DATE: 08/20/2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
Honorable President and Board Members
FROM: Utilities Department
2025-338
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL AND
CORONA UTILITY AUTHORITY ACTION
SUBJECT:
PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE REPORT ON WATER QUALITY RELATIVE TO PUBLIC HEALTH GOALS FOR CALENDAR YEARS 2022 THROUGH 2024
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks City Council to approve the triennial report on water quality relative to public health goals for the years 2022 through 2024. A Public Health goal is the level of a chemical contaminant in drinking water that does not pose a significant risk to health.
Public Health Goals are not regulatory standards and are not enforceable or required to be met. The drinking water quality for the City of Corona meets all drinking water standards set to protect public health. The next report will be done in 2028 for the period 2025 through 2027.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
That the City Council:
a. Hold a public hearing regarding the Report on Water Quality relative to Public Health Goals for 2022 through 2024.
b. Approve the Report on Water Quality relative to Public Health Goals for 2022 through 2024.
That the Corona Utility Authority review, ratify, and to the extent necessary, direct that the City Council take the above actions.
BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The City of Corona Utilities Department delivers safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater reclamation services to the community of Corona while complying with all federal, state and local regulations. The City owns and operates four potable water treatment plants and eight blend facilities with a distribution system consisting of more than 712 miles of piping, 20 pump stations, and 18 storage tanks. There are over 46,000 potable water service connections. The purpose of the Report on Public Health Goals (PHG Report) is to comply with the Calderon-Sher Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996, wherein public water systems in California serving greater than 10,000 connections must prepare a brief report every three years providing information on any constituents that exceed a Public Health Goal (PHG) in the preceding three years. PHGs are recommended goals that are determined by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and represent the concentration of a contaminant in drinking water below the enforceable mandatory maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for which there is no significant health risk to the public if consumed for an entire lifetime.
ANALYSIS:
Attached for City Council approval is a report prepared by staff comparing the City’s drinking water quality from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2024, with PHGs and with maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs) adopted by the US Environmental Protection agency (USEPA). PHGs and MCLGs are not enforceable standards and no action to meet them is mandated.
SB 1307 (Calderone-Sher; effective 1-1-97) added new provisions to the California Health and Safety Code which mandate that a report be prepared by July 1, 1998, and every three years thereafter, on contaminants that were detected at a level that exceed the PHG or, where there is no PHG, the federal MCLG, and have an existing MCL. The attached report is intended to provide information to the public in addition to the required Annual Water Quality Reports, also known as Consumer Confident Reports (CCRs), provided to each customer every year on the water provider’s website or by mail. A PHG is not a regulatory requirement and does not consider the economic impact and/or the available technology to measure or attain those levels. A PHG is a goal for drinking water that California’s public suppliers and regulators should strive to meet if it is feasible to do so.
Our water system complies with all health-based drinking water standards and maximum contaminant levels required by the California Department of Public Health and the USEPA. Additionally, the Utilities Department has undertaken measures to reduce the concentration of contaminants to provide safe drinking water to its customers. Therefore, no specific actions to address any of the contaminants contained within the attached report are proposed at this time.
Staff recommends that the Triennial Report on Water Quality Relative to Public Health Goals be approved for the monitoring period from January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2024.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no financial impact associated with the recommended action.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Action (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the common sense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. This action approves a report, and there is no possibility this action will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: AFTAB HUSSAIN, ASSISTANT UTILITIES DIRECTOR REVIEWED BY: TOM MOODY, UTILITIES DIRECTOR
ATTACHMENT:
1. Exhibit 1 – Public Health Goal Report