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Environmental Utilities outlines water-rate assistance proposals, recycled water updates and $154 million raw-water conveyance project
Summary
Roseville environmental utilities staff described active state bills on water-rate assistance and recycled water, federal rebate work on energy recovery upgrades, and ongoing planning for a $154 million joint raw-water conveyance project with a 75/25 cost split.
Noel, representing Roseville’s environmental utilities, told the Law and Regulatory Committee March 20 that staff are tracking more than 500 bills with potential utility impacts and are actively engaging on several measures related to affordability, recycled water and drought resilience.
Noel said the city supports AB 514, a measure encouraging development of emergency water supplies, and is sponsoring or supporting AB 532 (a CMUA-sponsored bill) to enable low-income household water assistance programs and to provide express authority for larger suppliers like Roseville to develop local rate-assistance plans. Noel said the city took an "oppose unless amended" position on SB 350, which would create a statewide water rate assistance program without an identified funding source and could impose costs on local agencies.
On recycled water, Noel said SB 31 proposes updates to the California Water Code to better align recycled-water uses with modern technologies, which the utilities team supports because it would reduce regulatory barriers. Noel also reported support for a container cap requirement (SB 45) modeled on a European Union directive to keep beverage caps attached to containers; staff said SB 45 poses no known risks to Roseville’s equipment or recycling processes.
Federal activity includes a $29 million Inflation Reduction Act rebate submitted for energy recovery upgrades at the Pleasant Grove wastewater treatment plant; Noel said rebates submitted in 2023 were issued in mid-2024 and Roseville expects to receive its rebate by June or July 2025 if there are no budgetary interruptions.
Noel briefed the committee on the raw-water conveyance project, a joint initiative with Placer County Water Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He said the total project is estimated at approximately $154,000,000, with federal funding pursued through the Corps’ environmental infrastructure program that would leave a 75/25 cost split. He also said staff are pursuing a $21 million authorization secured in 2022 and working toward a project partnership agreement and letter report to access first-increment funding.
Noel described ongoing engagement with federal legislators about wildfire outcomes, water storage needs and investments in infrastructure, and noted Roseville’s interest in a rulemaking pathway that would avoid duplicative lead service-line investigations for agencies that have already demonstrated non-detects and lead-line removals.
Committee members asked about how proposed low-income assistance bills would interact; Noel explained the city supports AB 532 for larger systems and hopes SB 350 could be dovetailed so the state-run program would serve very small systems under 3,000 connections that lack local capacity to administer assistance programs.
