2005 California Health and Safety Code Sections 116775-116795 Article 1. Water Softeners

116775.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the
utilization of the waters of the state by residential consumers for
general domestic purposes, including drinking, cleaning, washing, and
personal grooming and sanitation of the people is a right that
should be interfered with only when necessary for specified health
and safety purposes or to protect the quality of the waters of the
state.  The Legislature further finds that variation in water
quality, and particularly in water hardness, throughout the state
often requires that onsite water softening or conditioning be
available to domestic consumers to ensure their right to a water
supply that is effective and functional for domestic requirements of
the residential household, but that residential water softening or
conditioning appliances shall be available only as authorized in this
article.
116780.  (a) Unless the context otherwise requires the definitions
in this section govern the construction of this article.
   (b) "Clock control" means the system controlling the periodic
automatic regeneration of a residential water softening or
conditioning appliance that is based upon a predetermined and preset
time schedule.
   (c) "Demand control" means the system controlling the periodic
automatic regeneration of a residential water softening or
conditioning appliance that is based either upon a sensor that
detects imminent exhaustion of the active softening or conditioning
material or upon the measurement of the volume of water passing
through the appliance.  A demand control system activates
regeneration based upon the state of the equipment and its ability to
continue the softening process.
   (d) "Fully manual regeneration" means the method of regeneration
of a residential water softening or conditioning appliance in which
operations are performed manually and in which dry salt is added
directly to the ion-exchanger tank after sufficient water is removed
to make room for the salt.
   (e) "Hardness" means the total of all dissolved calcium,
magnesium, iron and other heavy metal salts, that interact with soaps
and detergents in a manner that the efficiency of soaps and
detergents for cleansing purposes is impaired.  Hardness is expressed
in grains per gallon or milligrams per liter as if all such salts
were present as calcium carbonate.
   (f) "Local agency" means a city, county, city and county,
district, or any other political subdivision of the state.
   (g) "Manually initiated control" means the system controlling the
periodic regeneration of a residential water softening or
conditioning appliance in which all operations, including bypass of
hard water and return to service, are performed automatically after
manual initiation.
   (h) "Regeneration" means the phase of operation of a water
softening or conditioning appliance whereby the capability of the
appliance to remove hardness from water is renewed by the application
of a brine solution of sodium or potassium chloride salt to the
active softening or conditioning material contained therein followed
by a subsequent rinsing of the active softening or conditioning
material.
   (i) "Salt efficiency rating" means the efficiency of the use of
sodium chloride salt in the regeneration of a water softening
appliance, expressed in terms of hardness removal capacity of the
appliance per pound of salt used in the regeneration process.  The
units of salt efficiency rating are grains of hardness removed per
pound of salt used.  One grain of hardness per gallon is
approximately equivalent to 17.1 milligrams of hardness per liter.
116785.  Except as provided in Section 116786, a residential water
softening or conditioning appliance may be installed only if either
of the following apply:
   (a) The regeneration of the appliance is performed at a
nonresidential facility separate from the location of the residence
where the appliance is used.
   (b) The regeneration of the appliance discharges to the community
sewer system and all of the following conditions are satisfied:
   (1) The appliance activates regeneration by demand control.
   (2) An appliance installed on or after January 1, 2000, shall be
certified by a third party rating organization using industry
standards to have a salt efficiency rating of no less than 3,350
grains of hardness removed per pound of salt used in regeneration.
An appliance installed on or after January 1, 2002, shall be
certified by a third party rating organization using industry
standards to have a salt efficiency rating of no less than 4,000
grains of hardness removed per pound of salt used in regeneration.
   (3) The installation of the appliance is accompanied by the
simultaneous installation of the following softened or conditioned
water conservation devices on all fixtures using softened or
conditioned water, unless the devices are already in place or are
prohibited by local and state plumbing and building standards or
unless the devices will adversely restrict the normal operation of
the fixtures:
   (A) Faucet flow restrictors.
   (B) Shower head restrictors.
   (C) Toilet reservoir dams.
   (D) A piping system installed so that untreated (unsoftened or
unconditioned) supply water is carried to hose bibs and sill cocks
that serve water to the outside of the house, except that bypass
valves may be installed on homes with slab foundations constructed
prior to the date of installation; or condominiums constructed prior
to the date of installation; or otherwise where a piping system is
physically inhibited.
116786.  (a) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 116785, a
local agency may, by ordinance, limit the availability, or prohibit
the installation, of residential water softening or conditioning
appliances that discharge to the community sewer system if the local
agency makes all of the following findings and includes them in the
ordinance:
   (1) Limiting the availability, or prohibiting the installation, of
the appliances is a necessary means of achieving compliance with
waste discharge requirements issued by a California regional water
quality control board.  In determining a necessary means of achieving
compliance, the local agency shall assess both of the following:
   (A) The technological and economic feasibility of alternatives to
the ordinance.
   (B) The potential saline discharge reduction of the ordinance.
   (2) The local agency has adopted and is enforcing regulatory
requirements that limit the volumes and concentrations of saline
discharges from nonresidential sources in the community waste
disposal system to the extent technologically and economically
feasible.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 116785, a local
agency may, by ordinance, limit the availability, or prohibit the
installation, of residential water softening or conditioning
appliances that discharge to the community sewer system if the local
agency makes all of the following findings and includes them in the
ordinance:
   (1) Limiting the availability, or prohibiting the installation, of
the appliances is a necessary means of achieving compliance with the
water reclamation requirements or the master reclamation permit
issued by a California regional water quality control board.  In
determining a necessary means of achieving compliance, the local
agency shall assess both of the following:
   (A) The technological and economic feasibility of alternatives to
the ordinance.
   (B) The potential saline discharge reduction of the ordinance.
   (2) The local agency has adopted, and is enforcing, regulatory
requirements that limit the volumes and concentrations of saline
discharges from nonresidential sources to the community waste
disposal system to the extent technologically and economically
feasible.
   (c) Local agency findings shall be substantiated by an independent
study of discharges from all sources of salinity, including, but not
limited to, residential water softening or conditioning appliances,
residential consumptive use, industrial and commercial discharges,
and seawater or brackish water infiltration and inflow into the sewer
collection system.  The study shall quantify, to the greatest extent
feasible, the total discharge from each source of salinity and
identify remedial actions taken to reduce the discharge of salinity
into the community sewer system from each source, to the extent
technologically and economically feasible, to bring the local agency
into compliance with waste discharge requirements, water reclamation
requirements, or a master reclamation permit, prior to limiting or
prohibiting the use of residential water softening or conditioning
appliances.
   (d) Any ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be
prospective in nature and may not require the removal of residential
water softening or conditioning appliances that are installed before
the effective date of the ordinance.
   (e) To comply with this section, any local agency described in
subdivision (f) of Section 116780 is authorized to adopt an
ordinance.
   (f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2003.
116790.  Any water softening appliance in place at a residential
dwelling prior to January 1, 1980, in those areas being served by
sewage treatment facilities that have been limited with regard to
salt loading pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000)
of the Water Code and for which the appropriate regional water
quality control board makes a finding, after adoption of waste
discharge requirements and subject to a public hearing, that the
control of residential salinity input is necessary to provide
compliance with those limitations, may be continued in operation for
a period no longer than four years after the regional water quality
control board has made its findings.  After the four-year period has
elapsed, any water softening appliance at that site shall be set at a
salt efficiency rating of no less than 2850 grains of hardness
removed per pound of salt used in regeneration when regeneration is
initiated with clock controls or manually-initiated controls, or
shall have regenerations initiated with demand devices.  Also, after
the four-year period has elapsed, those water-saving devices in
shower heads, on faucets, and in toilet reservoirs, as recited in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 116785, shall be
installed unless already in place or prohibited by local and state
plumbing and building standards.  The salt efficiency rating of the
water softening or conditioning appliance and the installation of
water-saving devices shall be certified in accordance with Section
116795.
116795.  The certification required by this article shall be
provided by the new user of the appliance and shall be completed by a
contractor having a valid Class C-55 water conditioning contractor's
license or Class C-36 plumbing contractor's license and filed with
the local agency responsible for issuing plumbing permits.
   The certification form shall contain all of the following
information:
   (a) Name and address of homeowner.
   (b) Manufacturer of the water softening or conditioning appliance,
model number of the appliance, pounds of salt used per regeneration,
and salt efficiency rating at the time of certification.
   (c) Manufacturer of the water-saving devices installed, model
number, and number installed.
   (d) Name, address, and the specialty contractor's license number
of the C-55 and C-36 licensee making the certification.