Public health goal: primary drinking water standard: manganese.

The California Safe Drinking Water Act provides for the operation of public water systems and tasks the State Water Resources Control Board with various responsibilities and duties relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. The act requires the state board to adopt primary drinking water standards for contaminants in drinking water that are based upon specified criteria, as provided. The act requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to prepare and publish an assessment of the risks to public health posed by each contaminant for which the state board proposes a primary drinking water standard. The act requires the risk assessment to contain an estimate of the level of the contaminant in drinking water that is not anticipated to cause or contribute to adverse health effects, or that does not pose any significant risk to public health, also known as the public health goal for the contaminant. The act requires the state board to consider specified criteria when it adopts a primary drinking water standard, including the public health goal for the contaminant published by OEHHA. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2025, OEHHA to prepare a public health goal for manganese, as provided. The bill would require the state board, after OEHHA publishes a public health goal for manganese, to adopt a primary drinking water standard, as defined, for manganese and to establish for that standard, and for the period before adoption of that standard, monitoring requirements for manganese, as specified. The bill would require, on or before January 31, 2024, the state board to consider establishing a notification and response level for manganese that would remain in place until the state board adopts a primary drinking water standard for manganese. The bill would authorize the state board, before adopting a primary drinking water standard for manganese, to continue to provide funding for treatment, source protection, and alternative water supplies and to continue to require community water systems to monitor manganese in their source water and within their distribution systems, as provided.