Portantino Bill Requiring Robust Study of Microplastics in Drinking Water Passes Assembly Health Committee
For Immediate Release: June 18, 2024
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Portantino Bill Requiring Robust Study of Microplastics in Drinking Water Passes Assembly Health Committee
Sacramento, CA – SB 1147, authored by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank), passed the Assembly Health Committee today. The bill requires the study of the health impacts of microplastics in drinking water.
“We are seeing increased reports on the health risks of microplastics and I think its past time we study its impacts,” stated Senator Portantino. “SB 1147 calls for the identification of a level of microplastics in drinking water which does or does not pose a significant risk to our health and then initiates a strategy to make drinking water safer for consumption. Additionally, the bill applies to bottled water to treat tap and bottled water consistently for public health issues.”
In 2018, there was an average of 325 pieces of microplastics identified in a liter of bottled water. Currently, California’s water bottling facilities do not test for microplastics, nor do they have a method to test for microplastics.
SB 1147 requires all water-bottling plants that produces bottled water for sale to provide an annual report to the State Department of Public Health’s Food and Drug branch on the levels of microplastics found in the source water. The bill requires the report to be included with the annual water-bottling plant report and, upon request, be made available to consumers.
SB 1147 also requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to study the health impacts of microplastics in drinking water, including bottled water. Additionally, the bill requires OEHHA to adopt a standard methodology, requirements for the testing and reporting of microplastics in drinking water, and to adopt a primary drinking water standard for microplastics.
“If we can’t study the harmful effects of microplastics, we cannot stop them - even in our most precious and basic necessity for life, water. It is beyond time that we not only continue to study this massive issue, but apply it to the law which serves to educate and protect the public, just as I do the health of my patients,” stated Grace Kistner, who testified in the Assembly Health Committee. She is a member of the Leadership Council for California Nurses for Environmental Health and Justice and a board certified critical care nurse.
Senator Portantino has a history of authoring environmentally friendly water bills. In 2018, he authored SB 1422, the California Safe Drinking Water Act. The bill required the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) to adopt requirements for testing and reporting for four years and to adopt a definition of microplastics in drinking water. The same year, the Governor also signed Senator Portantino’s SB 1263, requiring the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) to adopt a statewide research strategy and identify early actions to reduce microplastic pollution in California’s marine environment.
SB 230 was also authored by Senator Portantino in 2022 to improve consumer protection by requiring the State Water Board to gather information to understand the public health risk of contaminants in drinking water. It required the State Water Board to build upon its existing work on Constituents of Emerging Concern (CECs) and improve its knowledge of CECs in drinking water by assessing the state of information. The bill authorized the State Water Board to establish a program to ensure a unified, consistent, and science-based approach for assessing the public health and drinking water consequences of CECs, while identifying which CECs warrant further action.
SB 1147 is supported by California Environmental Voters, Californians Against Waste, A Voice For Choice Advocacy, and the California State Coalition of the Climate Reality Project.
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