115875-115915
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE
SECTION 115875-115915
115875. "Public beach," as used in this article, means any beach area used by the public for recreational purposes that is owned, operated, or controlled by the state, any state agency, any local agency, or any private person in this state, and is located in the coastal zone, as defined in Section 30103 of the Public Resources Code, or within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, as set forth in Section 66610 of the Government Code. 115880. (a) The department shall by regulation, in consultation with local health officers and the public, establish minimum standards for the sanitation of public beaches, including, but not limited to, the removal of refuse, as it determines are reasonably necessary for the protection of the public health and safety. (b) Prior to final adoption by the department, the regulations and standards required by this section shall undergo an external comprehensive review process similar to the process set forth in Section 57004 of the Health and Safety Code. (c) The regulations shall, at a minimum, do all of the following, by December 31, 1998: (1) Require the testing of the waters adjacent to all public beaches for microbiological contaminants, including, but not limited to, total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria. The department may require the testing of waters adjacent to all public beaches for microbiological indicators other than those set forth in this paragraph, or a subset of those set forth in this paragraph, if the department affirmatively establishes, based on the best available scientific studies and the weight of the evidence, that the alternative indicators are as protective of the public health. (2) Establish protective minimum standards for total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for other microbiological indicators that the department determines are appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1). (3) Establish protocols for all of the following: (A) Determining monitoring site locations and monitoring frequency based on risks to public health. (B) Making decisions regarding public notification of health hazards, including, but not limited to the posting, closing, and reopening of public beaches. (4) Require that the waters adjacent to public beaches be tested for total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococci bacteria, or for other microbiological indicators that the department determines are appropriate for testing pursuant to paragraph (1). Except as set forth in paragraph (5), testing shall be conducted on at least a weekly basis, from April 1 to October 31, inclusive, of each year, beginning in 1999, if all of the following apply: (A) The beach is visited by more than 50,000 people annually. (B) The beach is located on an area adjacent to a storm drain that flows in the summer. (5) The monitoring frequency and locations established pursuant to this subdivision and related regulations may only be reduced or altered after the testing required pursuant to paragraph (4) reveals levels of microbiological contaminants that do not exceed for a period of two years the minimum protective standards established pursuant to paragraph (2). (d) The local health officer shall be responsible for testing the waters adjacent to, and coordinating the testing of, all public beaches within his or her jurisdiction. (e) The local health officer may meet the testing requirements of this section by utilizing test results from other agencies conducting microbiological contamination testing of the waters under his or her jurisdiction. (f) Any city or county may adopt standards for the sanitation of public beaches within its jurisdiction that are stricter than the standards adopted by the state department pursuant to this section. (g) Any duty imposed upon a local public officer or agency pursuant to this section shall be mandatory only during a fiscal year in which the Legislature has appropriated sufficient funds, as determined by the State Director of Health Services, in the annual Budget Act or otherwise for local agencies to cover the costs to those agencies associated with the performance of these duties. The State Director of Health Services shall annually, within 15 days after enactment of the Budget Act, file a written statement with the Secretary of the Senate and with the Chief Clerk of the Assembly memorializing whether sufficient funds have been appropriated. 115885. The health officer having jurisdiction over the area in which a public beach is created shall: (a) Inspect the public beach to determine whether the standards established pursuant to Section 115880 are being complied with. If the health officer finds any violation of the standards, he or she may restrict the use of, or close, the public beach or portion thereof in which the violation occurs until the standard is complied with. (b) Investigate any complaint of a person of a violation of any standard established by the department pursuant to Section 115880. If the health officer finds any violation of the standards prescribed by the department, he or she may restrict the use of, or close, the public beach or portion thereof until the standard is complied with. If the person who made the complaint is not satisfied with the action taken by the health officer, he or she may report the violation to the department. The department shall investigate the reported violation, and, if it finds that the violation exists, it may restrict the use of or close the public beach or portion thereof until the standard violated is complied with. (c) (1) Whenever a beach is posted, closed, or otherwise restricted in accordance with Section 115915, the health officer shall inform the agency responsible for the operation and maintenance of the public beach within 24 hours of the posting, closure, or restriction. (2) The health officer shall establish a telephone hotline to inform the public of all beaches currently closed, posted, or otherwise restricted. The hotline shall be updated as needed in order to convey changes in public health risks. (d) Report any violation of the standards established pursuant to Section 115880 to the district attorney, or if the violation occurred in a city and, pursuant to Section 41803.5 of the Government Code, the city attorney is authorized to prosecute misdemeanors, to the city attorney. (e) In the event of a known untreated sewage release, the local health officer shall immediately test the waters adjacent to the public beach and to take action pursuant to regulations established under Section 115880. (f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the event of an untreated sewage release that is known to have reached recreational waters adjacent to a public beach, the local health officer shall immediately close those waters until it has been determined by the local health officer that the waters are in compliance with the standards established pursuant to Section 115880. (g) Any duty imposed upon a local public officer or agency pursuant to this section shall be mandatory only during a fiscal year in which the Legislature has appropriated sufficient funds, as determined by the State Director of Health Services, in the annual Budget Act or otherwise for local agencies to cover the costs to those agencies associated with the performance of these duties. The State Director of Health Services shall annually, within 15 days after enactment of the Budget Act, file a written statement with the Secretary of the Senate and with the Chief Clerk of the Assembly memorializing whether sufficient funds have been appropriated. 115890. Prior to restricting the use of or closing a public beach or portion thereof alleged to be in violation of standards, the health officer, or the department as the case may be, shall give reasonable notice of the violation to the owner of, or person or agency in charge of, the beach. 115895. Any private person who violates any regulation adopted by the state department pursuant to Section 115880 is guilty of a misdemeanor. 115900. For the purposes of Sections 115900 to 115915, inclusive, the following definitions apply: (a) "Beach" means any public beach of the ocean waters and bays of the state where water-contact sports are engaged in by the public. (b) "Board" means the State Water Resources Control Board. (c) "Health officer" means the legally appointed health officer or director of environmental health of the county or city having jurisdiction of the area in which a public saltwater beach is located. 115905. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) California's world-famous beaches are an invaluable economic, environmental, and recreational resource that must be protected for present and future generations. Millions of residents and visitors alike visit the state's beaches annually. (b) Pollution from toxic spills, untreated municipal sewage, and agricultural and urban runoff threatens this critical resource. (c) During 1989 through 1991 alone, at least 400 of the state's beaches had to be posted "off-limits" due to dangerous levels of bacterial and toxic contamination. (d) Due to this pollution, local health officials were forced to close one or more beaches between San Diego and Mendocino Counties for all but 18 days in 1991. (e) This contamination of our beaches poses serious threats to the public's health, increasing the risk that persons who use the beaches will suffer from hepatitis, gastroenteritis, and other dangerous illnesses. (f) Notwithstanding the importance and potential severity of this problem, the state has never conducted a statewide survey to document annual beach closings. (g) The state does not have uniform testing protocols that must be followed to ensure that the public is never exposed to dangerous contamination at the state's beaches. (h) The state does not have uniform standards requiring beach postings when California Ocean Plan bathing water standards, as adopted by the board pursuant to Section 13170.2 of the Water Code, are exceeded. (i) The state does not have uniform requirements mandating the frequency with which beach waters must be tested to ensure public safety. Beach water sampling currently varies greatly from county to county. For example, Los Angeles County tests its beaches every week of the year while other coastal counties test much less frequently. (j) More accurate and centralized recordkeeping on the relative contributions of pollutant sources to beach closures would enable more effective targeting of corrective actions to keep our beaches safe and our coastal areas economically strong. 115910. (a) On or before the 15th day of each month, each health officer shall submit to the board a survey documenting all beach postings and closures resulting from implementation of Section 115915 that occurred during the preceding month. The survey shall, at a minimum, include the following information: (1) Identification of the beaches in each county subject to testing conducted pursuant to Section 115885 and the amount and types of monitoring conducted at each beach. (2) Identification of the geographic location, areal extent, and type of action taken for each incident of posting or closure conducted pursuant to Section 115915. Geographic location and areal extent shall be noted in sufficient detail to determine on a common map, or by latitude and longitude, the approximate boundaries of the affected beaches. (3) Identification of the standards exceeded and the causes and sources of the pollution, if known. Exceeded standards shall be identified with sufficient particularity to determine which types of tests and biological indicators were used to determine that an exceeded standard exists. Causes of pollution shall be identified with sufficient particularity to determine what substances, in addition to any water carrying the substances, were responsible for the exceeded standard. Sources shall be identified with sufficient particularity to determine the most specific geographical origin of the pollution sources available to the health officer at the time of the posting or closure. (b) Surveys conducted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be in a specific format established by the board on or before February 1, 2001. The board shall make the format easily accessible to the health officer through means that will enable the health officer to most effectively carry out the requirements of this section and enable the board to develop consistent, statewide data concerning the effect and status of beach postings and closures in a particular calendar year. (c) On or before the 30th day of each month, the board shall make available to the public the information provided by the health officers. Based upon the data provided pursuant to subdivision (a), the report shall, at a minimum, include the location and duration of each beach closure and the suspected sources of the contamination that caused the closure, if known. (d) The board shall continuously post and update on its Web site, but at a minimum, annually on or before July 30, information documenting the beach posting and closure data provided to the board by the health officers including the location and duration of each beach closure and the suspected sources of the contamination that caused the closure, if known. 115915. (a) Whenever any beach fails to meet the bacteriological standards established pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 115880, the health officer shall, at a minimum, post the beach with conspicuous warning signs to inform the public of the nature of the problem and the possibility of risk to public health. (b) A warning sign shall be visible from each legal primary beach access point, as identified in the coastal access inventory prepared and updated pursuant to Section 30531 of the Public Resources Code, and any additional access points identified by the health officer. (c) Any duty imposed upon a local public officer or agency pursuant to this section shall be mandatory only during a fiscal year in which the Legislature has appropriated sufficient funds, as determined by the State Director of Health Services, in the annual Budget Act or otherwise for local agencies to cover the costs to those agencies associated with the performance of these duties. The State Director of Health Services shall annually, within 15 days after enactment of the Budget Act, file a written statement with the Secretary of the Senate and with the Chief Clerk of the Assembly memorializing whether sufficient funds have been appropriated.