BILL REQ. #:  S-1299.1 

READ FIRST TIME 02/10/05.   

     AN ACT Relating to safe drinking water in schools; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature declares that a safe and healthy environment for Washington's school children is of great importance. Children are especially vulnerable to contaminants, which can cause learning disabilities, decreased growth, hyperactivity, impaired hearing, and abnormal brain development. It is important that the indoor air quality, drinking water, and instructional areas and play areas in all schools are safe. Recognizing that safe water delivered to a school can be adversely impacted by the plumbing in the facility, the legislature finds that the best way to ensure that drinking water is safe in a particular school building is through testing water from individual taps and bubblers, setting action levels for drinking water quality, and developing and implementing corrective action plans when problems are found.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) It is the intent of this chapter that the exclusive responsibility remains with the local school governing authority of the school institutions for: (a) Providing information to the public about water quality and other environmental health risks in their school facilities; (b) undertaking corrective actions to respond to exceedances of drinking water action levels in schools; (c) ensuring sufficient monitoring of drinking water in school facilities is conducted to identify where such exceedances are occurring; (d) ensuring test results are widely accessible to parents, students, staff, and local and state health departments; and (e) ensuring broad community participation with prioritizing and resolving water quality and other environmental health risks.
     (2) It is further the intent of this chapter that the governing entities of the school institutions enforce compliance with this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Board" means the state board of health.
     (2) "Council" means the state building code council.
     (3) "Department" means the department of health.
     (4) "Local school governing authority" means a local board of education under chapter 28A.330 RCW or school decision-making authority for private schools under chapter 28A.195 RCW.
     (5) "School" means common schools under RCW 28A.150.020 and approved private schools under chapter 28A.195 RCW, but does not include a residential building that is a part of a home school extension program of an approved private school.
     (6) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of health.
     (7) "Uniform plumbing code" means rules adopted by the council under chapters 19.27 and 70.92 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   (1) The board shall adopt rules for drinking water in school facilities by August 1, 2006. The rules shall include: (a) Drinking water quality monitoring requirements and action levels for lead and aesthetics concerns, such as taste, odor, and color; (b) drinking water testing protocols that are consistent with analytical techniques and testing protocols specified in federal drinking water program guidance; (c) deadlines for schools to complete water quality testing; (d) requirements and deadlines for posting test results, and for providing notice to students, parents, and school staff when test results exceed established water quality action levels; and (e) requirements for the local school governing authority to report to the community on implementation of corrective actions.
     (2) The board may adopt, by rule, school drinking water quality requirements for other contaminants if the board determines that: (a) The presence of such contaminants is not due to insufficient implementation of public water system standards or corrosion treatment techniques by the public water system; and (b) setting school drinking water action levels for such contaminants is necessary to protect public health and safety.
     (3) In adopting school drinking water requirements, the board shall be guided by the rules for controlling these contaminants in public water supplies as contained in drinking water rules and guidance by the United States environmental protection agency.
     (4) Analysis of drinking water samples must be performed by a state accredited drinking water laboratory.
     (5) No local government may establish drinking water standards for schools that are less protective than the standards or methods established under this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   The board shall include copper and cadmium in the rules adopted under section 4 of this act if the board determines that there are sufficient public health risks from such contaminants in school drinking water to warrant adoption of rules and that the public health risks cannot be addressed through regulation of public water systems under chapter 70.119A RCW. The board shall include its determinations under this section in the report required by section 6 of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   The board shall report to the appropriate legislative committees on the rules developed under this chapter by December 1, 2006.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   Within available funds, the department shall provide:
     (1) Technical assistance to school administrators in conducting water quality testing;
     (2) Guidance to local school governing authorities in planning and implementing actions to respond to the exceedances; and
     (3) Assistance as schools develop corrective action plans under this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   This chapter is supplemental to and does not replace or diminish the authority of the board or department granted by other laws to ensure the provision of safe drinking water within schools.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   This chapter does not apply to schools that are regulated as nontransient noncommunity systems under chapter 246-290 WAC.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   The state building code council shall examine the uniform plumbing code for consistency with applicable state and federal standards for lead plumbing and solders, fixtures, bubblers, fountains, or other potential sources of lead contamination of drinking water, particularly regarding the application of the code to construction of school buildings. The council shall also examine the effectiveness of those standards in new plumbing construction projects to minimize the leaching of lead into the drinking water consumed at the tap. By December 1, 2006, the council must submit a report on its review to the appropriate legislative committees on their findings, with recommendations for actions to ensure the code is effective in its content, implementation, and enforcement to minimize in new plumbing construction projects the leaching of lead into the drinking water consumed at the tap.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 11   Sections 1 through 9 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.