CITY OF POMONA
COUNCIL REPORT
August 4, 2025
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Anita D. Scott, City Manager
Submitted By: Chris Diggs, Water Resources Director
SUBJECT: PUBLIC HEARING - DRAFT 2025 WATER QUALITY PUBLIC HEALTH GOALS REPORT RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council take the following actions:
Conduct a public hearing to accept comments to the attached Draft 2025 Water Quality Public Health Goals Report; and, Upon the conclusion of the public hearing, direct staff to incorporate appropriate comments received into the Final 2025 Water Quality Public Health Goals report.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act public water systems having water quality measurements exceed a Public Health Goal (PHG) must prepare a Water Quality PHG report (Report). In compliance with this requirement, staff submitted the attached Report to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Division of Drinking Water (DDW). To complete the reporting requirement, a public hearing is to be held to receive public comment, which is to be included in the Report. This public hearing fulfills the DDW requirement.
SB1439/GOVERNMENT CODE §84308 APPLICABILITY:
☐ When this box is checked, it indicates the agenda item is subject to the Levine Act SB1439 requirements. Councilmembers are reminded to check their campaign contributions and determine whether they have received a campaign contribution of $500 or more that would require disclosure and/or recusal from discussing or acting on this agenda item. Campaign contributions of $500 or more made 1) by any person or entity who is identified in the agenda report as the applicant or proposer; or 2) on behalf of the applicant or participant, including a parent, subsidiary or otherwise related business entity; or 3) by any person who has a financial interest in the agenda item requires a councilmember to comply with SB1439.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact with the proposed action.
PUBLIC NOTICING REQUIREMENTS:
A notice of the Report was published on July 21, 2025, and July 25, 2025, in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, see Attachment No. 2.
PREVIOUS RELATED ACTION:
None
DISCUSSION:
This public hearing is to inform the public of the various drinking water standards and goals set by both DDW and United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). PHGs established by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) are not a regulatory standard, they are levels of a chemical in drinking water that do not pose a significant health risk. However, state law requires that when a regulatory standard, a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), is established, it should be as close to the PHG as possible, given the technological and financial limitations to do so. The attached Report includes the results from samples collected within the City’s water system over the past three years and lists only those chemicals that exceeded the PHG for the given constituent.
To establish a PHG, OEHHA collects all the health data available for a given chemical. Once the data is collected and analyzed, OEHHA then determines the cancer risks with the assumption that a person drinks water with that chemical every day for 70 years. Based on this criteria, OEHHA uses a one-in-one million standard, that being, one additional cancer case per million individuals if exposed to that chemical every day for 70 years.
There are several factors that are included in the development of a MCL, and it’s these MCLs that drinking water providers must comply with. When drinking water complies with all MCLs, it is considered safe to drink, regardless of the PHG. A PHG represents a health protective level for a chemical that drinking water providers should strive to achieve if it is feasible to do so. However, the PHG is not the boundary line between a safe and an unsafe, drinking water is considered safe for public consumption when it meets the criteria of an MCL, regardless of the PHG.
Water provided by the City included chemicals with levels higher than those set as PHGs, including, arsenic, coliform bacteria, hexavalent chrome, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), perchlorate, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and radionuclides, including radium-223, and uranium, total trihalomethanes (TTHMs). The City is required to list the public health risks associated with each chemical outlined in the Draft PHG Report, acknowledge the best water treatment technology available to date, and include an estimate of the costs required to treat water to the level of the PHGs.
The following list briefly describes what must be addressed in the Public Health Goal Report:
1) Identify each chemical detected that exceeds the PHG; 2) Provide the numerical public health risk;
3) Identify the category of risk to public health;
4) Describe the “best available technology” (BAT), if available to remove or reduce chemical; 5) Estimate the total cost and the cost per customer to utilize the BAT described to reduce the concentration of the chemical; and, 6) Briefly describe what action, if any, is intended to reduce the concentration of the chemical.
Both state and Federal regulators adopt BATs, which are the most effective methods available for removing chemicals. Because engineering designs are not required, costs are estimated for each of the given technology provided within the Report.
Finally, once all comments from the Council and the public have been received, staff will incorporate them where appropriate and send the final document to the State as required.
Prepared by:
_____________________________
Nick Capogni
Water Quality Supervisor
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment No. 1 – Draft Public Health Goals Report for July 2025 Attachment No. 2 – Public Notice
2025 Public Health Goal Report