By: Rosson S.B. No. 450 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT 1-1 relating to regional water and wastewater planning for the County 1-2 of El Paso. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: 1-5 (1) "Application" means an application for financial 1-6 assistance filed with an agency of the State of Texas, a federal 1-7 agency, or an international agency for the planning, design, or 1-8 construction of a system in the county. 1-9 (2) "City" means the City of El Paso. 1-10 (3) "County" means the geographical area within the 1-11 boundary of the County of El Paso. 1-12 (4) "Person" means an individual, association, 1-13 partnership, corporation, foundation, university, college, 1-14 municipal corporation, county, water utility as defined herein, 1-15 nonprofit corporation, any other person or entity that files an 1-16 application, or an agent, employee, or department thereof. 1-17 (5) "PSB" means the Public Service Board of the city 1-18 created by El Paso, Texas, Ordinance No. 752 (May 22, 1952), as 1-19 amended, pursuant to Article 1115, Revised Statutes. 1-20 (6) "Regional planning" means the process of 1-21 identifying existing and potential problems and solutions and their 1-22 relative costs and benefits and recommending the most feasible 1-23 solutions for regional water and wastewater facilities. 1-24 (7) "System" means water supply, treatment, and 2-1 delivery or water and wastewater systems, or any component thereof. 2-2 (8) "Water utility" means: 2-3 (A) any district or authority located within the 2-4 county and created under either Sections 52(b)(1) and (2), Article 2-5 III, or Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, other than the 2-6 El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1; 2-7 (B) any municipality, other than the city, that 2-8 is located within the county, either existing de facto or created 2-9 or organized under the general or special laws or operating under a 2-10 home-rule charter that has been adopted or amended as authorized by 2-11 Section 5, Article XI, Texas Constitution, and that owns a system; 2-12 (C) any nonprofit water supply corporation 2-13 located within the county and created under Chapter 76, Acts of the 2-14 43rd Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1933 (Article 1434a, Vernon's 2-15 Texas Civil Statutes); or 2-16 (D) any other person who files an application. 2-17 SECTION 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS. The legislature finds 2-18 that: 2-19 (1) the primary sources of raw water supply available 2-20 for municipal water purposes to the residents within the county are 2-21 the surface water of the Rio Grande and the groundwater of the 2-22 Mesilla and Hueco aquifers; and 2-23 (2) increasing consumption of those resources requires 2-24 increased consultation, coordination, and cooperation in the 2-25 management of those resources. 2-26 SECTION 3. PURPOSES. The purposes of this Act are to 2-27 improve regional water and wastewater planning for the county and 3-1 to encourage increased consultation, coordination, and cooperation 3-2 in the management of regional water resources. 3-3 SECTION 4. DESIGNATION OF CITY AS REGIONAL WATER AND 3-4 WASTEWATER PLANNER. (a) On the enactment of an enabling 3-5 resolution by the city council of the city, the city is hereby 3-6 designated, through its PSB, as the regional water and wastewater 3-7 planner with the authority to conduct regional water and wastewater 3-8 planning. 3-9 (b) The city, through its PSB, shall receive priority 3-10 consideration for the funding of regional water and wastewater 3-11 planning. 3-12 (c) Regional planning for which the PSB would receive 3-13 priority consideration for funding does not include the following 3-14 three categories of activities, but all persons filing applications 3-15 for state or federal funding for the following three categories of 3-16 activities must comply with all of the provisions of Section 5 of 3-17 this Act: 3-18 (1) those activities directly related to the 3-19 preparation of applications for state or federal permits; 3-20 (2) those activities associated with administrative or 3-21 legal proceedings by regulatory agencies; and 3-22 (3) the preparation of engineering plans and 3-23 specifications, specific facilities planning, design, construction, 3-24 operation, or maintenance of a system to be constructed entirely 3-25 within a water utility. 3-26 (d) Regional planning includes the following considerations: 3-27 (1) coordination of water and wastewater management on 4-1 a regional watershed basis; 4-2 (2) water quality and water quantity conditions 4-3 adversely affecting the public health and the environment; 4-4 (3) efficient planning for and management of water 4-5 resources to remediate existing colonia conditions and to avoid 4-6 future colonia conditions; 4-7 (4) participation in water and wastewater planning 4-8 with the adjacent Texas counties and the border states of New 4-9 Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico, to address transboundary water 4-10 quality issues and to protect and preserve the region's water 4-11 resources for human consumption; 4-12 (5) encouragement of conjunctive management of the 4-13 limited surface water and groundwater resources of the region so 4-14 that the integrity and quality of those limited resources are 4-15 protected and preserved to the greatest extent reasonably possible; 4-16 (6) maximization of amounts, obtaining favorable 4-17 terms, and making the optimal use of public funding to implement 4-18 the purposes of this Act; and 4-19 (7) intergovernmental cooperation with water utilities 4-20 to encourage their planning to be consistent with the regional 4-21 plan. 4-22 (e) In this section, "regional plan" means: 4-23 (1) the El Paso Water Resource Management Plan dated 4-24 July 19, 1991, prepared by Boyle Engineering Corporation, which 4-25 includes the El Paso Water Conservation Plan approved by the PSB on 4-26 November 28, 1990, the Policy for Extension of Water and Sewer 4-27 Services in El Paso County dated August, 1991, and the Water 5-1 Facilities Master Plan dated October 13, 1993, as may be amended; 5-2 (2) the Feasibility Report on Wastewater Reuse 5-3 Opportunities dated November, 1992, prepared by Boyle Engineering 5-4 Corporation, as may be amended; and 5-5 (3) the El Paso Water Facilities Master Plan dated 5-6 June, 1994, prepared by Boyle Engineering Corporation, as may be 5-7 amended. 5-8 SECTION 5. FUNDING APPLICATIONS. (a) A person who intends 5-9 to file an application shall schedule a preapplication conference 5-10 with the general manager of the PSB and, unless waived in writing 5-11 by the PSB, the applicant shall confer with the PSB to discuss the 5-12 proposed content of the application no later than 30 days prior to 5-13 the filing of the application with the funding entity. 5-14 (b) A copy of all applications shall be filed with the PSB 5-15 on or before the date on which the application is filed with the 5-16 funding entity. The PSB shall have 45 days after receipt to 5-17 comment on the application but at any time during this 45-day 5-18 period may notify the applicant that it has no comments. No agency 5-19 of the State of Texas shall approve an application until the 5-20 earlier of 45 days after the date of receipt of the application, 5-21 receipt of the PSB's comments, or receipt of the PSB's decision not 5-22 to comment. 5-23 (c) All applicants for water and wastewater projects shall 5-24 submit to the PSB the following information: 5-25 (1) the service area and estimation of the numbers of 5-26 people that will benefit from the system; 5-27 (2) an explanation of why the system is needed; 6-1 (3) design and construction standards of the system; 6-2 (4) compatibility with, or distance from, the PSB's 6-3 existing infrastructure; 6-4 (5) an evaluation of the consistency of the 6-5 application with the regional plan, as may be amended; 6-6 (6) an evaluation of alternatives for providing 6-7 adequate water and wastewater facilities that use less water 6-8 resources; 6-9 (7) qualities of the system that improve human health 6-10 and the environment; and 6-11 (8) proof of notice of the application to the PSB. 6-12 (d) All applicants for water projects shall submit to the 6-13 PSB the following information in addition to the information listed 6-14 in Subsection (c) of this section: 6-15 (1) identification of the source of water; 6-16 (2) estimation of water usage, including peak demand, 6-17 and wastewater flows after completion of the recommended proposed 6-18 facilities with an explanation of the basis of the estimation; 6-19 (3) conservation measures, including the use of 6-20 reclaimed water where such use is technically feasible and 6-21 cost-effective; and 6-22 (4) restrictions that minimize peak use to reduce the 6-23 overdraft to and salinity of the source aquifer and to protect its 6-24 natural recharge potential. 6-25 (e) If groundwater is the source of water, the application 6-26 shall characterize the aquifer system and its recharge zone and 6-27 determine the effect of approval of the application on the life of 7-1 the aquifer, the quality of water in the aquifer, and the natural 7-2 recharge of the aquifer. 7-3 SECTION 6. EXEMPTIONS. Nothing in this Act shall apply to 7-4 the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1. 7-5 SECTION 7. NONSURRENDER OF RATE JURISDICTION. Nothing in 7-6 this Act constitutes a surrender or grant of jurisdiction over 7-7 rates and services to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation 7-8 Commission or any successor agency. 7-9 SECTION 8. SEVERABILITY AND CONSTRUCTION. If any provisions 7-10 of this Act or the application thereof to any person or 7-11 circumstance is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect 7-12 other provisions or applications of this Act that can be given 7-13 effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this 7-14 end all the terms and provisions of this Act are declared 7-15 severable. All the terms and provisions of this Act are to be 7-16 liberally construed to effectuate the purposes, powers, rights, 7-17 functions, and authorities herein set forth. 7-18 SECTION 9. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation 7-19 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 7-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 7-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 7-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 7-23 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 7-24 passage, and it is so enacted.