BILL REQ. #:  S-3723.2 

Read first time 01/15/2004.   Referred to Committee on Natural Resources, Energy & Water.

     AN ACT Relating to safe drinking water in Washington public schools; adding a new chapter to Title 70 RCW; prescribing penalties; and declaring an emergency.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds and declares that the provision of safe drinking water for Washington's public school children is of great importance because young children are especially vulnerable to drinking water contaminants like lead, which can cause learning disabilities, decreased growth, hyperactivity, impaired hearing, and abnormal brain development. The legislature finds that although water delivered from the community's public water system must meet federal and state standards for lead and other contaminants, a school building may still have unacceptable drinking water contamination levels due to pipes, plumbing materials, and water use patterns within the school facility. The legislature finds that the best way to ensure that drinking water is safe in a particular school building is to test drinking and cooking water outlets such as taps, bubblers, and fountains, and to promptly correct problems where contaminant concentrations are found to exceed safe levels.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Department" means the department of health.
     (2) "Public school" means public primary and secondary schools.
     (3) "Secretary" means the secretary of the department of health.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   (1) The department shall regulate drinking water quality at the public schools and:
     (a) Shall adopt, by rule, public school drinking water quality standards for lead, copper, cadmium, zinc, and corrosion; and
     (b) May adopt, by rule, public school drinking water quality standards for other contaminants if the department determines that: (i) The presence of such contaminants is not due to insufficient implementation of public water system standards or corrosion treatment protocols; and (ii) setting public school drinking water standards for such contaminants is necessary to protect public health and safety.
     (2) In adopting public school drinking water standards, the department shall be guided by, but not limited to, the rules for controlling these contaminants in drinking water as contained in 40 C.F.R. Sec. 141 and EPA guidance promulgated thereunder. The standards shall provide reasonable margins of safety and shall emphasize reasonable overprotection where scientific evidence is ambiguous.
     (3) The department shall adopt, through emergency rule making, interim maximum contaminant levels and testing protocols by April 1, 2005. The department shall adopt final maximum contaminant level standards and protocols by April 1, 2006.
     (4) The department shall establish, by rule: (a) Drinking water testing protocols, which shall be established in accordance with lab certification requirements, analytical techniques and testing protocols specified by 40 C.F.R. Sec. 141, and EPA guidance promulgated thereunder; (b) deadlines for school districts to complete water quality testing; (c) requirements and deadlines for providing test results to the department; (d) requirements and deadlines for providing notice to students, parents, and school staff when test results exceed public school water quality standards established by the department; (e) facility inspection protocols to ascertain causes of water quality problems; (f) action planning protocols to guide school districts in promptly submitting proposed plans to correct exposure to exceedances and to establish interim control measures to reduce exposure to contamination while corrective actions are being implemented; (g) review protocols for plan approval and oversight of plan implementation by the local health jurisdiction or department; and (h) compliance inspection and testing protocols to ensure that approved and required actions have been taken and public school drinking water standards are being met.
     (5) Analysis of drinking water samples must be performed by a laboratory certified by the department.
     (6) Lead plumbing and solders, or other potential sources of lead contamination of drinking water, shall not be used in the construction of a new school facility or the modernization or renovation of an existing school facility.
     (7) No local government may establish drinking water standards for public schools that are less protective than the standards or methods established under this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   (1) All the enforcement provisions of RCW 70.119.030, 70.119.040, and 70.119.050 relating to public water systems shall be applicable to the secretary's enforcement of the provisions of this chapter to achieve the public school water quality standards and requirements established under this chapter.
     (2) A person who discriminates against or otherwise sanctions an employee who complains to or cooperates with the department in administering this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor.
     (3) The department shall establish, by rule, appropriate variance provisions and procedures for any provision adopted into rules that may create a financial hardship for a particular school district. However, no variance shall provide for a reduction in the numerical standards established for maximum contaminant levels in public school drinking water.
     (4) The department shall examine compliance with adopted standards and rules and provide a report to the appropriate committees of the legislature biennially, beginning December 1, 2006. The report shall include any recommendations, in bill form, for legislation that would improve compliance with, or facilitate the enforcement or achievement of, public school safe drinking water standards established under this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   The department shall provide technical assistance to public school districts and shall establish, by rule or policy, requirements for the content and presentation of training courses or materials to facilitate school district compliance with the requirements of this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   If a school receives notice from the department that it is not in compliance with public school drinking water standards, the school may not offer a construction bond issue to the voters until the school obtains a letter of approval from the department indicating the department's satisfaction that either: (1) The construction bond proposal contains specific remedial provisions and dedicated funding likely to bring the school into compliance with public school drinking water standards; (2) the school has obtained funding or bona fide commitments of funding from other sources sufficient to bring the school into compliance with public school drinking water standards; or (3) in accordance with rules established under section 3(4) of this act, the school has submitted and received approval for an action plan likely to reduce contamination to acceptable levels within a fixed and reasonable time period.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   Sections 1 through 7 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 70 RCW.