Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: JUNE 21, 2022
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: ERIC J. LEVITT, CITY MANAGER
PREPARED BY: MEG McWADE, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
DELANEY FELIX, WATER QUALITY SPECIALIST
SUBJECT: WATER QUALITY REPORT ON PUBLIC HEALTH GOALS AND MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LEVEL GOALS
SUMMARY
Public Hearing to receive comments on the 2022 Report (covering calendar years 2019, 2020 and 2021) on the City’s Water Quality Relative to Public Health Goals and Maximum Contaminant Level Goals.
RECOMMENDATION
1. Conduct Public Hearing on the City of Fullerton’s 2022 Report on the City’s Water Quality Relative to Public Health Goals and Maximum Contaminant Level Goals.
2. Receive and file report.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statements:
Public Safety
Infrastructure and City Assets.
FISCAL IMPACT
The City will not incur costs from the review of this report.
DISCUSSION
The California Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency each established goals for water quality in 1996. These goals for various water constituents are known as Public Health Goals (PHGs) and Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs) respectively. PHGs and MCLGs are water constituent levels at which the State and Federal Government can theoretically absolutely guarantee no health risk exists. The PHGs and MCLGs are not enforceable standards.
The Federal and State enforceable standards for water quality are Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). MCLs are established at very conservative levels to provide protection to consumers against all but very low to negligible health risk. MCLs are the regulatory definition of what is safe. The City of Fullerton meets all of the MCLs for water quality and thus provides a safe and reliable water supply for our customers. The City publishes all water quality constituents and test results annually in the City’s “Water Quality Report” available on the City’s website and sent to all Fullerton water customers upon request.
Legislation requires that water purveyors prepare a brief, written report every three years that gives information relating to the “detection” of any constituents that exceed the PHGs or the MCLGs. No specific requirement exists to send this report to any person or regulatory agency. The city must prepare the report and keep it on file. Water purveyors must hold a public hearing to accept and respond to public comments, in addition to preparing a report. This legislation gives water system customers access to information on water constituents below the enforceable mandatory MCLs and an idea of the cost to eliminate any trace of the constituents from drinking water, regardless of how minimal the risk. The Association of California Water Agencies developed the cost estimates based on current costs of similar treatment systems.
The following constituents were determined to have exceeded their respective PHG or MCLG during the current regulatory compliance cycle (2019 to 2021).
Constituent
MCL
PHG
Results
Coliform
5%
0%
0 – 0.8%
Tetrachloroethylene (PCE)
5 ppb
0.06 ppb
0.5 – 2.0 ppb
Uranium
20 pCi/L
0.43 pCi/L
1.4 – 6.8 pCi/L
Perchlorate
6.0 ppb
1.0 ppb
2.4 – 3.4 ppb
Arsenic
10 ppb
0.004 ppb
2.0 ppb
Staff has attached the 2022 Report on the City’s Water Quality Relative to Public Health Goals and Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (which includes water quality data from 2019, 2020 and 2021) for review. The report communicates only about constituents that have established Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) PHG’s and MCLG’s for the specified time period.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – PowerPoint Presentation
Attachment 2 – 2022 Report on the City’s Water Quality
Water Quality Report on Public Health Goals and Maximum Contaminant Level Goals June 21, 2022 - Page PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 3