section 13200. See California Water Code 13050
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Water Code 18
  • State board: means the State Water Resources Control Board. See California Water Code 13050
  • Waste: includes sewage and any and all other waste substances, liquid, solid, gaseous, or radioactive, associated with human habitation, or of human or animal origin, or from any producing, manufacturing, or processing operation, including waste placed within containers of whatever nature prior to, and for purposes of, disposal. See California Water Code 13050

(2) This section shall not be construed to do either or both of the following:

(A) Affect the authority of the state board or regional boards to prescribe and enforce requirements for the discharge.

(B) Preempt the exercise by a water district of its existing ordinance authority to impose or implement stricter standards for protecting groundwater quality in the receiving aquifer.

(c) If the State Department of Public Health makes the findings provided for in subdivision (b), the department shall consider the state board’s Statement of Policy with Respect to Maintaining High Quality of Waters in California, as set forth in Resolution 68-16, dated October 28, 1968, and shall also consider current and potential future public health consequences of the controlled recharge.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 288, Sec. 44. (SB 1169) Effective January 1, 2011.)

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