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The Board of Supervisors finds that:
(a) The City and County of San Francisco has a longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability through the prohibition of bottled water purchases by the San Francisco City and County Government, as instructed by Executive Directive 07-07.
(b) The Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission delivers pristine drinking water, which is stored in the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, meets or exceeds all federal and state criteria for drinking water quality, and is tested over 100,000 times per year.
(c) Bottled water is bad for the environment. More than one billion water bottles end up in California's trash each year – taking up valuable landfill space, leaking toxic chemicals such as phalates into the ground water, and taking 1,000 years to degrade. It takes an estimated 2,000 times more energy to produce bottled water than it does to produce an equivalent amount of tap water. Bottled water adds to greenhouse gas emissions because high amounts of oil are used to manufacture the plastic bottles, in addition to the emissions resulting from the transportation of the bottles to stores.
(d) Bottled water is expensive. Americans spent $10.6 billion on bottled water in 2009 and paid up to 1,000 times the cost of tap water.
(e) Bottled water is potentially a health hazard. A growing number of scientific studies are pointing to the harmful effects of chemicals in the plastic that can leach into the water and be consumed. Further, most branded bottled water companies do not disclose their water sources, treatment methods or contaminants found in the water.
(f) The City and County of San Francisco is dedicated to being a good environmental steward by promoting water conservation efforts and educating residents about the environmental, economic, and health benefits of drinking tap water.
(a) This Chapter shall be entitled "the Drink Tap Ordinance."
(b) The purpose of this Chapter is to improve access to clean, free drinking water for residents and visitors of the City and County of San Francisco by providing bottle filling stations.
For the purposes of this Chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Drink Tap Station" means a bottle filling unit that:
(1) Supplies potable water;
(2) Delivers a minimum of 8.0 gallons per hour (gph) of ambient water;
(3) Is wall or floor mounted and is a separate unit or a combination unit including a drinking fountain; and,
(4) Complies with the California Title 24 accessibility standards, is listed by an approved listing agency, and is certified to be lead-free compliant, including NSF/ANSI.61-Annex G, AB1953.
(b) "Drinking fountain" means a fixture regulated by Chapter 4 of the California Plumbing Code (Title 24, Part 5, of the California Code of Regulations).
(c) "New construction" means a building that has never before been used or occupied for any purpose and does not include additions, alterations, or repairs.
(a) For new construction that provides one or more drinking fountains, the project sponsor shall provide a Drink Tap Station with each such fixture installation.
(b) This Chapter shall apply to buildings owned by the City, as well as to privately-owned buildings.
(a) The Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Building Inspection, and the Department of the Environment shall be responsible for the implementation of this Chapter, as further directed below.
(b) The Director of the Department of the Environment and the General Manager of the Public Utilities Commission shall be responsible for conducting outreach to building owners, developers, contractors, and others to make them aware of the requirements of this Chapter, and for providing them with a list of vendors who sell Drink Tap Stations, which list shall be developed by the General Manager.
(c) The Director of the Department of Building Inspection shall be responsible for notifying developers, contractors, and others of the requirements of this Chapter when such persons request a building permit.
(d) The Director of the Department of Building Inspection shall be responsible for the enforcement of this Chapter. The Director shall not issue any permit or first certificate of occupancy for any new construction that is subject to the requirements of this Chapter unless and until the Director first certifies that the project complies with the requirements of this Chapter. For projects under the exclusive jurisdiction of another City department, the head of that department shall first certify that the project complies with the requirements of this Chapter before issuing any permit or first certificate of occupancy for any new construction or granting any equivalent project approval.
(e) The Director of the Department of Building Inspection shall also keep a log of all Drink Tap Stations installed during the first three years of this Chapter and provide to the Board of Supervisors an annual report on total installations under this Chapter for the same three years.