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SB1445 - 572R - H Ver
House Engrossed
Senate Bill
water quality;
testing; on-site
State of Arizona
Senate
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
SENATE BILL 1445
AN
ACT
Amending sections 45-341, 49-241,
49-255.01, 49-352 and 49-353, Arizona Revised Statutes;
RELATING to water quality.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 45-341, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
45-341.
Definitions
In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Community water system" means a public
water system that serves at least fifteen service connections used by
year-round residents of the area served by the system or that regularly serves
at least twenty-five year-round residents of the area served by the system. A
person is a year-round resident of the area served by a system if the person�s
primary residence is served water by that system.
2. "Large community water system" means a
community water system that serves water to more than one thousand eight
hundred fifty persons.
3. "Public water system" means an entity
that distributes or sells water and that qualifies as a public water system
under section 49-352
, subsection B
.
4. "Small community water system" means a
community water system that does not qualify as a large community water system.
END_STATUTE
Sec. 2. Section 49-241, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
49-241.
Permit required to discharge
A. Unless otherwise provided by this article, any
person who discharges or who owns or operates a facility that discharges shall
obtain an aquifer protection permit from the director.
B. Unless exempted under section 49-250, or
unless the director determines that the facility will be designed, constructed
and operated so that there will be no migration of pollutants directly to the
aquifer or to the vadose zone, the following are considered to be discharging
facilities and shall be operated pursuant to either an individual permit or a
general permit, including agricultural general permits, under this article:
1. Surface impoundments, including holding, storage
settling, treatment or disposal pits, ponds and lagoons.
2. Solid waste disposal facilities except for mining
overburden and wall rock that has not been and will not be subject to mine
leaching operations.
3. Injection wells.
4. Land treatment facilities.
5. Facilities that add a pollutant to a salt dome
formation, salt bed formation, dry well or underground cave or mine.
6. Mine tailings piles and ponds.
7. Mine leaching operations.
8. Underground water storage facilities.
9. Sewage treatment facilities, including on-site
wastewater treatment facilities.
10. Wetlands designed and constructed to treat
municipal and domestic wastewater for underground storage.
C. The director shall provide public notice and an
opportunity for public comment on any request for a determination from the
director under subsection B of this section that there will be no migration of
pollutants from a facility. A public hearing may be held at the
discretion of the director if sufficient public comment warrants a hearing. �The
director may inspect and may require reasonable conditions and appropriate
monitoring and reporting requirements for a facility managing pollutants that
are determined not to migrate under subsection B of this section. �The director
may identify types of facilities, available technologies and technical criteria
for facilities that will qualify for a determination.� The director's
determination may be revoked on evidence that pollutants have migrated from the
facility. �The director may impose a review fee for a determination under
subsection B of this section. Any issuance, denial or revocation of
a determination may be appealed pursuant to section 49-323.
D. The director shall annually make the fee schedule
for aquifer protection permit applications available to the public on request
and on the department's website, and a list of the names and locations of the
facilities that have filed applications for aquifer protection permits, with a
description of the status of each application, is available to the public on
request.
E. The director shall prescribe the procedures for
aquifer protection permit applications and fee collection under this
section. The director shall deposit, pursuant to sections 35-146
and 35-147, all monies collected under this section in the water quality
fee fund established by section 49-210 and may authorize expenditures
from the fund, subject to legislative appropriation, to pay reasonable and
necessary costs of processing and issuing permits and administering the
registration program.
F. For aquifer protection permits
issued to a city or a town with a population of one thousand persons or more
but less than ten thousand persons
, the city or town may
test BACTERIOLOGICAL samples on-site with testing equipment that is
approved by the United States ENVIRONMENTAL protection agency.
END_STATUTE
Sec. 3. Section 49-255.01, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
49-255.01.
Arizona pollutant discharge elimination system program; rules and
standards; affirmative defense; fees; general permit
A. A person shall not discharge except under either
of the following conditions:
1. In conformance with a permit that is issued or
authorized under this article or rules authorized under section 49-203,
subsection A, paragraph 2.
2. Pursuant to a permit that is issued or authorized
by the United States environmental protection agency until a permit that is
issued or authorized under this article takes effect.
B. The director shall adopt rules to establish an
AZPDES permit program for discharges to WOTUS consistent with the requirements
of sections 402(b) and 402(p) of the clean water act. This program
shall include requirements to ensure compliance with section 307 and
requirements for the control of discharges consistent with sections 318 and
405(a) of the clean water act. The director shall not adopt any
requirement for WOTUS that is more stringent than any requirement of the clean
water act. The director shall not adopt any requirement that
conflicts with any requirement of the clean water act. The director may adopt
federal rules pursuant to section 41-1028 or may adopt rules to reflect
local environmental conditions to the extent that the rules are consistent with
and not more stringent than the clean water act and this article.
C. The rules adopted by the director under
subsection B of this section shall provide for:
1. Issuing, authorizing, denying, modifying,
suspending or revoking individual or general permits.
2. Establishing permit conditions, discharge
limitations and standards of performance as prescribed by section 49-203,
subsection A, paragraph 8
,
including case-by-case
effluent limitations that are developed in a manner consistent with 40 Code of
Federal Regulations section 125.3(c).
3. Modifications and variances as allowed by the
clean water act.
4. Other provisions necessary for maintaining state
program authority under section 402(b) of the clean water act.
5. For a city or town with a
population of one thousand persons or more but less than ten thousand persons,
using on-site testing equipment that is approved by the United States
ENVIRONMENTAL protection agency to detect bacteriological MATERIAL.
D. This article does not affect the validity of any
existing rules that are adopted by the director and that are equivalent to and
consistent with the national pollutant discharge elimination system program
authorized under section 402 of the clean water act until new rules for AZPDES
discharges are adopted pursuant to this article.
E. An upset constitutes an affirmative defense to
any administrative, civil or criminal enforcement action brought for
noncompliance with technology-based permit discharge limitations if the
permittee complies with all of the following:
1. The permittee demonstrates through properly
signed contemporaneous operating logs or other relevant evidence that:
(a) An upset occurred and that the permittee can
identify the specific cause of the upset.
(b) The permitted facility was being properly
operated at the time of the upset.
(c) If the upset causes the discharge to exceed any
discharge limitation in the permit, the permittee submitted notice to the
department within twenty-four hours after the upset.
(d) The permittee has taken appropriate remedial
measures including all reasonable steps to minimize or prevent any discharge or
sewage sludge use or disposal that is in violation of the permit and that has a
reasonable likelihood of adversely affecting human health or the environment.
2. In any administrative, civil or criminal
enforcement action, the permittee shall prove, by a preponderance of the
evidence, the occurrence of an upset condition.
F. Compliance with a permit issued pursuant to this
article shall be deemed compliance with both of the following:
1. All requirements in this article or rules adopted
pursuant to this article relating to state implementation of sections 301, 302,
306 and 307 of the clean water act, except for any standard that is imposed
under section 307 of the clean water act for a toxic pollutant that is
injurious to human health.
2. Limitations for pollutants in WOTUS adopted
pursuant to sections 49-221 and 49-222, if the discharge of the
pollutant is specifically limited in a permit issued pursuant to this article
or the pollutant was specifically identified as present or potentially present
in facility discharges during the application process for the permit.
G. Notwithstanding section 49-203, subsection
D, permits that are issued under this article shall not be combined with
permits issued under article 3 of this chapter.
H. The decision of the director to issue or modify a
permit takes effect on issuance if there were no changes requested in comments
that were submitted on the draft permit unless a later effective date is
specified in the decision. In all other cases, the decision of the
director to issue, deny, modify, suspend or revoke a permit takes effect thirty
days after the decision is served on the permit applicant, unless either of the
following applies:
1. Within the thirty-day period, an appeal is filed
with the water quality appeals board pursuant to section 49-323.
2. A later effective date is specified in the
decision.
I. In addition to other reservations of rights
provided by this chapter, this article does not impair or affect rights or the
exercise of rights to water claimed, recognized, permitted, certificated,
adjudicated or decreed pursuant to state or other law.
J. The director shall establish by rule fees,
including maximum fees, to pay expenses incurred in implementing the AZPDES
permit
program. Monies collected pursuant to this
section shall be deposited, pursuant to sections 35-146 and 35-147,
in the water quality fee fund established by section 49-210.
K. Any permit conditions concerning threatened or
endangered species shall be limited to those required by the endangered species
act.
L. When developing a general permit for discharges
of storm water from construction activity, the director shall provide for
reduced control measures at sites that retain storm water in a manner that
eliminates discharges from the site, except for the occurrence of an extreme
event. Reduced control measures shall be available if all of the following
conditions are met:
1. The nearest downstream receiving water is
ephemeral and the construction site is a sufficient distance from a water
warranting additional protection as described in the general permit.
2. The construction activity occurs on a site
designed so that all storm water generated by disturbed areas of the site
exclusive of public rights-of-way is directed to one or more retention
basins that are designed to retain the runoff from an extreme
event. For the purposes of this subsection, "extreme
event" means a rainfall event that meets or exceeds the local one hundred-year,
two-hour storm event as calculated by an Arizona registered professional
engineer using industry practices.
3. The owner or operator complies with good
housekeeping measures included in the general permit.
4. The owner or operator maintains the capacity of
the retention basins.
5. Construction conforms to the standards prescribed
by this section.
M. If the director commences proceedings for the
renewal of a general permit issued pursuant to this article, the existing
general permit shall not expire and coverage may continue to be obtained by new
dischargers until the proceedings have resulted in a final determination by the
director. If the proceedings result in a decision not to renew the general
permit, the existing general permit shall continue in effect until the last day
for filing for review of the decision of the director not to renew the permit
or until any later date that is fixed by court order.
END_STATUTE
Sec. 4. Section 49-352, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
49-352.
Classifying systems and certifying personnel; limitation
A. The department shall establish and enforce rules
for
the classification of
classifying
systems for potable water and certifying operating personnel according to the
skill, knowledge and experience necessary within the
classification. The rules shall also provide that operating
personnel may be certified on the basis of training and supervision at the
place of employment. The department may assess and collect
reasonable certification fees to reimburse the cost of certification services,
which shall be deposited in the water quality fee fund established by section
49-210. Such rules apply to all public water systems involved in the
collection, storage, treatment or distribution of potable water. The
rules do not apply to systems that are not public water systems, including
irrigation, industrial or similar systems where the water is used for
nonpotable purposes.
B. Notwithstanding any other law, the
department may not require a community water system that is located in a county
with a population of four hundred thousand persons or less and that serves
twenty-five or fewer service connections to maintain a minimum storage
capacity that is larger than one thousand gallons.
B.
c.
For
the purposes of this article:
1. A public water system is a water system that:
(a) Provides water for human consumption through
pipes or other constructed conveyances.
(b) Has at least fifteen service connections or
regularly serves an average of at least twenty-five persons daily for at
least sixty days a year.
2. A public water system as described in paragraph
1, subdivisions (a) and (b) of this subsection includes any collection,
treatment, storage and distribution facilities that are under the control of
the operator of a public water system and that are used primarily in connection
with the system and any collection or pretreatment storage facilities that are
not under the control of the operator of a public water system and that are
used primarily in connection with a public water system.
3. A service connection does not include a
connection to a system that delivers water by a constructed conveyance other
than a pipe, if any of the following applies:
(a) The water is used exclusively for purposes other
than residential uses consisting of drinking, cooking or bathing or other
similar uses.
(b) The department determines that alternative water
is provided for residential or similar uses for drinking and cooking and that
the water achieves a level of public health protection that is equivalent to
the applicable national primary drinking water regulations.
(c) The department determines that the water that is
provided for residential or similar uses for drinking, cooking and bathing is
centrally treated or is treated at the point of entry by the water provider, a
pass-through entity or the user to achieve the level of public health
protection that is equivalent to the applicable national primary drinking water
regulations.
4. An irrigation district in existence before May
18, 1994 and that provides primarily agricultural service through a piped water
system with only incidental residential or similar use is not a public water
system if the system or the residential or other similar users of the system
comply with paragraph 3, subdivision (b) or (c) of this subsection.
5. Persons who receive water through connections
that are not service connections pursuant to paragraph 3 of this subsection are
not included in the computation of the number of persons prescribed by
paragraph 1, subdivision (b) of this subsection.
END_STATUTE
Sec. 5. Section 49-353, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
49-353.
Duties of director; rules; prohibited lead use
A. The director shall:
1. Exercise general supervision over all matters
related to water quality control of public water systems throughout this state.
2. Prescribe rules regarding the production,
treatment, distribution and testing of potable water by public water systems,
except that such rules shall not apply to irrigation, industrial or similar
systems where the water is used for nonpotable purposes. The rules
shall comply with at least the following:
(a) The requirements established by the United
States environmental protection agency for state primary enforcement
responsibility of the safe drinking water act, including the requirements of 40
Code of Federal Regulations parts 141 and 142.
(b) Require that the plans and specifications for
all public water systems, including water treatment plants, distribution
systems, distribution system extensions, water treatment methods and devices
and all appurtenances and devices for sale to be used in water supplies and
public water systems be submitted with a fee for review to the
department. The department, in establishing fees authorized by this
section, shall comply with title 41, chapter 6. The department shall
not set a fee at more than the department's cost of providing the service for
which the fee is charged. State agencies are exempt from all fees imposed
pursuant to this section. Monies collected from the fees shall be
deposited in the water quality fee fund established by section 49-210.
The director may require that plans and specifications for public water systems
include programs to meet future needs for drinking water and to supply
specified minimum quantities of drinking water. The director shall:
(i) Require that a new public water system
demonstrate that the system possesses adequate managerial and financial
capacity to operate in compliance with this article and the rules adopted
pursuant to this article.
(ii) Accept adequate findings of other public
authorities regarding the adequate managerial and financial capacity of a
public water system to operate in compliance with this article and the rules
adopted pursuant to this article.
(c) Provide that no public water system, including a
water treatment plant, distribution system, distribution system extension,
water treatment method or device, appurtenance and device used in water
supplies or public water systems be constructed, reconstructed, installed or
initiated before compliance with the standards and rules has been demonstrated
by approval of the plans and specifications by the department. The
rules shall prescribe minimum standards for the bacteriological, physical and
chemical quality of water distributed through public water
systems. The director of environmental quality may consult with the
director of the department of health services in developing these standards.
(d) Provide for a simplified administrative procedure
for approving structural revisions, additions, extensions or modifications to
existing small public water systems for potable water serving a population of
three thousand three hundred or fewer persons.
(e) Exempt from the plan review requirements of this
paragraph, including any requirements for approval to construct or approval of
construction, any structural revisions, additions, extensions or modifications
to public water systems which are in compliance with the department's rules
applicable to those systems or which are making satisfactory progress towards
compliance under a schedule approved by the department if either of the
following conditions is satisfied:
(i) The revision, addition, extension or
modification has a project cost of
twelve thousand five hundred
dollars
$12,500
or less.
(ii) The revision, addition, extension or
modification is made to a water line
which
that
is not for a subdivision requiring plat approval by a city, town or
county, and has a project cost of more than
twelve thousand five
hundred dollars
$12,500
but less than
fifty thousand dollars
$50,000
,
the design of which is sealed by a professional engineer registered in this
state and the construction of which is reviewed for conformance with the design
by a professional engineer.
(f) Require a notice of compliance with the
conditions for exemption on the completion of any revisions, additions,
extensions or modifications completed in accordance with subdivision (e) of
this paragraph.
(g) Provide for the submission of samples at stated
intervals.
(h) Provide for inspection and certification of such
water supplies.
(i) Provide for the abatement as public nuisances of
any premises, equipment, process or device, or public water system that does
not comply with the minimum standards and rules.
(j) Provide for records regarding water quality to
be kept by owners and operators of the public water systems and that reports
regarding water quality be filed with the department.
(k) Provide for appropriate actions to be taken if a
water supply does not meet the standards established by the department.
(l) Require a public water system to implement a
specified program to control contamination from backflow, backsiphonage or
cross connection. All such programs shall be consistent with section 37-1388.
(m) Require that public water systems identify and
provide notice to persons that may be affected by lead contamination of their
drinking water where such contamination results from either or both of the
following:
(i) The lead content in the construction materials
of the public water distribution system.
(ii) Corrosivity of the water supply sufficient to
cause leaching of lead.
(n) Provide for relief from water testing and
monitoring requirements for public water systems qualifying under the federal
safe drinking water act (P.L. 93-523; 88 Stat.
1661
1660
; P.L. 95-190; 91 Stat. 1393; P.L. 104-182;
110 Stat. 1613), as amended in 1996.
3. Develop and implement strategies to assist public
water systems in acquiring and maintaining the technical, managerial and
financial capacity to operate in compliance with this article and the rules
adopted pursuant to this article. Assistance may be provided based
on the needs of the water system.
B. Pipes, pipe fittings and plumbing fittings and
fixtures having a lead content in excess of a weighted average of one-quarter
of one percent lead when used with respect to the wetted surfaces and solders
and flux having a lead content in excess of two-tenths of one percent
shall not be used in the installation or repair of public water systems or of
any plumbing in residential or nonresidential facilities providing water for
human consumption. The weighted average lead content of a pipe, pipe fitting or
plumbing fitting or fixture shall be calculated as follows:
1. For each wetted component, the percentage of lead
in the component shall be multiplied by the ratio of the wetted surface area of
that component to the total wetted surface area of the entire product to arrive
at the weighted percentage of lead of the component.
2. The weighted percentage of lead of each wetted
component shall be added together, and the sum of these weighted percentages
shall constitute the weighted average lead content of the product.
3. The lead content of the material used to produce
a wetted component shall be used to determine compliance with this subsection.
4. For lead content of materials that are provided
as a range, the maximum content of that range shall be used.
C. Subsection B of this section does not apply to:
1. Leaded joints necessary for the repair of cast
iron pipes.
2. Pipes, pipe
fittings and plumbing fittings and fixtures, including backflow preventers,
that are used exclusively for nonpotable water services such as manufacturing,
industrial processing, irrigation, outdoor watering or any other uses where the
water is not anticipated to be used for human consumption.
3. Toilets, bidets, urinals, fill valves,
flushometer valves, tub fillers, shower valves or service saddles or water
distribution main gate valves that are two inches in diameter or larger.
D. Notwithstanding subsection A, paragraph 2,
subdivision (c) of this section, a public water system may construct,
reconstruct, install, extend or initiate a water supply system, water treatment
plant, distribution system, water treatment method or device, or appurtenance
that is used in water supply or in a public water system when the system is out
of compliance with standards and rules adopted pursuant to this article only if
the construction is necessary to correct the system's noncompliance.
E. This section and the rules adopted pursuant to
this section apply to public water systems as described by section 49-352
, subsection B
.
END_STATUTE