pollutants; drinking water standards

HB2517 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
pollutants; drinking water standards

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2517

Introduced by

Representatives
Stahl Hamilton: Garcia, Gutierrez, Sandoval, Simacek, Travers, Villegas;�
Senator Ortiz

AN
ACT

amending sections 49-104 and 49-223,
Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to the environment.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 49-104, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
49-104.

Powers and duties of the department and director

A. The department shall:

1. Formulate policies, plans and programs to
implement this title to protect the environment.

2. Stimulate and encourage all local, state,
regional and federal governmental agencies and all private persons and
enterprises that have similar and related objectives and purposes, cooperate
with those agencies, persons and enterprises and correlate department plans,
programs and operations with those of the agencies, persons and enterprises.

3. Conduct research on its own initiative or at the
request of the governor, the legislature or state or local agencies pertaining
to any department objectives.

4. Provide information and advice on request of any
local, state or federal agencies and private persons and business enterprises
on matters within the scope of the department.

5. Consult with and make recommendations to the
governor and the legislature on all matters concerning department objectives.

6. Promote and coordinate the management of air
resources to ensure their protection, enhancement and balanced
utilization

use
consistent with the environmental policy of this
state.

7. Promote and coordinate the protection and
enhancement of the quality of water resources consistent with the environmental
policy of this state.

8. Encourage industrial, commercial, residential and
community development that maximizes environmental benefits and minimizes the
effects of less desirable environmental conditions.

9. Ensure the preservation and enhancement of
natural beauty and man-made scenic qualities.

10. Provide for the prevention and abatement of all
water and air pollution including that related to particulates, gases, dust,
vapors, noise, radiation, odor, nutrients and heated liquids in accordance with
article 3 of this chapter and chapters 2 and 3 of this title.

11. Promote and recommend methods for the recovery,
recycling and reuse or, if recycling is not possible, the disposal of solid
wastes consistent with sound health, scenic and environmental quality policies.
The department shall report annually on its revenues and expenditures relating
to the solid and hazardous waste programs overseen or administered by the
department.

12. Prevent pollution through regulating the
storage, handling and transportation of solids, liquids and gases that may
cause or contribute to pollution.

13. Promote the restoration and reclamation of
degraded or despoiled areas and natural resources.

14. Participate in the state civil defense program
and develop the necessary organization and facilities to meet wartime or other
disasters.

15. Cooperate with the Arizona-Mexico
commission in the governor's office and with researchers at universities in
this state to collect data and conduct projects in the United States and Mexico
on issues that are within the scope of the department's duties and that relate
to quality of life, trade and economic development in this state in a manner
that will help the Arizona-Mexico commission to assess and enhance the
economic competitiveness of this state and of the Arizona-Mexico region.

16. Unless specifically authorized by
the legislature, ensure that state laws, rules, standards, permits, variances
and orders are adopted and construed to be consistent with and not more
stringent than the corresponding federal law that addresses the same subject
matter. This paragraph does not adversely affect standards adopted by an Indian
tribe under federal law.

17.

16.
Provide
administrative and staff support for the oil and gas conservation commission.

B. The department, through the director, shall:

1. Contract for the services of outside advisers,
consultants and aides reasonably necessary or desirable to enable the
department to adequately perform its duties.

2. Contract and incur obligations reasonably
necessary or desirable within the general scope of department activities and
operations to enable the department to adequately perform its duties.

3. Use any medium of communication, publication and
exhibition when disseminating information, advertising and publicity in any
field of its purposes, objectives or duties.

4. Adopt procedural rules that are necessary to
implement the authority granted under this title but that are not inconsistent
with other provisions of this title.

5. Contract with other agencies, including
laboratories, in furthering any department program.

6. Use monies, facilities or services to provide
matching contributions under federal or other programs that further the
objectives and programs of the department.

7. Accept gifts, grants, matching monies or direct
payments from public or private agencies or private persons and enterprises for
department services and publications and to conduct programs that are
consistent with the general purposes and objectives of this chapter. Monies
received pursuant to this paragraph shall be deposited in the department fund
corresponding to the service, publication or program provided.

8. Provide for the examination of any premises if
the director has reasonable cause to believe that a violation of any
environmental law or rule exists or is being committed on the premises. The
director shall give the owner or operator the opportunity for its
representative to accompany the director on an examination of those
premises. Within forty-five days after the date of the
examination, the department shall provide to the owner or operator a copy of
any report produced as a result of any examination of the premises.

9. Supervise sanitary engineering facilities and
projects in this state, authority for which is vested in the department, and
own or lease land on which sanitary engineering facilities are located, and
operate the facilities, if the director determines that owning, leasing or
operating is necessary for the public health, safety or welfare.

10. Adopt and enforce rules relating to approving
design documents for constructing, improving and operating sanitary engineering
and other facilities for disposing of solid, liquid or gaseous deleterious
matter.

11. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary rules
regarding the water supply, sewage disposal and garbage collection and disposal
for subdivisions. The rules shall:

(a) Provide for minimum sanitary facilities to be
installed in the subdivision and may require that water systems plan for future
needs and be of adequate size and capacity to deliver specified minimum
quantities of drinking water and to treat all sewage.

(b) Provide that the design documents showing or
describing the water supply, sewage disposal and garbage collection facilities
be submitted with a fee to the department for review and that no lots in any
subdivision be offered for sale before compliance with the standards and rules
has been demonstrated by approval of the design documents by the department.

12. Prescribe reasonably necessary measures to
prevent pollution of water used in public or semipublic swimming pools and
bathing places and to prevent deleterious conditions at those
places. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for the design
of and for sanitary conditions at any public or semipublic swimming pool or
bathing place and provide for abatement as public nuisances of premises and
facilities that do not comply with the minimum standards. The rules
shall be developed in cooperation with the director of the department of health
services and shall be consistent with the rules adopted by the director of the
department of health services pursuant to section 36-136, subsection I,
paragraph 10.

13. Prescribe reasonable rules regarding sewage
collection, treatment, disposal and reclamation systems to prevent the
transmission of sewage borne or insect borne diseases. The rules
shall:

(a) Prescribe minimum standards for the design of
sewage collection systems and treatment, disposal and reclamation systems and
for operating the systems.

(b) Provide for inspecting the premises, systems and
installations and for abating as a public nuisance any collection system,
process, treatment plant, disposal system or reclamation system that does not
comply with the minimum standards.

(c) Require that design documents for all sewage
collection systems, sewage collection system extensions, treatment plants,
processes, devices, equipment, disposal systems, on-site wastewater
treatment facilities and reclamation systems be submitted with a fee for review
to the department and may require that the design documents anticipate and
provide for future sewage treatment needs.

(d) Require that
construction, reconstruction, installation or initiation of any sewage
collection system, sewage collection system extension, treatment plant,
process, device, equipment, disposal system, on-site wastewater treatment
facility or reclamation system conform with applicable requirements.

14. Prescribe reasonably necessary rules regarding
excreta storage, handling, treatment, transportation and
disposal. The rules may:

(a) Prescribe minimum standards for human excreta
storage, handling, treatment, transportation and disposal and shall provide for
inspection of premises, processes and vehicles and for abating as public
nuisances any premises, processes or vehicles that do not comply with the
minimum standards.

(b) Provide that vehicles transporting human excreta
from privies, septic tanks, cesspools and other treatment processes be licensed
by the department subject to compliance with the rules. The
department may require payment of a fee as a condition of licensure. The
department shall establish by rule a fee as a condition of licensure, including
a maximum fee. The fees shall be deposited, pursuant to sections 35-146
and 35-147, in the solid waste fee fund established by section 49-881.

15. Perform the responsibilities of implementing and
maintaining a data automation management system to support the reporting
requirements of title III of the superfund amendments and reauthorization act
of 1986 (P.L. 99-499) and article 2 of this chapter.

16. Approve remediation levels pursuant to article 4
of this chapter.

17. Establish or revise fees by rule pursuant to the
authority granted under title 44, chapter 9, articles 8 and 9 and chapters 4
and 5 of this title for the department to adequately perform its duties. All
fees shall be fairly assessed and impose the least burden and cost to the
parties subject to the fees. In establishing or revising fees, the
department shall base the fees on the direct and indirect costs of
the department's relevant duties, including employee salaries and benefits,
professional and outside services, equipment, in-state travel and other
necessary operational expenses directly related to issuing licenses as defined
in title 41, chapter 6 and enforcing the requirements of the applicable
regulatory program.

18. Appoint a person with a background in oil and
gas conservation to act on behalf of the oil and gas conservation commission
and administer and enforce the applicable provisions of title 27, chapter 4
relating to the oil and gas conservation commission.

C. The department may:

1. Charge fees to cover the costs of all permits and
inspections it performs to ensure compliance with rules adopted under section
49-203 except that state agencies are exempt from paying the fees.

2. Monies collected pursuant to this subsection
shall be deposited, pursuant to sections 35-146 and 35-147, in the
water quality fee fund established by section 49-210.

3. Contract with private consultants for the
purposes of assisting the department in reviewing applications for licenses,
permits or other authorizations to determine whether an applicant meets the
criteria for issuance of the license, permit or other
authorization. If the department contracts with a consultant under
this paragraph, an applicant may request that the department expedite the
application review by requesting that the department use the services of the
consultant and by agreeing to pay the department the costs of the consultant's
services. Notwithstanding any other law, monies paid by applicants for
expedited reviews pursuant to this paragraph are appropriated to the department
for use in paying consultants for services.

D. The director may:

1. If the director has reasonable cause to believe
that a violation of any environmental law or rule exists or is being committed,
inspect any person or property in transit through this state and any vehicle in
which the person or property is being transported and detain or disinfect the
person, property or vehicle as reasonably necessary to protect the environment
if a violation exists.

2. Authorize in writing any qualified officer or
employee in the department to perform any act that the director is authorized
or required to do by law.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 49-223, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
49-223.

Aquifer water quality standards

A. Primary drinking water maximum contaminant levels
established by the administrator before August 13, 1986 are adopted as drinking
water aquifer water quality standards. The director may only adopt
additional aquifer water quality standards by rule. Within one year
after the administrator establishes additional primary drinking water maximum
contaminant levels, the director shall open a
rule making

rulemaking
docket pursuant to section 41-1021
for adoption of
to adopt
those maximum
contaminant levels as drinking water aquifer water quality
standards. If substantial opposition is demonstrated in the
rule making

rulemaking
docket regarding a
particular constituent, the director may adopt for that constituent the maximum
contaminant level as a drinking water aquifer water quality standard
upon

on
making a finding that this level
is appropriate for adoption in Arizona as an aquifer water quality standard. In
making this finding, the director shall consider whether the assumptions about
technologies, costs, sampling and analytical methodologies and public health
risk reduction used by the administrator in developing and implementing the
maximum contaminant level are appropriate for establishing a drinking water
aquifer water quality standard.� For purposes of this subsection
"substantial opposition" means information submitted to the director
that explains with reasonable specificity why the maximum contaminant level is
not appropriate as an aquifer water quality standard.

B. The director may adopt by rule numeric drinking
water aquifer water quality standards for pollutants for which the
administrator has not established primary drinking water maximum contaminant
levels or for which a maximum contaminant level has been established but the
director has determined it to be inappropriate as an aquifer water quality
standard pursuant to subsection A of this section. These standards
shall be based on the protection of human health. In establishing
numeric drinking water aquifer water quality standards, the director shall rely
on technical protocols appropriate for the development of

aquifer
water quality standards and shall base the standards on credible medical and
toxicological evidence that has been subjected to peer review.

C. Notwithstanding subsection B of
this section, on or before December 31, 2030, the director shall establish
drinking water aquifer water quality standards for the following pollutants:

1. Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid.

2. Perfluorooctanoic acid.

3. Chromium-6.

4. 1,4-dioxane.

5. Other substances that are
categorized as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and that are
detected in a system that is classified as a public water system as prescribed
by section 49-352.

D. In developing the drinking water
aquifer water quality standards prescribed by subsection C of this section, the
department shall:

1. Review the standards and maximum
contaminant levels adopted in other states and consider adopting standards for
any pollutant for which two or more other states have adopted standards or
otherwise issued guidance.

2. Review studies and scientific
evidence that were reviewed by other states, information from the United States
department of health and human services agency for toxic substances and disease
registry or recent peer-reviewed scientific, independent or other government
agency studies.

3. Adopt standards that are
protective of public health, including vulnerable subpopulations such as
pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and children.

4. Annually review the latest
peer-reviewed scientific independent or government agency studies and undertake
additional rulemaking if necessary to comply with this section.

C.

E.
Any
person may petition the director to adopt a numeric drinking water aquifer
quality standard for any pollutant for which no drinking water aquifer quality
standard exists. The director shall grant the petition and institute

rule making

rulemaking
proceedings
adopting a numeric standard as provided under subsection B of this section
within one hundred eighty days if the petition shows that the pollutant is a
toxic pollutant, that the pollutant has been, or may in the future be, detected
in any of the state's drinking water aquifers, and that there exists technical
information on which a numeric standard might reasonably be based.� Within one
year of
the commencement of
commencing

the
rule making

rulemaking

proceeding, the director shall either adopt a numeric standard or make and
publish a finding that, pursuant to subsection B of this section,
the development of

developing
a numeric
standard is not possible. The decision to not adopt a numeric standard shall,
for
the
purposes of judicial review, be treated in the
same manner as a rule adopted pursuant to title 41, chapter 6.

D.

F.
For purposes of assessing

To assess
compliance with each aquifer water quality standard
adopted pursuant to this section, the director shall for purposes of articles 3
and 4 of this chapter, and may for purposes of other provisions of this title,
identify sampling and analytical protocols appropriate for detecting and
measuring the pollutant in the aquifers in the state.

E.

G.
Within
one year
from the reclassification of

after
reclassifying
an aquifer to a non-drinking water status
,

pursuant to section 49-224, the director shall adopt water quality
standards for that aquifer. For any pollutants
which

that
were not the basis for the reclassification, the
applicable standard shall be identical with the standard for those pollutants
adopted pursuant to subsections A and B of this section. For any
pollutants
which

that
were the basis
for reclassification, the standard shall be sufficient to achieve the purpose
for which the aquifer was reclassified but shall minimize unnecessary
degradation of the aquifer by taking into consideration the potential long-term
uses of the aquifer and the short-term and long-term benefits of the
activities resulting in discharges into the aquifer.

F.

H.
The
director shall adopt water quality standards for an aquifer for which a
petition has been submitted pursuant to section 49-224, subsection D
sufficient to achieve the non-drinking water use for which that aquifer was
classified, taking into consideration the potential long-term uses of that
aquifer and the short-term and long-term benefits of the
discharging activities creating that aquifer.

G.

I.
In
any action pursuant to this title, aquifer water quality protection provisions,
including monitoring requirements, may be imposed only for pollutants for which
aquifer water quality standards have been established
and
that
are likely to be present in a discharge. Indicator parameters and
quality assurance parameters appropriate for such pollutants also may be
specified.
END_STATUTE