REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Public Hearing and Approval of the City of Sunnyvale's 2019 Public Health Goal Report on Water Quality (2016-2018); Direct Staff to file with the California State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water and Find that the Action is Exempt from CEQA.
Report
BACKGROUND
The California Health and Safety Code requires all California water retailers serving more than 10,000 service connections to prepare a report every three years to inform consumers of water quality constituents that exceeded the Public Health Goals (PHGs) and/or federal Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs). PHGs are non-enforceable goals established by the California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). MCLGs are goals that are adopted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), and only come into play if there is no California PHG. Public water systems are governed by Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL) and not MCLG/PHGs.
PHG/MCLG vs. MCL
PHGs are set by OEHHA (and MCLGs by USEPA) based solely on public health risk considerations. MCLs are set by USEPA or the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Division of Drinking Water (DDW) as the contaminants maximum level which public water systems must not exceed. Violations of MCLs can result in fines, abatement orders, or closure of facilities. When the USEPA, or the DDW, adopts an MCL, they take into account such factors as (1) analytical methodologies, (2) effectiveness of available treatment technologies, and (3) health benefits versus costs. PHGs (and MCLGs) are not enforceable and are not required to be met by any public water system.
Public water systems are required to hold a public hearing for accepting and responding to public comment on the report, which may be done as part of a regularly scheduled Council meeting. The report is now being presented to Council to satisfy the public hearing requirements and ...
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