New Hampshire-2019-SB287-Introduced

SB 287-FN - AS INTRODUCED

2019 SESSION

19-1109

08/05

SENATE BILL 287-FN

AN ACT requiring the commissioner of the department of environmental services to revise rules relative to perfluorinated chemical contamination in drinking water.

SPONSORS: Sen. Sherman, Dist 24; Sen. Fuller Clark, Dist 21; Sen. Cavanaugh, Dist 16; Sen. Feltes, Dist 15; Sen. Hennessey, Dist 5; Sen. Chandley, Dist 11; Rep. Cushing, Rock. 21; Rep. Le, Rock. 31; Rep. Malloy, Rock. 23; Rep. Bushway, Rock. 21; Rep. Murphy, Hills. 21

COMMITTEE: Energy and Natural Resources

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ANALYSIS

This bill requires the commissioner of the department of environmental services to revise rules relative to perfluorinated chemical contamination in drinking water.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

19-1109

08/05

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nineteen

AN ACT requiring the commissioner of the department of environmental services to revise rules relative to perfluorinated chemical contamination in drinking water.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 New Paragraph; Ambient Groundwater Quality Standards. Amend RSA 485-C:6 by inserting after paragraph VI the following new paragraph:

VII. Rules made under paragraphs V and VI shall ensure levels no less protective than 13 parts per trillion for perfluorononnanoic acid (PFNA), 13 parts per trillion for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFNA), 14 parts per trillion for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOS), and 20 parts per trillion for PFNA, PFOA, PFOAS, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), combined.

2 Perfluorochemicals. Amend RSA 485:16-e to read as follows:

485:16-e Perfluorochemicals. By [January 1, 2019] November 1, 2019, the commissioner shall, in consultation with the commissioner of the department of health and human services and other interested parties, initiate rulemaking in accordance with RSA 541-A to adopt a maximum contaminant limit for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluoroctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS). Such rulemaking shall ensure that maximum contaminant limits are no less protective than 13 parts per trillian for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), 13 parts per trillian for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFNA), 14 parts per trillion for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOS), and 20 parts per trillion for PFNA, PFOA, PFOAS, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), combined for public water systems regulated by this chapter.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 90 days after its passage.

LBAO

19-1109

1/28/19

SB 287-FN- FISCAL NOTE

AS INTRODUCED

AN ACT requiring the commissioner of the department of environmental services to revise rules relative to perfluorinated chemical contamination in drinking water.

FISCAL IMPACT: [ X ] State [ X ] County [ X ] Local [ ] None


	Estimated Increase / (Decrease)
STATE:	FY 2020	FY 2021	FY 2022	FY 2023
Appropriation	$0	$0	$0	$0
Revenue	$0	$0	$0	$0
Expenditures	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase
Funding Source:	[ X ] General [ ] Education [ ] Highway [ ] Other

COUNTY:
Revenue	$0	$0	$0	$0
Expenditures	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase

LOCAL:
Revenue	$0	$0	$0	$0
Expenditures	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase	Indeterminable Increase

METHODOLOGY:

This bill establishes maximum contaminant levels (MCL) and ambient groundwater quality standards (AGQS) for five perflouinated compounds: PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, and PFBS. Multiple state, county, and local governments are the owners of sites that would be required to adhere to the standards set in this bill. While this bill will have an indeterminable increase on governmental expenditures, the Department of Environmental Services was able to estimate some potential impacts of this bill as depicted in the table below.

Estimated Expenditures	State	County & Local	Total
Capital Expenditures
Treatment Costs for Public Water Systems	$12,069(low) $33,711(high)	$65,641,997(low) $115,745,890(high)	$65,654,066(low) $115,779,601(high)
Wastewater Disposal to Groundwater	$0	$3,500,000	$3,500,000
Landfill Sites	$0	$865,000(low) $1,760,000(high)	$865,000(low) $1,760,000(high)
Hazardous Waste Sites	$45,000(low) $87,000(high)	$341,000(low) $655,000(high)	$386,000(low) $742,000(high)
Total Capital Expenditures	$57,069 (low) $120,711(high)	$70,347,997(low) $121,660,890(high)	$70,405,066(low) $121,781,601(high)
Operational Expenditures
Treatment and Maintenance Costs	$645(low) $1,255(high)	$6,954,331(low) $13,522,310(high)	$6,954,976(low) $13,523,565(high)
Wastewater Disposal to Groundwater	$0	$1,000,000(low) $2,000,000(high)	$1,000,000(low) $2,000,000(high)
Landfill Site Investigations (Staff)	$200,000	$0	$200,000
Landfill Sites	$0	$285,000(low) $565,000(high)	$285,000(low) $565,000(high)
Hazardous Waste Sites	$17,000(low) $32,000(high)	$126,000(low) $242,000(high)	$143,000(low) $274,000(high)
Total Operational Expenditures	$217,645(low) $233,255 (high)	$8,365,311(low) $16,329,310(high)	$8,582,956(low) $16,562,565(high)

Treatment Cost for Public Water Systems: Currently, 402 out the 1,575 non-transient public water supply sources have been sampled, which are mostly privately owned. Using the data collected from these samples, the Department estimated 2 state and 58 local or county owned water supplies would not achieve the MCLs required under this bill. To estimate these costs, the Department estimated a low cost of $2.91 per gallon and a high cost of $8.10 per gallon for most water systems, but identified one outlier municipal water system as having a cost of $1.30 per gallon.
Treatment Operation and Maintenance Costs: The Department based the treatment and maintenance costs on public water systems that have developed operation and maintenance cost estimates to comply with current PFOA, PFOS, and AGQS requirements. They range from a low of $0.18 gallon per day to a high of $0.35 gallons per day.
Wastewater Disposal to Groundwater/Groundwater Permit Sites: The Department reports currently 55 percent of the 42 sampled facilities with groundwater discharge permits would not achieve full compliance with this bill. By applying the 55 percent noncompliant rate to the universe of government owned public water supply, the Department estimates $3.5 million in capital expenditures for governmental wastewater disposal systems. Operating expenditures are estimated to range between $1 million and $2 million for government facilitates. These costs are based on the need for additional monitoring wells ($12,000 per well), survey and sampling of private wells ($1,000), and treatment ($3,000 per household treatment unit).
Landfill Site Investigations by Department Staff: The Department estimates the need to hire two Hydrogeologists (LG 27, Step 5) to handle the additional workload of overseeing the increased site investigations and remediation efforts to address the increase in standards. The Department estimates the position would cost $200 in FY 2021, $206,000 in FY 2022, and $210,000 in FY 2023. Since the estimated start date is January 2020, the Department only estimates $118,000 in FY 2020 for these positions.
Landfill Sites: The Department reports currently 71 percent of the 116 landfill sites sampled by the Department would not achieve full compliance with this bill. The Department estimates 30 - 60 percent of these sites would require an expansion of the groundwater management zone at an estimated capital expenditure to municipalities to range between $865,000 and $1,760,000. The annual operating costs would increase between $285,000 and $565,000 a year. These costs are based on the assumption of additional monitoring wells ($12,000 per well), sampling ($1,000 per sample), and treatments ($3,000 per treatment).
Hazardous Waste Sites: The Department reports currently 74 percent of the 252 hazardous waste sites sampled by the Department would not achieve full compliance with this bill. The Department estimates 30 – 60 percent of these sites would require an expansion of the groundwater management zone at an estimated capital expenditure to county and local governments to range between $2,270,000 and $4,360,000. The annual operating costs would increase between $840,000 and $1,610,000 a year. These costs are based on the assumption additional monitoring wells ($12,000 per well), sampling ($1,000 per sample), and treatment ($3,000 per treatment). However, approximately 2 percent of these sites are state owned, 15 percent are municipality owned, and the Department is unable to determine how many are county owned. Therefore, the governmental expenditures would likely be proportional to the number of government owned sites.

Under current rule, the Department performs quarterly sampling of public water system which costs the following using a sampling cost range between a low of $175 and high of $450:

Government	Number of Sites	Number of Samples	Estimated Cost
State	13	52	$9,100(low) $23,400(high)
Municipal & County	472	1,888	$330,400(low) $849,600(high)
Total	485	1,940	$339,500(low) $873,000(high)

Sampling costs would decrease in frequency for public water supplies able to comply with this bill and would increase in frequency for noncompliant water supplies.

AGENCIES CONTACTED:

Department of Environmental Services