Water: schoolsites: lead testing.

Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. The act requires the state board to establish a grant program, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to award grants to local educational agencies for the purposes of improving access to, and the quality of, drinking water in public schools serving kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and preschools and child daycare facilities located on public school property. This bill would require a community water system that serves a schoolsite, as defined, to test for lead in the potable water system outlets of the schoolsite before January 1, 2027, except as provided. The bill would require the community water system to report its findings to the applicable schoolsite or local educational agency and to the state board. The bill would require the local educational agency or schoolsite, if the lead level exceeds a specified level at a schoolsite, to notify the parents and guardians of the pupils who attend the schoolsite, take immediate steps to make inoperable and shut down from use all potable water system outlets where the excess lead levels may exist, and work to ensure that a lead-free source of drinking water is provided for pupils, as specified. The bill would require a community water system to test a potable water system outlet that replaces an outlet that is found to have excess levels of lead. The bill would require a community water system to prepare a sampling plan for each schoolsite where lead sampling is required under these provisions, as specified. The bill would require the schoolsite, local educational agency, and state board to make the results of schoolsite lead sampling publicly available by posting the results on its internet website. The bill would require a schoolsite and a local educational agency, if an internet website is not maintained, to provide the results upon request. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.